Suspicion of the reason. Who is this suspicious person? Obsessive type of hypochondria

Do you feel anxious about future events? Are you too worried about the opinions of others? If such feelings are intrusive and cause anxiety, this is suspiciousness...

What is suspiciousness?

So, suspiciousness is a feeling constant anxiety: worries about the future, about the ideality of relationships with loved ones, professional growth, the opinions of others, constant torment over sores and many other reasons... The problem is that a suspicious person (this is a proven fact) invents or exaggerates the problem, if there is one at all. Often such people have low self-esteem, constant thoughts that they are doing something wrong all the time...

The relatives of suspiciousness are suspicion, distrust, timidity, cowardice, timidity, and complexes. In other words, a suspicious person is a carrier of one or more phobias. It constantly seems to him that those around him do not really like him, that someone wishes him harm, trouble... Such feelings lead a person to a mental disorder. And the deeper they are, the stronger these disorders are. Ultimately, a suspicious person is no longer someone who is able to cope with his emotions, and he needs the help of specialists! Suspiciousness often acts not only as an independent unit, but as part of a deeper mental disorder, for example, obsessive neuroticism, hypochondriasis, pathological jealousy, a state of constant persecution...

The main causes of suspiciousness and anxiety

Experts say that the causes of suspiciousness have roots in childhood. The exaggerated desire of parents to make their children too successful method Constantly poking at shortcomings leads to complexes and suspiciousness. When a child often experiences feelings of guilt, especially without guilt in reality, in the future he will turn out to be a suspicious person. This is the worst thing parents can do for their children.

A common cause of suspiciousness is failure, negative experiences of betrayal, gossip, a person stops believing and thinks extremely negatively about himself, begins to dislike himself, sometimes even hates him extremely...

Psychologists say that anxious and suspicious people drive themselves crazy with their doubts. Any slightest problematic situation can turn into a disaster for them! The fear of making a mistake forces them to go over the options in their heads dozens of times, or even more. It is sometimes impossible to convince such people. The situation is interesting in that a very suspicious person, despite a pathological distrust of loved ones and others, expects help from them and counts on understanding.

If a person is constantly preoccupied with thoughts about illness, feeling unwell, looking for diseases heard or read - this is a hypochondriac. He is a regular client of clinics, undergoes all kinds of examinations and so on. Such people are dominated by self-hypnosis, which over time leads to fear.

Is it necessary to fight suspiciousness?

If a person is suspicious, what to do in this case? This feeling, which can develop into a pathological character trait, must be eradicated. After all, in a state of suspiciousness, a person cannot feel all the joys of life. He constantly looks for the bad in all events that happen. Constant dissatisfaction makes a person a grouch, and anxiety added to this generally blocks the path to positive emotions in life. It is difficult for such a person in the family, he cannot trust others, and tries to solve all problems himself. This plunges him into even greater suspiciousness and dissatisfaction from accumulated problems, and a vicious circle of unexpressed negative emotions arises. Of course, you need to get rid of suspiciousness; it does not lead to good things, but, on the contrary, ruins the life of both the anxious person and those around him.

How does this character trait affect human health?

Constant dissatisfaction and a chronic feeling of fear lead to a decrease in the production of the hormone of happiness (serotonin). And it takes part in many processes in the body. As a result, processes lack necessary substances, their deficiency occurs, which affects a person’s well-being. He feels constant weakness, can be observed nervous breakdowns, weakening of the immune system, and as a result - exacerbation of chronic diseases. It has been proven that suspicious people get sick more often. A person associates this with what he thought up for himself in a state of anxiety, but does not understand that, by getting out of this state, he will solve more than half of his health problems.

It’s not for nothing that they say that all diseases are caused by nerves. Suspiciousness primarily affects nervous system person. He convinces himself that everything will be bad, begins to believe in it and seeks confirmation of his faith.

Can a successful person be suspicious?

