Table of contents:
- Characteristics of people who feel sick but are actually healthy
- 1. Always seek justification for allegations about his health
- 2. Likes to check health unnaturally
- 3. Mild symptoms are associated with serious illness
- 4. Always feeling sick
- 5. Do the same medical test over and over again
- 6. Avoiding doctor's appointments
- 7. Continue to talk about his health condition
Do you know people who are always feeling sick when they are actually in good health? Or maybe you experienced it yourself? Anxiety and excessive fear that he has a dangerous disease is called hypochondria. In foreign medical terms, this condition is also called illness anxiety disorder or somatic symptoms disorder. Usually, hypochondrial characteristics will be seen specifically from the attitude shown in everyday life.
Characteristics of people who feel sick but are actually healthy
You can only be diagnosed by a psychiatrist with hypochondria if you experience various symptoms for more than six months. Among the many symptoms, here are some of the characteristics of hypochondria that you may have without realizing it.
1. Always seek justification for allegations about his health
People with hypochondria have more anxiety about their health. When he goes to a doctor and says that he is healthy, he will actually deny and feel that there is something wrong with his health. Therefore, he will keep going to different doctors even though all the doctors say the same thing: "You are just fine."
If this happens, the sign is that the problem is not physical but mental. Therefore, to calm yourself down, ask yourself, for example, "What evidence is there that I have a disease even though the doctor stated that he was healthy?" If there is no proof, keep in mind that it is just superfluous, unfounded fear.
2. Likes to check health unnaturally
Source: Reader's Digest
People who often feel sick will probably always carry a thermometer with them. Little by little he will immediately check body temperature with a thermometer because he feels nervous. In fact, there is nothing wrong with his health.
He may also "collect" various medical devices such as tensimeters or blood sugar test kits even though there are no signs that he has a certain disease that must be monitored for his condition every day.
3. Mild symptoms are associated with serious illness
Forrest Talley, Ph.D., a psychologist as well as therapy from Invictus Psychological Services in California, United States states that people with hypochondria are known to be exaggerating. Mild disease symptoms can be associated with dangerous diseases.
Suppose you have an itchy throat, this has been linked to the possibility of pneumonia and a range of other acute respiratory illnesses. This fear overrides your logic in the end. You also always think of trivial symptoms as big calamities that will threaten your health or even your life.
4. Always feeling sick
People with hypochondria have their minds filled with worries about poor health. You are always dizzy thinking about the worst possibilities that arise in the body. In fact, your mind will move from thinking about one disease to another.
As a result, you always feel that you are seriously ill and should see a doctor. It's no wonder that people with hypochondria almost always spend their time and money on seeing a doctor.
Although sometimes periodic health checks can detect disease early, if done excessively without clear reasons it is also not good for your mental health.
5. Do the same medical test over and over again
Another symptom of hypochondriasis is always having the same medical tests repeatedly. It is usually difficult for you to trust the doctor's examination and test results, so you will continue to ask for additional tests or have similar tests performed elsewhere. In fact, the actual test results are the same, namely that you are fine.
It is very tiring because you are constantly chasing a verdict or a doctor's diagnosis that doesn't really exist.
6. Avoiding doctor's appointments
While this may seem contradictory, some hypochondria choose to avoid appointments (appointment) with a doctor. Usually this is done because people with hypochondria are very worried about hearing bad information about their health.
So not infrequently he just ignores promises to medical check-up routine just because of fear. In fact, if he turns out to have a serious health problem, avoiding the examination will actually make the condition worse.
7. Continue to talk about his health condition
According to Lauren Mulheim, a psychologist at Eating Disorder Therapy in Los Angeles, one of the characteristics of hypochondria is that they always talk about their health problems. The reason is, people with hypochondria have their minds filled with these things so they don't focus on other things outside of their health.
It is not uncommon for people with hypochondria to always dominate conversations by continuing to talk about their health problems complete with worries that they think about as if their condition is very poor and worsening.
