Paranoid+Personality+Disorder

=__**H y p o c h o n d r i a**__ __**M e n t a l**__ __**D i s o r d e r**__ =

“(Hypo means ‘below’ and Chondros means “upper part of the ribs”)” (“Hypochondria: The Impossible Illness”): ** But the meaning has changed. **

** OVERVIEW ** Hypochondria is a mental disorder that is completely made up in the mind. It is an over exaggeration of normal illnesses and symptoms that lead a person to believe that it is serious or even fatal. A person with this disorder will literally think themselves crazy. A sore throat turns into oral cancer, or a bad cough turns into lung cancer, and a simple headache or migraine turns into brain cancer - anything that will kill you. Hypochondria is the fear of dying and constantly thinking you are dangerously ill. Hypochondriac’s will never think they are physically healthy until they get mental help and

 understanding communication rather then family and friends repetitively telling them they are simply “okay”, when they are not. Just because the pain is not the disease they think it is, they still //**FEEL**// the pain. The process of mind over matter works its way into hypochondriacs, making them feel pain more than usual because they think about it so intensely. It can definitely take over an innocent person’s life, and need mental diagnosis - then help.

There is only //one// type of Hypochondria, but there are many disorders that increase the fear. Many people live with this disorder in anxiety, stress, depression, and fear. Any thing that causes some one to become temporarily ill can increase the intensity of this disorder.



** THE SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF ** Hypochondria may vary, because there is not an actual known and proven cause of this disorder. Some factors may be having any type of bad experience in the past, having a serious health issue growing up, hiding emotions, living with a person suffering from this disorder, and possibly genetics. One big symptom is partaking in multiple doctor visits with several different doctors because they are seeking more explanations. If they disagree with one doctors results, they will run to another but still make accusations of an error. Another is how the victim is expressing their pain and if they pinpointed are certain organ or area on their body, but also watch for any changes in the symptom, because this will prove that it was something insignificant. A huge sign that they have this disorder is if their “illness” interferes with their day to day life.

**THE EFFECT THAT ﻿** Hypochondria can have on a person’s daily life is quite saddening. They are truly suffering. Many people will search the world wide web for several hours then do it again the next day until they find a reasonable explanation to the pain in their mind. It can seriously cause some one to become obsessed with an imaginary illness. Many victims have self medicated themselves with unnecessary pills and drugs - and that is abuse, which can lead to very dangerous health conditions.

If they don’t find an answer, they may begin to bug their fam ily, friends, or loved ones and demolish many healthy relationships. They can also destroy themselves with //anger, sadness,// and //frustration//. It is a very negative and fearful disorder.

__// Diagnosing this disorder is not very hard, considering the signs are quite **apparent.** //__ A simple quiz can help encourage some one to seek help:

“ Answer yes or no to the following questions <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">If your answer is 'YES' to five or more of these questions, you might have hypochondriac symptoms.” (“Do you have hypochondria? Take this hypochondriac test.”) <span style="color: #232323; display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">//Or a more in depth quiz online can help encourage help:// <span style="color: #232323; display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> Hypochondria Test <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 130%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Doctors or mental health providers use quizzes and exams, like so, with many multiple questions to help them better understand the patient’s illness. If they find results to be drastic and similar to hypochondria they will give more medical tests. They give a physical exam first and foremost, just to ease their mind and the patients. If all tests result positively they will give an evaluation on the mind and how it works individually. They will question the symptoms, their past experiences and present, and the intensity of the symptoms. If all else fails and the **“symptoms”** still show up, physicians will then make sure the patient has no alcohol or drugs in their system and check their thyroid function. The last three main symptoms of Hypochondria is what helps physicians all over diagnose their patients correctly. The three things are:﻿ <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">  - If the **“symptoms”** have reoccurred longer than at least SIX mo <span style="font-size: 120%; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">nths. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> - The patient worries sickly about the reoccurrence. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> - If the patients personal and daily life.
 * 1) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Do you worry a lot about your health?
 * 2) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Do you visit the doctor and refuse to believe him/her when he/she says you are healthy and have nothing to worry about?
 * 3) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Do you think you have a serious health issue or sickness (e.g. cancer, heart ailments, liver problems, limb and joint __pain__, sleep disorder)?
 * 4) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Are you feeling anxious and worried that you have a very serious illness that has yet to be discovered?
 * 5) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Do you have different pains and aches?
 * 6) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Do you have many different symptoms and signs of illness?
 * 7) <span style="color: #232323; font: 120% Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> When you hear about a illness or disease, do you worry that you might get it too? For example, if you read something online about a disease, or watch a news __report__ or someone mentions it to you ~ do you think "maybe I have that too?"

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">Truthfully, there is no actual ‘drug’ meant **//FOR//** Hypochondria, but because it is a mental-depression/anxiety disorder, doctors tend to prescribe patients with antidepressants. Before resorting to medications, physicians like to use a certain psychotherapy called “__Cognitive Behavioral Therapy__”. This form of therapy will help the patient recognize their issue and help prevent it from continuing. Other methods may be used, such as “__Exposure Therapy__”, a type of therapy that forces the patient to expose themselves to their own fear and find a way through it. Some times, even simple knowledge can be used. Teaching the patient to check themselves and help cope with their disorder. It may not be curable, but may definitely get treated well.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">If some one you know or love may be a victim of hypochondria, they need help and cannot do it themselves. **//DO NOT//** laugh it off or joke with them saying they’re crazy. It **//IS//** serious. Set an appointment with a neighborhood psychologist or therapist, maybe even the family doctor beforehand, and help them //**FEEL**// healthy again. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">If this doesn’t explain it enough, here is a link to a video that helped plenty of people better understand hypochondriacs. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"> media type="custom" key="9479814" align="center"

<span style="color: #2b00ae; display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">__A Hypochondriac's Perspective__ <span style="color: #2b00ae; display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">WebMD: Source__MayoClinic: Source__