Of course not! For a successful person is, first of all, self-confident. As a rule, he thinks positively and is ready for new discoveries. Successful man if he has fears, he drives them away from himself. If he cares about the opinion of the world around him, then not to such an extent that he engages in self-criticism. Everything in moderation, self-criticism is useful, but should not reach the limits of rejection of oneself as an individual. Everyone knows that a person’s personality should be developed harmoniously. Fear is the basic instinct of self-preservation, and it must be present in a person to a certain extent, but if fear controls the personality, then the person drives himself into a corner and does not know a way out... Such a person cannot fully live, breathe full breasts, to make yourself and your loved ones happy... He suffers in the literal sense of the word. Therefore, he needs help...

Self-worth as a way to overcome suspiciousness

When the question arises of how to stop being a suspicious person, you need to sit down and understand the causes of the illness, analyze life situations, which make the fears inside constantly reborn. Often, having sorted it out, a person understands that people did not wish him harm at all, that everything was far-fetched... Of course, the situation must be considered from all sides. Having realized the groundlessness of suspicions, it is easier to move on, removing from the soul such an ailment as suspiciousness.

If the situation that you are sorting out on the shelves causes pain, then it is better to protect yourself from communicating with the offender, without clarifying any relationship, forbidding yourself to blame him, yourself and anyone else. Just stop communicating and try to live as if there was no offender! The main thing is to stop eating yourself for the situation, look for the positive, draw conclusions and move on. There is something good to take from every negative situation! And this is important! Life is a school where we learn, improve, and whoever does not live does not make mistakes. It’s normal to make mistakes, but the main thing is to draw conclusions and not repeat mistakes, but negative people need to stay away. Let them be left to their own devices with their claims...

Changing habits for self-confidence

So start valuing yourself. You are an individual, you deserve to love and be loved, and you are the one unique person, you won’t find another like it, live, breathe and give joy to yourself and those around you.

It happens that even a strong person cannot cope with his suspiciousness and suspiciousness. But if there is a desire, then you need to change your habits, since it is habits that push us to act every time according to the script. You need to start small, for example, take a different road to work. Or change your daily schedule a little, introducing more positive things into it. Changing habits entails changing your mood and lifestyle. Then there will be no place for suspiciousness.

An attitude towards the best - victory over suspiciousness

Now we understand that the main thing lies inside a person. And him life position determines his mood... According to the definition, a suspicious person is a synonym for the word suspicious, distrustful, which means seeing danger in everything. Therefore, believing and setting yourself up for the best is the first aid for such an illness. Self-hypnosis is a very effective thing, but if it is aimed at creation, that’s good! You also need to listen to positive assessments of yourself from others. Perfectionism helps a lot - that is, the belief that is the opposite of fears, the belief that I can and should strive for the best. Then there will be no trace of suspiciousness left.

Psychotherapy in the fight against anxiety

Instead of negativity, we look for positivity.
We criticize ourselves in moderation (only one on one with ourselves), only in order not to fall ill with the other extreme - narcissism.
We don’t talk badly about ourselves in front of people, even as a joke.
When we get out of bed and go to bed, we give ourselves a positive attitude.
We force ourselves to smile, even if it costs incredible effort.
We destroy fears, we can laugh at them.

The role of busyness and rational thinking for a suspicious person

It is necessary to occupy yourself more so that there is no time for empty thoughts - a person busy with work, worries or hobbies does not have time to indulge in self-criticism - he lives! What does a suspicious person mean? One that does not have a constant logic, coherence and a specific goal motivating to achieve success, without which it is impossible to achieve positive result in any endeavor. Therefore, to combat suspiciousness it is necessary to develop rational thinking which allows you to pull yourself together, discard the sensory sphere, think soberly and logically, and therefore correctly and adequately assess the situation. Rational thinking man will never allow the emergence of disturbing thoughts that are not justified by logic. And if there really is some difficult situation, sober thinking and rationalism help solve it in as soon as possible with maximum efficiency.

What is suspiciousness? suspicious person– what is he like? “I have become very suspicious and fearful, I constantly beat myself up...” “I am very suspicious, I constantly think that everyone is looking at me, evaluating and condemning me.” “I am suspicious and constantly worry about work, I am afraid of the failure of my projects.” “I think all the time that everything will be bad, I cry, I spoil the nerves of my family and friends. I also constantly feel like I’m terminally ill...” Sound familiar? We can hear such words from friends, relatives and acquaintances, and often from ourselves.

