Hypochondriac
Hypochondriasis is a mental illness wherein an individual is preoccupied with the fear of having or the idea of having a serious disease. It involves the misunderstanding of bodily symptoms. The sensations of most hypochondriacs are intense and disturbing, leading to incorrectly connecting the symptoms to a serious disease. It said that hypochondria is caused by a patients excessive worrying with having or developing a disease. Often these patients seek medical attention, but a doctor's reassurance does not help the situation. Hypochondriacs will still think they are sick no matter what the do. Generally, patients who suffer from hypochondriasis also suffer from anxiety. There are many effective treatments for hypochondriacs such as drugs, support groups and therapy. This paper will discuss the diagnosis, cause and effect of the hypochondriasis. Hypochondria is an unsupported belief or anxiety over having a serious disease that is based on personal interpretations of bodily symptoms. The patient usually misinterprets bodily sensations. Anxiety and persistent reports of symptoms involving any body part is a good indicator the patient might suffer from a somatization disease or hypochondriasis. A patient's symptoms migh
t change from each visit, but the person's belief that a serious condition exists does not. The patient's symptom complaints may shift from being very specific to very vague. Sometimes they might think that they have a form of cancer and other times that might just have a stomachache. Hypochondriacs have an extensive medical history. They often seek medical assistance, but a Doctor's reassurance has no merit for the patient. A patient, who is preoccupied with bodily sensations for less than six months, are classified as having a somatic disorder. If the complaints persist, the patient is then lab! l, a correlation between distraction and temperature was noticed. At temperatures of 46°C or less, patients experienced lower levels of pain intensity. Any temperature above 46°C, the patients showed higher levels of pain. Since many hypochondriacs are constantly fixed to pain perception, diverting their attention is almost impossible. Hypochondriasis can be treated using two other methods, psychodynamic and psychopharmacological. Psychodynamic treatment occurs when a patient wants to transform himself or herself. The psychodynamic perspective views hypochondriasis because of a childhood injury, whether it being an early trauma or negative parenting. In order to treat the traumatic patient, the psychodynamic method relies on verbal and non-verbal communication between the patient and therapist. From comm
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Columbia University, bodily sensations, Psychotherapy Psychosomatics, Psychosomatic Research, Journal Psychiatry, Kroeze Marcel, serious disease, Salem Press, Houghton Mifflin, Brian Fallon, causes patient hypochondriac, causes patient, seek medical, doctor's reassurance, preoccupied bodily, patient hypochondriac, pain intensity, preoccupied bodily sensations, 46°c patients, diverting attention,
Approximate Word count = 958
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|