Medical term for hypochondria

DSM-5 redefines hypochondriasis - Mayo Clinic

Nov. 15, 2013

The newly approved Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) contains many revisions, but few are as sweeping as those involving somatoform disorders. In the updated edition, hypochondriasis and several related conditions have been replaced by two new, empirically derived concepts: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. They differ markedly from the somatoform disorders in DSM-IV.

To meet the criteria for somatic symptom disorder, patients must have one or more chronic somatic symptoms about which they are excessively concerned, preoccupied or fearful. These fears and behaviors cause significant distress and dysfunction, and although patients may make frequent use of health care services, they are rarely reassured and often feel their medical care has been inadequate.

Patients with illness anxiety disorder may or may not have a medical condition but have heightened bodily sensations, are intensely anxious about the possibility of an undiagnosed illness, or devote excessive time and energy to health concerns, often obsessively researching them. Like people with somatic symptom disorder, they are not easily reassured. Illness anxiety disorder can cause considerable distress and life disruption, even at moderate levels.

Freeing patients and doctors

The new classifications have been criticized as overly broad and likely to lead to increased mental health diagnoses in the medically ill. But Jeffrey P. Staab, M.D., of Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, who participated in the somatic symptom disorder field trials, argues that the opposite is the case.

"People who have reasonable health concerns will not get the diagnosis," he says. "By eliminating the concept of medically unexplained symptoms, the DSM-5 criteria prevent the easy assumption of a psychiatric diagnosis in patients who present with medical symptoms of unclear etiology."

He points out that thousands of patients were diagnosed with stress ulcers before the discovery of Helicobacter pylori. "There are many examples of false assumptions because we couldn't identify a medical problem. Now, the whole concept of medically unexplained symptoms is gone. This is a profoundly fundamental change."

Dr. Staab adds that it is a change welcomed by patients. "Health anxiety and body vigilance are much more understandable to patients when they realize they can have these things despite what their medical doctor finds. During the field trials, we found it much easier to engage patients if we identified what the problem was instead of what it was not," he says.

He argues that the new constructs are liberating for physicians, too. "Under the old scheme, we never knew if we had done enough. When we couldn't find the cause of certain symptoms, there was always the fear that we simply hadn't searched long enough or hard enough. Now we can acknowledge that a patient's preoccupation with physical symptoms is higher than normal, whether there is a diagnosis or not. It is one of the biggest changes in talking with patients with a set of psychiatric problems in 25 years."

The change has been long in coming, Dr. Staab says. "It has taken two decades of research to redefine hypochondriasis. This is not just something people came up with. But now we can identify these symptoms in a positive way and can help patients modify them."

Indeed, the new diagnostic criteria allow a different approach to treatment. Most psychiatrists assume that some sort of trauma, tragedy or conflict in the past is driving health-anxious fears and behaviors, Dr. Staab says. "And if we can't find it, and the patient can't find it, it can become a speculative wild goose chase for trauma. Trauma is more likely in these patients, but if we don't find a history of trauma, we can look at stress, and if we don't find that, we can still talk about exaggerated preoccupations with health and help patients reset and reframe that without digging around in the past."

Hypochondriasis Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

hy·po·chon·dri·a·sis ˌhī-pə-kən-ˈdrī-ə-səs

-ˌkän-

: excessive concern about one's health especially when accompanied by imagined physical ailments

specifically : illness anxiety disorder

The diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis also require that the patient's concern about illness persist for at least six months and cause clinically significant distress or functional impairment. —Arthur J. Barsky

Hypochondria, known as hypochondriasis in medical terminology, is generally defined as abnormal preoccupation with one's health and a fear of having or getting a disease despite physical evidence to the contrary. —Jean Marbella

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web During medical school, hypochondriasis and disease obsessions ruled the day. —Russell Johnson, STAT, 7 Feb. 2023 As a neurotic 27-year-old New Yorker with a cocktail of mental-health issues—anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and hypochondriasis—travel seemed impossible for most of my life. —Gilad Gamliel, Outside Online, 10 Feb. 2020 The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders replaced hypochondriasis with two alternatives: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. —Emily Sohn, Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hypochondriasis.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

hypochondria + -asis, variant of -iasis

First Known Use

1722, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of hypochondriasis was in 1722

