Hypochondriacal neurosis: causes, symptoms and treatment

Taking care of your own health is important for every person. There are people who, to a greater or lesser degree, neglect this business, and there are those who manically follow themselves, look for some flaws and literally inflate the elephant from the fly. Only in words everything sounds ridiculous and ridiculous, but in fact such signs serve as a signal that the hypochondriac neurosis is developing. A person immerses himself in a state of illness, causes the brain to think that some kind of disease is living in the body and thereby destroys itself.

What is hypochondria?

Let's start with the exact wording of this term. Hypochondria is a neurotic disorder that is accompanied by a constant anxiety about one's own health. A person becomes hypochondriac, he attributes some kind of disease to his individual organ or organism as a whole, when in reality nothing of the kind exists. To thoroughly understand what hypochondria is, it is worth turning to psychiatry. It can be both an independent disorder of the central nervous system, and a consequence of another, serious mental illness. Hypochondriacs in the face know all the doctors of the local polyclinic. They constantly undergo examination, complain to them of various pains, "improper functioning" of this or that organ, the presence of some undesirable symptoms. In fact, after the examination it turns out that the body is completely healthy.

Causes of ailment

Hypnotic individuals who are prone to depression and constant feelings, as well as people with a high degree of suggestibility, are obvious candidates for a disease such as hypochondria. Symptoms and treatment are a very personal matter, as everyone has this disorder in their own way. The most common cause of its occurrence are psychotraumatic situations, for example, the death of a loved one from a heart attack. As a result, a person ascribes to himself a heart defect and is fully convinced that the same fate awaits him. Also hypochondriacal neurosis can be based on phobic states - a wild fear of getting sick. In such cases, one of two diagnoses can be put. The first is hysterical neurosis, since the patient's behavior is accompanied by appropriate behavior. The second one is the neurosis of compulsive states, when the patient regularly repeats certain rituals and is haunted by obsessive thoughts.

Symptomatics

The patient himself in the therapist's office( surgeon, oculist or cardiologist - anyone) can sound the most varied symptoms of his own malaise. They can begin with pain in the stomach and result in a change in skin color. In fact, everything is somewhat different:

• The syndrome of hypochondria introduces a person into a state of weakness, depression, makes him irritable, deprives sleep and mindfulness.
• Well, as we said above, purely mental symptoms are a fear of getting sick and an excessive concern for one's own health.

It should be noted that if such deviations in human thinking have only begun to appear, it is worthwhile immediately turning to a therapist. In this case, they will be pacified and completely eliminated so that the patient does not even understand that he had a hypochondria. Symptoms and treatment in later stages of the disorder are more complicated. In this case, the patient develops certain personality traits on a pathological basis, which is practically impossible to correct.

Structure of the disease

Mainly hypochondriacal neurosis consists of three components:

• Non-existent painful sensations of a person.
• Emotional instability.
• Specific Thinking Disorder.

This can be explained as follows. For example, during food intake, a slight difficulty in its passage through the esophagus traces. Each of us would simply swallow it all by drinking water, and forgot. Hypochondriac immediately starts to ponder on this subject, they say, the esophagus has been disturbed, food stuck there, caused coughing, shortness of breath, violated his speech, and never got into the stomach so that all useful substances could be absorbed, and, therefore, the body did not get the righta dose of vitamins, he can not continue to work normally. .. All this collapses on a subconscious level, and a person simply makes himself feel pain and malaise, which does not exist.

Variations of the disease

In medical practice, very often people who are concerned about health, not only their own, but their closest relatives. Conditionally they can be divided into two groups: hypochondria of parents and hypochondria of children. The first obsessively take care of the health of their child, constantly leave it at home, treat and cure more than is required. The second ones are concerned that their ancestors are aging, therefore, their body wears out and becomes more susceptible to various ailments. It is worth noting that the symptoms of hypochondriacal neurosis in women in particular - is not only taking care of yourself, but also about your child. Therefore, it is the beautiful half of the population that is more prone to this disorder of the psyche.

Types of hypochondria

Depending on the course of the disease, doctors have learned to distinguish three of its types.

1. The type of anxious - the patient is constantly tormented by the experience that he can experience malaise. He constantly "breaks" this or that organ, there are nonexistent pains and are accompanied by obsessive thoughts on this topic. It always seems to him that the doctors he has already gone to are incompetent. And soon he will find a real expert who will discover his illness and cure her.
2. Type depressive - against the background of invented diseases the patient falls into the oppressed state of the psyche. He sees any treatment as hopeless and hopeless.
3. Type phobic - in this case, hypochondriacal neurosis causes a feeling of fear that another serious one will replace this disease. Or the patient is afraid of death.

Prevention

Ironically, most patients who are affected by such a disorder remain adequate in all other areas of life. Therefore, how to defeat hypochondriac neurosis, they are told in detail by a psychiatrist, and they together start to work. In a number of procedures there can be social therapy, group psychotherapy. In this case, a person gets to know people who suffer from the same things as he does, and gradually changes his ideas about what is happening. As an individual practice, hypnosis, relaxation, various mental instructions are used. Patients are strongly encouraged to practice yoga and meditation, read developing books and communicate with people.

Hypochondriacal neurosis: treatment, drugs, procedures

It happens that the patient simply does not see the real horizons, and it can not be changed. He refuses to visit a psychiatrist, does not believe that all this is the result of his thoughts alone. In such cases, medication is necessary, on the basis of which the therapy will take place in the doctor's office. Most often, hypochondriacs are prescribed nootropics and antidepressants, if the case is especially started, then tranquilizers. The choice of the drug is purely individual, so it is impossible to give exact names. In parallel with the drugs, the patient takes acupuncture, reflexology or su-jok therapy. Along with this, psychiatrists are advised to engage in so-called esthethotherapy. It is necessary to visit blossoming gardens, admire the sea or mountains - in a word, enjoy the beauty of nature, which soothe and pacify.

Tips for those who surround the hypochondriac

Most often, family and friends are very skeptical about such "invented" diseases. They call such people imaginary patients, simulators or "actors."Few people know that such an attitude only aggravates their difficult condition. It should be remembered that this is not a pretense and not an acting game, but a real mental disorder that eats a person from within. Close people need to express understanding and empathy for the "illnesses" of the hypochondriac, support it, listen and understand it. This practice is used by psychiatrists, listening attentively to all complaints of pain and discomfort and taking them seriously. Talking about this, the patient gradually passes to the true reasons for the appearance of these "pains," and in most cases it turns out that behind them is boredom, inner emptiness, sadness and depression.