Hypochondria

Essay by sawaisahmedCollege, UndergraduateB+, December 2008

download word file, 6 pages 5.0

Hypochondria, also known as Hypochondriasis is an extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments. It is also sometimes called health phobia and is referred to an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. Its cause is still unknown and persists even a physician has assured patient of being healthy. To conduct the research on this illness, I found an article in a non-science magazine "New York," a peer reviewed journal about this topic and an Internet based journal that is not published in any paper form.

In the article, "Listening to Hypochondria," published in New York magazine, the author Mark Levine explains extensively the symptoms, affects and the treatment of a hypochondriac individual. He takes a case of a patient naming "Lee Gardon" who is 45 years old and is married believes that he has MS that is multiple sclerosis. Gardon often goes to the doctors to discuss his ailment but he complains that the doctors he sees do not check him comprehensively.

Although he looks healthy, yet he feels weak, exhausted, lazy, and respiratory complications. His curiosity reaches new heights when he hears that one of his friends of same age has been diagnosed by multiple sclerosis. He then search on the Internet about the disease became more worried and started to observe his own symptoms. He feels "numbness and tingling" in his arms and legs. He then goes to a neurologist who take the MRI of his brain and finds some spots, which the neurologist concludes that the myelin sheath of the nerves have been damaged which is a sign of multiple sclerosis. His family life has disturbed immensely due to this suspicion of multiple sclerosis.

The author Mark Levine then explains the history of hypochondriasis. He informs that the term...