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hypochondriasis

hypochondriacal

hypochondriasis

hypochondriast

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“Hypochondriasis. ” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypochondriasis. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

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Medical Definition

hypochondriasis

noun

hy·po·chon·dri·a·sis -ˈdrī-ə-səs

: excessive concern about one's health especially when accompanied by imagined physical ailments

specifically : illness anxiety disorder

Hypochondria: signs, symptoms and treatment

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One of the most common somatoform diseases is hypochondria - excessive concern about one's own health, manifested in increased suspiciousness, the perception of any ordinary sensations as manifestations of a dangerous and serious illness. At the same time, a person focuses his attention on one or several organs, but hesitates in assessing his condition, constantly discovers symptoms of various additional diseases.

General information

Hypochondria is naturally attributed to mental disorders, since in almost all cases the patient does not show objective symptoms that he ascribes to himself. Some medical studies claim that up to 14% of all patients visiting general clinics suffer from this disorder to some extent. There are three forms of the disease:

obsessive - the easiest to treat, arising under the influence of a strong experience or a traumatic impression;
overvalued - with a severe course of the disease, frequent medical examinations, attempts at self-treatment, which lead to a general deterioration in the condition;
delusional - the most severe form of the disorder, which is characterized by pathological, illogical conclusions, and the patient may be dangerous to himself or others.

Patients with a delusional form immediately after diagnosis are placed in a hospital. Other forms of the disease are treated on an outpatient basis.

Why the disease develops

Psychiatrists identify several different causes of hypochondria.

Character traits and personality traits. This includes high impressionability, anxiety, suspiciousness inherent in people with a certain type of character. Hypersensitivity to a variety of physiological manifestations and a low pain threshold can cause a person to misinterpret their own sensations. As a result, he begins to perceive normal bodily signals as signs of illness.
Diseases suffered in childhood. People who had to be treated for a long time in early childhood are much more likely to show hypertrophied attention to their health and well-being. Parents' increased concern for the child's health leads to similar results, forming in him a belief in the weakness of his health and forcing him to look for signs of illness in himself.
Stress, depression, traumatic experiences. In some cases, the disease occurs against the background of emotional and mental exhaustion, leading to mental vulnerability. A person fixes his attention on various physiological signals, which leads to a violation of the autonomy of body functions, minor somatic or vegetative disorders, which are perceived as signs of illness.
Pathologically strong fear of death. The patient fixes his attention on the neutral signals of the body, but when a real disease is detected, he perceives it as insignificant and insignificant compared to a fictional disease.
Schizophrenia. As a rule, delusional hypochondriacal disorders develop against the background of this mental illness and are the most severe manifestations of the disease, requiring immediate hospitalization of the patient.

For obvious reasons, the diagnosis of hypochondria is quite complicated and includes the study of the patient's complaints, his anamnesis, as well as examination data and the conclusions of specialized specialists. So, if a patient complains of constant pain in the heart, then it is necessary to refer him for a consultation with a cardiologist, appoint a number of relevant studies and make sure that there is no somatic disease.

How to recognize?

The main symptom of hypochondria is hypertrophied anxiety about the state of one's health. It is characteristic of all forms, but it can find different ways of expression - obsessive thoughts, ideas, and in severe cases it manifests itself in the form of delirium.

Obsessions. As a rule, fear is not associated with any particular disease. A person is worried about his health and therefore stops going out or visiting crowded places so as not to get infected from a random passerby. He is actively interested in medicine, visits specialized websites, watches programs, reads relevant literature, participates in online surveys, etc.
Overvalued ideas. Health concerns are concretized in the form of fear of a certain disease or concern for one of the organs. Most often, patients focus their attention on the heart, digestive tract, reproductive organs, and perceive headaches as symptoms of a brain tumor. Under the influence of their overvalued idea, they actively visit doctors, undergo examinations, adhere to a strict diet, and engage in health practices.
Crazy ideas. The most severe symptom of hypochondria, which manifests itself in delusional, illogical conclusions. For example, a crack in the wall is perceived as a source of radioactive radiation, which should cause brain cancer in a patient. As a rule, he is sure that doctors cannot recognize his illness and treat him incorrectly. Therefore, he himself prescribes potent drugs for himself, attempts suicide, or decides to "punish" doctors who do not want to treat him.
Senestopathy. Unpleasant sensations that are not related to certain diseases cause discomfort to the hypochondriac. In various parts of the body, the patient may experience burning, swelling, twisting, emptiness, hesitation, squelching, etc. He cannot accurately describe these sensations, but he suffers with each new attack.
Visceral hallucinations. False sensations are clearly localized in a certain area of the body, the patient describes them clearly and accurately. Often they relate to the presence of a foreign object in the body.

