Hypochondriasis

2 Pages 540 Words

Hypochondriasis, a somatoform disorder, takes tremendous tolls on patients, doctors, and medical facilities every year. Hypochondriasis is the persistent belief that one is or is likely to become ill, often involving symptoms when illness is neither present nor likely, and persisting despite reassurance and medical evidence to the contrary. The diagnosis of hypochondriasis is simple and is not debated among doctors. The cause and treatment of hypochondriasis is where doctor’s ideas and processes differ. The possible causes and the different approaches on treatment of hypochondriasis are compared.
Hypochondriasis not only affects the victims, but it affects doctors and medical facilities as well. Researchers estimate that a low of 3% to a high of 14% of all medical patients have Hypochondriasis.(Moglia p888) They tend to burden their physicians with frequent visits that take up excessive amounts of time. According to one estimate, Hypochondriasis racks up some twenty billion dollars a year in wasted medical resources in the United States.(Lemonick, 2003) With hypochondriasis, the problem is the patient’s excessive worry and mental preoccupation with having or developing a disease, not the disease about which the patient is so worried. The diagnosis of Hypochondriasis is made when the patient’s dread about the disease or diseases impairs normal activity and persists despite appropriate medical reassurances and evidence to the contrary. Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Brian Fallon believes that it is easy to identify a hypochondriac as long as the doctor is aware of the disorder and “has the right antenna out.”(Lemonick, 2003)
The treatment of hypochondria can vary from doctor to doctor, but the key is to disrupt the cycle. Fallon realized a similar comparison in obsessive compulsive disorder and hypochondriasis and decided to test Prozac and similar drugs used for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder on hypochondriac patien...