Illness Anxiety Disorder
Sickness anxiety disorder, formerly known as hypochondriasis, is popularly known as
disease of illness. Despite the fact that people do not have a physical disorder
, they are manifested by endless somatic complaints,
ruminative thoughts and intense worries that they have or will have a serious
ailment.
People with this disorder may complain of many physical complaints.
The main ones are headache, backache, heart palpitations, sweating,
symptoms such as chills, constipation, sexual reluctance
symptoms of a serious illness and they may believe that they have a serious illness
. One of the most common situations is that people frequently have their pulse
checked and their blood pressure measured.
The medical examination does not reassure them and they remain unsteady in believing their own thoughts.
So despite all the counter evidence, they have a major illness. they cannot stop themselves from thinking about what they have or will have.
In a study he conducted in 1970, Pilowsky drew attention to three factors in individuals with illness anxiety
. These can be listed as excessive physical preoccupation, fear of getting sick, and belief in illness. In addition, there are researchers who divided the underlying causes of illness
into two.
When the prevalence of illness anxiety disorder in the society is examined, it is stated that it is between 1% and
5%, and when the data obtained from the people who applied to the hospital are examined, its prevalence is between 3% and 13%. Although the age of onset of this
disorder can vary, it usually occurs between the ages of 20 and 30
.
WHY DO I EXPERIENCE THE DISEASE?
The onset of the disorder When we look at the reasons
, those with this disorder usually mention the presence of sensitivity in their bodily sensations
. r. For this reason, he feels the physical symptoms such as heart palpitations, back pain
more than usual, thus increasing their belief that it will be a
disease symptom. At the same time, another
factor is that the individual has thoughts that he/she may have the disease and its symptoms
that he/she hears around him/her, and it causes intense anxiety
and disorders by increasing the possibilities
that he/she may also have the disease. . In addition, this disorder may develop after the death of one of the relatives of the individual
or after the news of the disease spread on the social media
. Another important factor is that the person
suppresses the problems he does not want to face and can turn to physical
ailments in order not to face them. is mentioned. It is thought that the experiences and learnings learned from the families
may cause the
illness anxiety disorder. As a case in support of this
, in line with the information received by individuals with this disorder, complaints similar to those of family
members are revealed.
Individuals with this disorder usually say that "every symptom is a disease
> is a messenger”, “I am well does not mean that I am always healthy”,
“I may have been misdiagnosed”.
Diagnostic Criteria for Illness Anxiety Disorder according to DSM-V;
A) Constantly thinking that there is or will be a serious illness.
B) Even if the physical symptom is usually absent, severe and are
symptoms that are not serious. If the person has a different disease or is likely to have a disease
(if there is a family history of a serious illness), excessive thinking about this issue is observed
. There is an anxiety and fear
, this fear is easily caught.
D) In the behavior of the individual's health status, excessive behaviors such as constantly checking
parts of the body or going to the hospital / doctor
talk In this case, avoidance behaviors can be observed.
E) The above-mentioned preoccupation with the idea of illness has been present for at least six months
. However, the type of disease that the person fears may change
during this process.
F) Constant thinking about the disease and preoccupation with being sick,
Somatic Symptom Disorder, Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder,
> Somatic Perception Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or Delusional Disorder
cannot be better explained by a different mental disorder such as somatic type (DSM-V, 2014).
DSM-V has two different categories for Illness Anxiety Disorder. Defines type
. Accordingly (DSM-V, 2014);
- Care-Seeking Type: It can be frequent visits to the doctor or screening interventions such as health examination, analysis,
examination.
- Types of Avoidance of Care: Applying to health care, hospitals and doctors rarely
may be avoidance.
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