In cases of hypochondriac disorder, sufferers are often convinced that they have a serious illness that has simply not been discovered yet, such as a brain tumor. The stronger the health anxiety, the more frequently hypochondriacs seek out new doctors. The driving force behind this is the hope that someone will finally discover the illness that all previous doctors have missed. However, no matter how many doctor visits are made, the diagnosis is the same time and time again: hypochondriac disorder. Unfortunately, this does not reassure a true hypochondriac. After all, it might still be possible that something has indeed been overlooked.
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Important:
If you are currently taking psychotropic medications, please do not discontinue them on your own.
Such a course of action should always be done in consultation with your primary care physician and under their supervision to ensure a safe and successful withdrawal.
Hypochondria: What Really Lies Behind the Fear of Illnesses?
Of course, doctors can overlook something or be wrong with their diagnosis. However, if not just one, but dozens of physicians come to the same conclusion, the likelihood is quite high that the symptoms are indeed imagined and that a hypochondriac disorder is present.
This does not mean that sufferers do not genuinely experience physical symptoms and the resulting anxiety. These symptoms are not caused by a physical illness but by the psyche, namely the obsessive focus on “possible” diseases.
For hypochondriac disorders triggered by constant Googling of illnesses, there are now even specific terms: “cyberchondria” or “Morbus Google.” The fact is: Those who use search engines to ask what this or that physical symptom might mean and which rare disease they might suffer from run the risk of worsening their hypochondriac disorder. This is because Google naturally provides not just one possible cause for chest pain or unexplained fatigue, but dozens of different diseases in which the searched symptoms can also occur.
This constant focus on possible illnesses, especially when it occurs regularly, does not go without consequences for the brain. The constant mental engagement with various diseases and their symptoms ensures that the brain becomes neurally more proficient at perceiving even the slightest discomfort in the body so intensely that even the physically healthiest person can feel seriously ill within a few weeks.
This predisposition promotes the development of hypochondria
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Germany ranks among the top countries internationally in terms of the number of hypochondriac disorders, with men being affected just as frequently as women. But why do so many people become hypochondrics? In conventional medicine, it is generally believed that people with hypochondria are better able than others to perceive feelings within their bodies. The technical term for this is heightened interoceptive awareness. As a result, completely harmless sensations that everyone experiences multiple times a day, such as tingling, muscle twinges, brief hot or cold flashes, and much more, are overinterpreted and sometimes even considered threatening.
When these misinterpretations accumulate, they can lead to the development of further anxiety disorders over time, such as recurring panic attacks. Therefore, it is important to take psychotherapeutic measures early on to address hypochondria.
How to Overcome Hypochondria with Some Practice
In the context of psychotherapy, hypochondriacs can learn to diminish their worrying thoughts with a few simple techniques so that the doctor’s word once again carries enough weight to be reassuring, allowing them to finally turn their attention back to the pleasant aspects of life. Which technique is best suited depends on whether you rely more on your eyes, being a visual type, or if you are more auditory and tend to be guided by what you hear.
Visual people are less driven by internal dialogues (“What if the doctor missed something?”) and more by the images that appear in their mind’s eye. Such individuals typically respond very well to the visual displacement technique, which I will explain in more detail shortly. The visual displacement technique is just one of many strategies in the so-called Bernhardt Method, developed at the Institute for Modern Psychotherapy in Berlin under the direction of anxiety therapist and bestselling author Klaus Bernhardt.
Hypochondria: Which Therapies help the most?
Of course, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or solution-focused brief therapy (by Steve De Shazer) can also be successfully used to treat hypochondriac disorders. However, experiences in recent years have shown that the Bernhardt Method often provides a quicker and more pleasant way to overcome an anxiety disorder. This is partly because the Bernhardt Method completely avoids the use of psychotropic drugs and partly because it incorporates the latest findings in brain research to develop better anxiety-stopping techniques. For example, it distinguishes whether you are a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic type—someone who pays attention to even the slightest emotional sensation and may overinterpret it.
How the Visual Displacement Technique Helps Stop Anxiety
With the visual displacement technique, you focus (preferably with your eyes closed) for a moment on the internal image that frightens you. Maybe you see yourself lying seriously ill in the hospital, or an image of yourself bald and undergoing chemotherapy pops up. Both are indeed very unpleasant scenarios, but for visually inclined hypochondriacs, these thoughts are often part of everyday life. However, if you manage to notice during such a thought whether the negative scene appears more on the left side of your mind or perhaps more on the right, you can immediately test the visual displacement technique.
Suppose the unpleasant scene is more to the left. In that case, try mentally shifting this image all the way to the right. For most people trying this exercise for the first time, the image tends to get stuck in the middle. What follows may seem too simple to have a significant effect. If you allow your negative internal image to change while shifting it, it frequently not only moves easily to the right, but also literally disappears into thin air. An anxiety-inducing internal image that you can no longer perceive thanks to the visual displacement technique will no longer trigger fear of illness at that moment. Just give it a try. Visual types are typically surprised at how simple and helpful this technique is.