In this article, cognitive psychologist Elena Skob will tell you what suspiciousness is and what are the characteristics of its manifestation, analyze the causes of suspiciousness and tell you about ways to get rid of it. You will learn about what methods exist for diagnosing suspiciousness, and also receive recommendations on the communicative sphere of suspicious personality and correction of suspiciousness.

What is suspiciousness?

Anxiety is one of the most pronounced personality characteristics. An anxious person is easy to spot: such people stumble during conversations, make a lot of unnecessary manipulations, and ask a lot of predictive questions. One of them is suspiciousness. Often suspiciousness is compared with suspicion, mistrust, timidity, timidity, cowardice, and complexes.

A suspicious person is a person who is regularly exposed to serious concerns with or without reason. A person with this syndrome is constantly in fear that something bad will happen soon. Frequent worries arise against the background unnecessary worries about future possible disasters that may occur and fear of losing control of circumstances.

What are suspicious people afraid of? The two main fears of suspicious people are:

Fear of being deceived. Suspicious people have negative attitudes that often say out loud: “You can’t trust anyone,” “There are enemies all around, everyone is looking askance at me,” “Everyone around is lying and wishing me harm,” etc.
Fear of getting sick. Suspicious individuals are fixated on health, study medicine on their own, and love to look for fatal diseases(hypochondria – manic concern for one’s own health)

Nowadays a very common question is: Is suspiciousness a disease or a character?

Anxiety as a character trait is not a pathology, however, its presence over a long period of time can cause mental disorder.Often this character trait is a symptom hidden development serious illnesses, from which it is necessary to highlight psychasthenia And hypochondria.

Reasons for suspiciousness. How does it manifest itself?

Why does suspiciousness appear and what are its causes?

As mentioned earlier, a suspicious person constantly thinks about the negative and his inadequacy. Soon such thoughts develop into a feeling of doom, which is reflected throughout life.

The patient begins to have problems with interpersonal communication, because the feeling of insecurity becomes stronger every day. A person begins to worry about his health, relationships with family, friends and significant other, and career. Not everyone can survive something like this. Often, suspiciousness leads to isolation, loss of friends and little communication.

Suspiciousness can manifest itself in all people, regardless of gender, race, age category. It affects children and adults, men and women equally.

According to most experts in the field of psychology, suspiciousness has three forms of manifestation:

Inflated self-esteem: In this situation, a person prefers to put his own interests above the needs of others.
Problems with choosing actions: suspicious people are afraid that their actions may become a mistake.
Increased anxiety regarding future events.

Psychologists believe that suspiciousness arises in people for the following reasons::

Incorrect parenting . Constant prohibitions, punishments, and negative labeling can lead to the child feeling guiltlessly guilty in any situation. When parents put the opinions of others first, forgetting about the interests and experiences of the child, constantly pulling him back, forcing him to behave in one way or another without explanation, the likelihood that the little man will grow up suspicious and insecure adults increases.
Self-doubt, complexes . Such people tend to doubt the correctness of their actions and are afraid of making a mistake. If something doesn’t go according to plan, then anxiety grips them with even greater force. Find out.
An event that happened in the past and traumatized the psyche something that happened unexpectedly and unexpectedly. Having once experienced a significant loss, betrayal, mental or physical violence , the person will try to avoid repetition with all his might.
Long-term unsuccessful life experience . For example, a long-term close relationship with an insincere and dishonest person.
Mental disorders . When disharmony in personal positions and behavior then they talk about things like paranoid disorder personalities, hypochondria, psychasthenia. If a suspicious person does not want to fight such a condition, the syndrome develops into a full-fledged disease, as a result of which physical and psychological health is undermined.

Suspicious people are afraid that their actions may be a mistake.

Suspiciousness is dangerous because it leads to such psychosomatic problems, such as: depression, respiratory diseases, depression, irritability. Suspiciousness not only darkens a person’s life, but also paralyzes his activity, prevents him from achieving success on his path, and building a harmonious personal life.

