(no subject)

[hannibalv]

Is believing you have psychiatric hypochondria a symptom of itself?

Comments

[cursedcassandra.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[dangerousedge.livejournal.com]

The DSM-IV (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - fourth edition) has clearly defined criteria for clinical diagnosis:

1.) You are convinced that your hae a serious disease or illness.
2.) You believe you are very sick even after going to doctors who have performed comprehensive medical examinations and have told you that there is nothing to worry about.
3.) The concern is persistant (at least 6 months) and interferes with your life.

Repititious or intrusive worries about one's health or bodily appearance can also be linked to certain forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Diagnostic criteria for OCD:
1.) Obsessions are disturbing thoughts, impulses, or images that you find distessing but which keep coming back to you even when you try to think about something else.
2.) Compulsions are repetitive ritualized behaviors (or thoughts) that you are driven to do (or think) to relieve the anxiety caused by obsessions.
3.) The obsessions and compulsions are upsetting to you, take up a lot of your time (more than an hour a day), or interfere with your life in some important way.

There is no substitute for an experienced medical professional and a second opinion. I recommend both!

[(Anonymous)]

Ok, so I know this is a little late, but, according to that definition, you would have had to go to a MD to have the MD tell you that you do not have psychiatric hypochondria. I do not believe a doctor would tell you that do don't have it, especially if you reported the symptoms. So, then you do have it, and therefore it's no longer hypochondria. -dana