With a bit of practice using the visual displacement technique, you are no longer helplessly at the mercy of your obsessive thoughts about a possible illness. Instead, you can make them disappear within seconds, and thus the hypochondriac disorder gradually weakens.
By the way, you can find further explanations of this technique and many other anxiety-stopping techniques in Klaus Bernhardt’s Spiegel bestseller “How to Calm Anxiety”. For an even easier and more convenient approach, you can start right away with our proven self-therapy for hypochondria, available in our online online therapy: “How to Calm Anxiety” And it’s completely risk-free, as we offer a 60-day money-back guarantee if the course does not bring the desired success.
Antidepressants: Why They Do Not Help with Hypochondria
To make life with hypochondria more bearable, many medical professionals advise taking psychotropic drugs. A new meta-study on antidepressants, recently published in the Psychotherapist Journal 4/2018 (page 324), proves how pointless and even dangerous this therapeutic approach can be. It is now considered proven that antidepressants do not work particularly well even for the illness that gave the medications their name, that is, depression. Only 14% of all patients experienced a positive effect. In contrast, 86% showed no effect from the medication or experienced a range of sometimes severe side effects, which further burdened the lives of those affected.
Good to Know:
If a psychiatrist or psychotherapist tells you that you cannot get better without antidepressants, be skeptical! This statement not only contradicts all current studies but also ensures that you merely suppress symptoms while the true causes of health anxiety remain untreated
Hypochondria Arises from Misguided Focus
Excessive health anxieties are triggered by a misguided focus on otherwise harmless physical symptoms. Additionally, unfavorable thought and behavior patterns contribute to the condition’s expansion if not addressed psychotherapeutically. Unfortunately, prescribing psychotropic drugs often gives sufferers the false impression that they do not need to change these thought and behavior patterns. They are frequently unaware that medications do NOT address the root cause of the anxiety disorder, but merely suppress the perceived symptoms. Since antidepressants, in particular, are known to have significant side effects, hypochondriacs risk developing additional problems such as weight gain, loss of libido, or sleep disturbances on top of their imagined illness (hypochondria).
Sleep Disorders Due to Antidepressants Are Not Uncommon
Those who take antidepressants have an 86% chance that these medications will not help and risk the occurrence of additional problems such as weight gain, loss of libido, or sleep disorders. The latter is particularly common. According to a 2018 article in the Deutsche Apotheker-Zeitung, which I have also linked for you, recent studies show that three-quarters of all psychotropic drugs can lead to sleep disorders. Therefore, not only sufferers but also doctors and therapists should seriously consider these new studies.
How the Brain Can Unlearn Hypochondria
Hypochondria is essentially an unconscious, learned focus on physical problems and sensations of all kinds. However, something that can be learned can also be unlearned. The fastest way to unlearn it is by retraining your focus—away from illnesses and towards more joy, ease, and self-determination.
The quickest way to retrain your psyche so that hypochondria largely disappears within a few weeks is the 10-Sentence Method. This method is a key component of the Bernhardt Method and can be conveniently learned from home through an online online therapy. If you are interested and have the time, you can watch the first episode of this online therapy for free right here.
Our Tip:
With the help of the Bernhardt Method, hypochondria can be effectively switched off in the brain. The online online therapy “Finally Anxiety-Free!” guides you step-by-step through this process and often results in a significantly reduced sense of anxiety within just a few days.
Let’s Take This Opportunity to Talk About All Those People Who Don’t Really Suffer from Hypochondria but Only Flirt with the Term:
“I’m such a hypochondriac. As soon as someone mentions they have a scratchy throat, my throat immediately starts to feel rough and uncomfortable.” Because you don’t like this feeling, you now closely monitor whether and when it goes away. And that is the biggest mistake you can make, because any focus on a perceived problem magnifies it, as the following example vividly demonstrates:
Have you ever been to a classical concert? Everyone sits quietly, waiting eagerly for the conductor to take the stage. But suddenly, someone has to cough once, twice—then they quickly rummage for a tissue to muffle any further coughing as best as they can. But while one person is still battling the urge to cough, a rather absurd mental scenario begins in many others.
“Hopefully, I don’t have to cough now; my throat feels scratchy too. Oh, I wish I had something to drink. Just don’t cough.”
But merely the thought of not wanting to cough triggers that unpleasant sensation in the throat, which can only be somewhat relieved by coughing.
That’s Why Our Tip is:
Stop referring to yourself as hypochondriac. By doing so, you are training your brain to become increasingly attentive to internal processes, making the development of a genuine hypochondriac disorder more likely.
Instead of calling yourself a hypochondriac, tell yourself that you are very empathetic and can easily put yourself in others’ shoes. Then quickly direct your attention to someone who can benefit from your empathetic nature. Or even better: Try to let yourself be influenced by humor and a good mood rather than scratching, itching, and other physical symptoms. This focus can also be consciously trained, and the result is much more enjoyable.
Troy A.
Tampa, Florida