Diagnosis of suspiciousness

Perhaps the only “advantage” of suspiciousness is that itit's easy to notice.

Currently, psychologists have developed diagnostic methods, which will help answer the question: are you suspicious?

Methods for diagnosing anxiety and anxiety in schoolchildren:

– Test school anxiety Phillips;

– Diagnostics anxiety states in children (CMAS);

– Academic Anxiety Scale.

Methods for diagnosing anxiety and anxiety in adults:

– Situational (reactive) anxiety scale;

– Personal scale of manifestation of anxiety (anxiety);

– Anxiety scale;

– Scale personal anxiety(Spielberger questionnaire);

– Diagnosis of professional and parental anxiety;

– Scale for determining anxiety and depression.

There are also personal techniques, where anxiety acts as a diagnosable component.

Methods for diagnosing personality traits in preschoolers and schoolchildren:

– Graphic technique “Cactus”;

– Test “Hand”;

– Methodology “contour S.A.T.-N”;

– Children's apperception test (DAT);

– “Family Drawing” test.

Methods for diagnosing personality traits in adults:

– Test “Home. Tree. Human";

– Eysenck's "Self-Assessment of Mental States" Test;

– Personality questionnaire Bekhterev Institute (LOBI);

– Test “Non-existent animal”;

– Clinical questionnaire for identification and assessment neurotic conditions;

- Grade neuropsychic stress, asthenia, low mood;

– Questionnaire of characterological accentuation of personality and neuropsychological instability;

– Questionnaire for determining the level of neuroticism and psychopathization (UNP).

Learn to understand your emotions and experiences , determine the very moment when a wave of anxiety approaches. Say “Stop!” in time. bad thoughts, fear, excitement, panic.
React to troubles “factually” . There's no point in thinking ahead bad consequences any situation.
How to overcome suspiciousness? Stay positive. Gradually move away from it, trying to focus on the good things. Think about yourself and your surroundings in a positive way. Live “here and now”, find the positive and enjoy it.
Try to plan rather than predict . Save common sense always and in everything. Develop logical thinking which will allow you, regardless of the situation. If there are no grounds, you should not make accusatory assumptions.
How to deal with suspiciousness? Change your attitude towards people . First, you need to understand why you lack trust in others. Keep a notebook, write down your feelings, make notes in it every time when someone humiliated, offended, or betrayed you. Be sure to look for reasons for behavior. Thus, you will quickly come to your senses and realize what exactly caused such emotions.
How to deal with suspiciousness: try to look at others from a different perspective . It is important to understand that they exist in almost identical conditions to you. Always put yourself in the shoes of another person to see life through someone else's eyes. If a person has offended you for biased reasons, try to understand him. You should not get hung up on petty situations; accept other people’s mistakes more easily. Stop thinking that every person you meet is harmful. Learn to trust others and yourself. If you push people away because of your suspiciousness, distrust, and suspicion, you will remain lonely. Vicious circle needs to be torn apart.
Develop personality traits such as: confidence in myself, , self-discipline, optimism, cheerfulness, ability to trust people.
Don't project mistakes of the past onto the present and future. . If you have previously suffered failure in your career (personal relationships, friendships, etc.), you should not transfer this drama into your present life. Learn to let go of the past, become wise man, which does not pull a heavy load behind it.
Get rid of negative thoughts . As soon as a bad thought creeps in, cut it off and throw it out of your head. Replace empty space with pleasant memories or happy events. Don't argue, don't analyze, cut off the thought forever.

How to overcome suspiciousness?

Suspicious people need help from loved ones, ask and even demand it, but at the same time suspect them of infidelity and betrayal. If among your acquaintances, friends, or relatives there is a suspicious person, then stick to a few practical advice communication with him:

What to do:

Show that you are a reliable person, sometimes little things are enough for this: not being late, answering his letters on time, actually showing that you are a prudent person.
Help him realize that it's not so bad if it does happen.
Jokes softly and kindly.
Suggest contacting a specialist.