Pessimism, an exaggerated assessment of one's condition, depression, a panic fear of death are also characteristic symptoms, and treatment of hypochondria should be carried out in accordance with severity.

How to get rid?

Treatment of hypochondria is carried out depending on the severity of the disease, in a hospital or on an outpatient basis. Most patients are prescribed sessions of psychotherapy: rational arguments, Gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, family therapy, etc. Drugs, as a rule, only strengthen the patient in the validity of his anxieties, so drug therapy is usually not used for such patients. However, if the disease develops against the background of depression, then the patient may be prescribed antidepressants and tranquilizers, and in case of schizophrenia, neuroleptic drugs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to deal with hypochondria on your own?

With a mild form of the disease, a person can try to restore health on their own. This is helped by regular physical activity, healthy long sleep, sunbathing, walking, chatting with friends. Yoga classes and meditation practices that help control negative emotions and thoughts give a good effect. But if all of the above does not bring relief, you should consult a doctor.

Which doctor treats hypochondria?

To investigate the symptoms and treatment of hypochondria, you should contact a professional psychologist or psychotherapist. It must be a qualified medical specialist with a specialized education.

How does the disease manifest itself in children?

As a rule, the child does not even talk about his concern about his health to his parents. You can suspect trouble by changing habits: the child begins to wash his hands more often if he is afraid of infection, refuses certain foods that, in his opinion, can be harmful to his health, etc. Behavior also changes: he becomes withdrawn, avoids the manifestation of emotions, communicates less with peers, becomes capricious and requires more attention from parents. In this case, the help of a child psychologist or psychotherapist is needed.

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Hypochondria

Psychiatry
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A state of increased concern about one's health. In this case, the disease of the body may or may not be present. A person suffering from hypochondria, as a rule, is afraid of a specific disease, but can also "generally" feel sick and "find" various diseases in himself (Moliere's "imaginary patient"). He constantly listens to his inner feelings and cannot experience pleasure simply from the process of life. In general, hypochondria can be described as "the experience of Illness."

In principle, there is nothing wrong with a person worrying about their health and listening to their inner feelings. Forewarned is forearmed! Yes, and to prevent any disease at the initial stage is much easier than in its advanced stage. But if a person is constantly haunted by a feeling of a painful condition, then there is a possibility of a pathological concern for one's health, in particular hypochondria.

Constant trips to doctors, writing out all possible medical journals, using various miraculous dietary supplements in the hope of complete healing. Constant unpleasant sensations accompany a person suffering from hypochondria everywhere, which, of course, affects the quality of life of the patient. Irreconcilable obsession with one or more ailments that constantly disturb the body leads to a severe neurotic personality disorder, which in turn, at the level of psychosomatics, can affect the real physical health of the individual.

The most popular among hypochondriacs are concerns about the state of the brain, heart, gastrointestinal tract and genital organs. All normal people do not notice the work of their organs, and this is the usual state of a person. What cannot be said about patients with nervous hypochondria. All groups of organs are constantly monitored by the disturbed consciousness of these people. Every heartbeat, lung inhalation and bowel spasm is monitored. There is an existence of an individual inside his body. Almost any small prick in the side is considered an ominous sign of a serious illness. Even after going to the doctor, where all possible tests and procedures are carried out to detect the disease, the hypochondriac either does not believe the results of the examination at all, or quickly discovers five more unpleasant and possibly even fatal diseases.

In the case of hypochondria, it is useless to convince the patient of his "health" with the help of ordinary doctors and examinations! Only the help of a psychotherapist will help a hypochondriac, and it is strongly recommended to avoid taking any medication during therapy, as this can only reinforce the patient's belief in his imaginary ailments.

As a symptom, hypochondria often accompanies depression. But depression is a disorder, and hypochondria can often be found in anxious and suspicious people, that is, it is a characteristic quality inherent in a person.

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