I am a hypochondriac and I have anxiety: what do I do

Hypochondria is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by a deep obsession and intense fear of suffering from some disease, especially terminal. This type of condition is more common than what is usually thought and those who present it tend to continually visit different doctors because they are afraid that one can only make mistakes and not realize that they really have a disease serious. It is very important to put a stop to this situation and eliminate this type of disorder that although it may not seem to so harmful to the naked eye, over time it can totally destroy the emotional well-being of the person.

In this Psychology-Online article, we will try to resolve the following question: "I am a hypochondriac and I have anxiety, what do I do?"To do this, we are going to give you a series of tips so that you can eliminate hypochondria and anxiety.

Index

1. Hypochondria: meaning and causes
2. What to do if I am a hypochondriac and have anxiety
3. How to help a hypochondriac

Hypochondriacs spend all their time thinking about what at any moment they can get sick and suffer from a serious pathology or if they do not believe they already have it. They may even have the physical sensation that something is happening to them, however that sensation is caused by their high levels of anxiety. That is, hypochondriacs suffer without actually having anything.

Which are the causes of hypochondria? If you are a hypochondriac, surely this is a question that you have asked yourself in more than one occasion, this is why below I am going to mention to you what are the main causes that this type of anxiety disorder appear.

• To have witnessed death of a loved one due to a chronic illness.
• Being an extremely anxious person.
• Having the need for other people to fix their attention on you.
• Feeling unable to enjoy life.
• Be going through periods of high stress.
• Continually see news, articles or even be surrounded by people who talk all the time about illness and death.

"After having seen what are the main causes that an anxiety disorder such as hypochondria appears, Next we are going to give you a series of tips that will help you so that you can eliminate the following thought: "I am a hypochondriac and I have anxiety, what do I do?"

Fix your attention on the present

The main problem of hypochondriacs is that they spend all the time focused on the future, that is, they spend their time thinking about what will happen? They feel agony just imagining that they may be having an illness right now and that tomorrow they may become more serious. They stop enjoying the day to day and experiencing what they would really be living moment by moment. All this causes them to find themselves trapped within a vicious circle where it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get out and stop being worried.

If you are a hypochondriac person, it is necessary learn to enjoy the day to day, that you realize that at this moment nothing serious is happening to you and that you are living a situation completely different from the way you are feeling, so keep your focus on it here and now. Gestalt therapy it is a good approach to treat these anxiety levels.

Learn to relax

Hypochondriacs have high levels of anxiety all the time, they live with constant stress that does not allow them to feel calm for most of the day, but rather all day. Therefore it is necessary to learn to relax the mind and body. One of the ways to do this is through meditation, practicing relaxation and breathing exercises, receive relaxing massages, perform pleasant activities, etc. Since in this way anxiety levels will be reduced and it will also help to reduce the obsession with health.

Treatment of hypochondria: psychological therapy

Obviously psychological therapy is essential to overcome this type of anxiety disorder. What is worked in therapy is with negative obsessive thoughts modifying them for more rational and positive ones. The patient is taught strategies and techniques to cope with the panic attacks that he may be experiencing in certain moments and finally it is achieved with the passage of the sessions to reduce those high levels of stress and anxiety that are they are living.

Change your conversation topics

The central theme of hypochondriacs is disease, so every time they can talk about it with others people, they tell them how bad they feel, how sick such a person is, the types of ailments that exist today, etc. They also spend time watching news or reading articles about diseases, which makes them all day focused on it.

So if you feel identified with this and want to know how to stop being such a hypochondriacTry to do the opposite and every time you catch yourself talking, reading or watching news about diseases, change it to another topic that is not related. Get your mind used to think about something else that is not only in diseases.

If in your head you follow the same thought about "I am a hypochondriac and I have anxiety: what do I do?" remember that everything you think automatically becomes the emotions you you experience. For example, a person who is thinking all day about how bad he is, about all the worries he has, how difficult his life is, etc. it will surely feel exhausted, sad, can even lead to depression if these types of thoughts persist in your day to day.

How to stop thinking that I have cancer

Hypochondriacs have thoughts all day long, such as:

• "I don't want to die"
• "I'm sure I have a serious illness but they haven't detected it yet"
• "What if the same thing happens to my grandfather?"
• "I am very afraid of getting cancer"
• "Diseases are the order of the day"

So it is perfectly normal for them to be stressed, worried, sad, anxious, exhausted. But,what can we do to help us improve increase our emotional well-being? Modify our thoughts, be aware of them and the moment we find ourselves thinking in a negative way, change them for more positive and objective ones. For example, in the case of hypochondria We could think things like: "I am healthy", "if the doctor told me that I have nothing, it is because that is so", "it does not have to happen to me the same as that person", and so on.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to I am a hypochondriac and I have anxiety: what do I do, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.