What not to do:

Fall into slavery.
Arrange surprises, even pleasant ones.
Share your own concerns.
Talk about difficult topics.

Even the usual, and not pathological, form of suspiciousness causes a lot of inconvenience to its owner. And if the latter needs to be fought with the help of specialists: psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, then you can try to eradicate the former yourself.

The article was prepared with the participation of Belozerova Y. V., Goncharova V. Yu., Zhurinskaya V. O., Stovb E. A., Sychevsky O. V.

Are you a suspicious person? How do you deal with suspiciousness? As always, we welcome questions and comments on the article.

Master's student of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Moscow Pedagogical State University, specialty - " Cognitive psychology in education and management." She has a basic psychological education and graduated from Pacific State University. Currently working as a teacher-psychologist in the department social services adult citizens. Professional interests: studying cognitive processes, including mnemonic techniques; studying emotional intelligence teenagers and adults.

Each of us perceives everything that happens in our own way. For some, the events of life around them seem like a problem, while for others, they seem like a simple joke. A suspicious person is an individual who takes every little thing personally. It seems to him that the whole world is against him. Although eliminating this quality is not so easy, it is still possible.

Suspiciousness is a special feeling that causes fear or anxiety in a person, often unfounded. It makes you think that others think of a person much worse than it really is. The individual inevitably develops negative emotions and excitement. Such people are very touchy and insecure. All this together negatively affects relationships, as well as career and health. A suspicious person is one who causes inconvenience to both himself and those around him.

This quality is special mental state, which is most pronounced in adolescence, but often does not go away in adults. The source of his education may be an unhappy childhood, life period And mental disorders. In this case, there is a desire to eliminate this meaningless barrier in your character. So let's figure out how to stop being a suspicious person.

First, you need to clearly analyze your life and actions: when others offended you, what feeling the person experienced. Maybe it was in vain, and no one intended to cause harm. Looking at everything from the optimistic side is what a suspicious person should learn to do. This will be quite difficult to do, but otherwise the result will not be achieved.

When waking up in the morning, you need to internally tell yourself that you are successful, friendly, good and do not pay attention to unpleasant circumstances. The next step to changing your character is to find those positive qualities which absolutely every person is endowed with. You cannot consider yourself to be made up of only shortcomings (or solid advantages), because such people simply do not exist. There is something bad in everyone, but there are also good character traits, so they need to be cultivated. It is recommended to remember all the most successful moments of your life. When communicating, for example, with work colleagues, you should not even jokingly talk about weak character traits. Learn to laugh not only at others, but also at yourself.

A suspicious person is a person fixated on his own shortcomings. If you can’t think rationally, you need to do what you love. People who have their own hobby do not suffer from suspiciousness.

It is useful to keep your own diary, in which all past unpleasant events and the person’s attitude towards them will be recorded: whether the experiences were justified, how and why the person acted, how he should have behaved. Thanks to such an analysis, an anxious and suspicious person will be able to see himself from the outside, and over time the problem will certainly be resolved.

Hypochondria is a mental disorder in which a person develops a strong belief in the development of serious and life-threatening diseases that exist only in his disordered imagination. There are no objective signs confirming the occurrence of an incurable pathology.

Hypochondriacs are focused on their own health, constantly complaining about their well-being, and looking for symptoms of somatic diseases.

Most often, with hypochondria, patients “discover” malignant neoplasms and fatal diseases digestive system, genitals, heart. The degree of conviction in the presence of diseases and their assessment is constantly changing.

Long-term hypochondria changes a person’s character, making him suspicious, irritable and even aggressive in cases where relatives do not take health complaints seriously. Psychotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists treat the disease.

Etymology

Hypochondria is a word derived from the ancient Greek hypochondria. Translated this means top part abdomen or otherwise hypochondrium. Ancient scientists believed that it was in this part of the body that there was a painful source of increased suspiciousness.

In the ICD (International Classification of Diseases), it is customary to designate the disease as hypochondriacal disorder. Some sources also use another term - hypochondriacal syndrome.

