Hypochondria is also known as somatoform disorder. It is a psychological clinical situation in which the person believes they are ill with a very serious pathology or worries excessively about their health believing that they will become ill.
This concern of the hypochondriac patient makes him interpret any sign or symptom, real or imagined, as a sign of seriousness. The state of health itself becomes an obsession.
To varying degrees, hypochondria affects up to 10% of the population. And it is more frequent in family environments in which one or more members suffer from it. Although there is no genetic transmission of hypochondria, it can be said that there are family ecosystems that are more aware of the disease than others.
Historically, the definition of hypochondria dates back to Ancient Greece. Already the students of Hippocrates, considered the first doctor, described it in their treatises. Often they linked it to states of melancholy and sadness.
This association with depressive aspects is not wrong. Neither is it when it is associated with states of anxiety and anguish. Although they are not the same, syndromes can occur in combination.
It is also important to differentiate hypochondria from pathophobia . In the latter, the person is afraid of having a serious illness, which is why he avoids medical consultations and complementary methods at all costs. He suspects that the results will be tragic.
On the other hand, the hypochondriac increases his consultations and studies because he is convinced that his disease, whatever it may be, exists and nobody finds it. He goes through different professionals in search of a diagnosis that, in general, he never receives.
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