Classification

Hypochondriacal disorder in modern psychiatry refers to mental disorders somatoform type. This indicates the reversibility of the disease and pathological changes in the functioning of a number of somatic (physiological) mechanisms in the patient’s body.

Species

In psychiatry, there are three types of hypochondria. The division is based on the degree and characteristics of pathological disorders in the patient’s thinking.

Obsessive type of hypochondria

It develops after stress or occurs due to excessive impressionability of a person. Mostly diagnosed in overly sensitive people with excessive impressionability and a rich range of emotions.

The first signs of obsessive hypochondria may appear after careless statements by medical staff, after watching medical programs, or after the interlocutor talks about his illness.

Mild hypochondriacal syndrome is detected in medical university students; for this condition there are specific designation- “third-year illness.”

Obsessive worries about one’s own health may appear in people who, due to life circumstances, have encountered special needs for the first time. medical activities.

More often pathological disorder does not lead to physiological changes, does not require treatment and goes away over time without a trace and in the absence of medical intervention.

TO distinctive features obsessive hypochondria includes:

Sudden attacks of fear and anxiety for one’s own health. It manifests itself as a fear of catching a cold when going outside on windy and cold days, and a fear of getting poisoned when eating at public food outlets. The patient is well aware that he himself can significantly reduce the risk of developing the disease, but this does not reduce his fears;
Maintaining a critical attitude towards your condition. The hypochondriac understands the abnormality of behavior, draws logical conclusions and makes attempts to normalize his attitude towards health with the help of self-persuasion, but anxiety cannot be completely overcome.

With an obsessive type of pathology, most often it is possible to cope with the disorder by switching to the need to care for others, changing the field of activity, and new hobbies.

Overvalued hypochondria

It is characterized by a logically correct and understandable concern for health, but for the most part it is overly exaggerated. The hypochondriac practically puts all his efforts and own time spends on ensuring that the functions of the entire body are ideal.

Prevention comes first severe pathologies– heart disease, cancerous tumors. Constantly used different ways cleansing the body, strict diets and refusal of certain foods can be practiced.

Hypochondriacs with an overvalued type of disorder are characterized by self-medication, excessive and sometimes dangerous use folk methods general improvement, implementation of “pseudo-scientific” statements.

Health for such people is one of the most important hobbies; hobbies, work and even communication with loved ones become unimportant and secondary. This often leads to family dissolution, dismissal from work and, as a consequence, a deterioration in financial well-being.

Delusional type of hypochondria

At the heart of development hypochondriacal syndrome false conclusions lie. A characteristic feature of patients is paralogical thinking, in which the patient makes his own conclusions about the deterioration of his health, based on delusional thoughts and ideas.

A hypochondriac develops cancer when this state may be associated with the appearance of a crack in the wall, from this it is concluded that the house is built from radioactive materials.

Any dissuading on the part of others is regarded as a deliberate deception, and refusal of treatment by doctors confirms the incurability of the disease.

Delusional hypochondriacal disorder is considered the most severe form of pathology. It may be accompanied by schizophrenia with delusions and hallucinations, and depression. Suicide attempts are recorded in patients.

Pathological manifestations with hypochondria may be associated not only with fears for one’s health. In some patients it is determined panic fear lose your own beauty.

They are afraid of injuries that could lead to body defects. Experiences, as a rule, are aimed at body weight, hair, skin, teeth.

Reasons

There is no single theory of the occurrence of hypochondria. Most psychiatrists believe that the disease is multifactorial, that is, it develops under the influence of several provoking factors at once. Highest value has personality type human and the impact of traumatic conditions.

Conditions of occurrence

Autonomous flow of the main physiological functions may be disrupted if a person’s attention is constantly focused on general condition the whole body. A certain personality type predisposes to the development of such disorders.

In most cases, hypochondria occurs in people who are suspicious, with high level anxiety prone to.

Predisposing factors

The causes of hypochondria are divided into endogenous and exogenous. Endogenous factors include:

Hereditary character traits - indecisiveness, increased sensitivity and suspiciousness, tendency to reason, rapid appearance obsessions;
Pathological interpretation of signals inside the body. With hypochondriasis, patients perceive normal signals that develop normally as pathological, for example, pain, colic, or a feeling of heat. It is not entirely known what the false decryption is connected with; some scientists believe that the reason similar violation lies in the functioning of the brain, others suggest that the disorder is localized at the level of peripheral nerves.

Exogenous factors of hypochondria include:

Excessive care and concern of parents about the health of their child;
Long-term diseases at an early age. In such situations, already from childhood, a strong belief in one’s own illness is developed, which prompts one to always regard bodily sensations as a threat to one’s own health;
Depression, long-term traumatic situations, stress. They lead to emotional and mental exhaustion and the vulnerability of the psyche increases many times over. A person’s attention is fixed on insignificant bodily signals, which disrupts the normal course of physiological functions. As a consequence of this, autonomic failures develop, which are regarded by the hypochondriac as symptoms of a serious illness.

There is an opinion that hypochondria is a pathologically altered instinct of self-preservation, or otherwise the fear of death. Hypochondriacal disorder can manifest itself as both pronounced and weak reactions to disruptions in the functioning of one’s body.

Some patients with hypochondria, when a serious illness is detected, do not take the situation seriously and continue to pay more attention to imaginary signs.

Clinical picture of hypochondriacal syndrome

Hypochondriacs at a doctor's appointment talk about discomfort and pain in different parts of the body. Often they have already diagnosed themselves in advance or in conversation push the doctor to identify a certain disease in them.

The degree of conviction varies, but patients more often point to pathologies that affect only one organ or system of the body. So, at one of the appointments, a hypochondriac can be sure that he has ulcerative lesion stomach, on repeat assures about the development of cancer of this body.

The organs about which patients are more likely to express anxiety include:

HEART AND ENTIRE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM. Patients constantly check their pulse, measure blood pressure, and evaluate their well-being after the slightest physical activity. Minor deviations from the norm in indicators are regarded as a sign of a heart attack and other dangerous disease;
Gastrointestinal tract. Constipation, colic, increased gas formation according to patients are the first symptoms malignant neoplasms;
BRAIN. Pain of any intensity and localization is perceived as a manifestation of brain cancer;
GENITAL SYSTEM. Fear of venereal diseases persists even if the hypochondriac does not behave sex life. Men spend a lot of time assessing urinary function, women constantly monitor menstrual cycle, the nature of the discharge.

The patient’s story about his feelings can be either rich, vivid, or inexpressive - the story is told without emotions. The doctor’s attempts to prove the absence of somatic pathologies are perceived with aggression.

With hypochondriacal disorder, the patient's complaints do not fit into the symptoms of somatic diseases.

Patients often note the appearance of:

PARASTHESIA – sensations of numbness, tingling, goosebumps in different parts of the body;
PSYCHALGIA - pain that does not indicate pathology certain body;
SENESTALGIA – unusual pain, manifested as twisting, eversion of a certain area, burning;
SYNAESTHESIA – general discomfort associated with changes in the motor function of the body. Patients may complain of heaviness in the body, a feeling of emptiness, swaying and dizziness when walking.

With the development of hypochondria, a person’s character also changes. Patients are completely concentrated only on their sensations and emotions, which makes them selfish and indifferent. Accusations are often made against loved ones who do not see the seriousness of their imaginary illnesses.

Hypochondriacs often refuse work and hobbies that, in their opinion, can harm their health - from physical labor, from traveling, walking on fresh air. The circle of contacts of patients is narrowed, which often becomes the reason for complete isolation.

The difference between a whiner and a hypochondriac

In everyday life, hypochondriacs are often called those who are prone to sadness, romantic experiences, suffer from a lack of meaning in life and from the imperfection of the world. However, this is not a disease, but a character trait. It is not difficult to distinguish a true hypochondriac from a whiner. medical education.

The whiner is more concerned with getting attention. If relatives, under the influence of complaints, insist on examination and treatment, then the malingerer quickly recovers. But in a few days the situation may repeat itself.

The suffering of a real hypochondriac is genuine, his fear of death is absolutely real, all thoughts are concentrated around uncomfortable sensations and experiences.

Dissatisfaction with medical care is caused not by a desire to attract attention and assert oneself, but by the fact that, in their opinion, they use wrong methods, which can lead to fatal outcome.

Hypochondriacs often torment themselves by using folk ways treatment, diets, numerous examinations. None pleasant sensations They don’t feel bad about it, but they can’t stop.

Why is hypochondria dangerous?

Hypochondria is a disease, but many people around the patient simply do not understand this. They support the patient and take care of him, considering him weak-willed and suspicious.

But this only aggravates the mental disorder, due to which hypochondriacs can remain captive to their increasing phobias for the rest of their lives.

A particular danger of hypochondria lies in the fact that the patient can prescribe sometimes strong medications without prescription. Their uncontrolled use leads to pathological change functions of the liver, pancreas and kidneys, which as a result leads to the development of real diseases.

Diagnostics

If you identify signs of hypochondria, you must make an appointment with a neuropsychiatrist, an experienced psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

For assistance to be effective, it must be carried out full examination psycho-emotional sphere person.

Requires installation and medical reasons, which could provoke hypochondria, for this purpose patients are prescribed:

EchoEG;
MRI of the brain;
X-ray of the spine and lungs;
Ultrasound internal organs;
Urine and blood tests.

The patient needs consultation with a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, neurologist, endocrinologist, and oncologist.

After somatic diseases have been excluded based on the examinations, psychotherapists will need to differentiate hypochondria from diseases such as schizophrenia, depression, panic and somatization disorders.

Is it necessary to fight hypochondria and is it possible? pathological disorder fix it yourself?

If you develop hypochondriacal syndrome, you should definitely consult a doctor as soon as possible. The doctor will send you for a series of examinations, after which it can be clearly established that there are no real diseases.

In the future, experienced psychotherapists should work with the patient, with their help it will be possible to establish the root cause hypochondriacal neurosis and find ways to eliminate it.

You can rarely do this on your own. The progression of hypochondria leads to the emergence of persistent phobias, against the background of which psycho-emotional state It gets even worse.

If during the examination it is revealed mental illness, then the patient will require a course of specific drug treatment. And only a psychiatrist who treats patients with psychosomatic pathologies can choose it correctly.

Principles of treatment

The main method of treating patients with hypochondria is psychotherapy. The selection of methods is determined by the identified violations; most often they are used:

Psychoanalytic therapy;
Cognitive behavioral therapy;
Gestal therapy;
Hypnosis.

The main goal of treatment is to eliminate obsessive thoughts, correction of erroneous conclusions. It is advisable that during the recovery process the patient communicates with only one doctor.

If several specialists are involved in treatment at once, then favorable conditions to manipulate them, which reduces the likelihood of getting rid of hypochondriacal disorder.

Medications psychotherapists try to prescribe extreme cases. This is due to the fact that patients can drug therapy take it as confirmation that they have incurable disease.

The most commonly used pharmaceutical drugs are antidepressants, nootropics, and vegetative stabilizers.

How to treat yourself

You can get rid of hypochondriacal syndrome in uncomplicated cases on your own, but to do this, you first need to admit that you are sick with this particular disease and undergo an examination to exclude other pathologies.

In order to reduce psychosomatic disorder you need to create more positive moments in your life, help with this:

Hobby. You need to find something to do that will captivate you and take up most of your free time;
Communication with friends;
Walks in the fresh air, in parks, classes in sports clubs;
Pets. Fluffy pets and even fish are excellent psychotherapists; with their appearance in the house, most imaginary and even true illnesses go away;
Maintaining a daily routine. You need to try to get enough sleep, alternate mental load from physical;
Yoga and meditation;
Taking calming herbs.

You need to stop yourself from watching shows on medical topics, and even films related to work in medical institutions.

Important recovery has a friendly and calm atmosphere in the family. Relatives of hypochondriacs need to understand that they are not faking their condition, but are truly sick.

Help them get back peace of mind Distracted conversations, joint outings into nature, going to the theater, concerts or cinema help.

Hypochondria is a disease that requires professional help. It is quite possible to cope with the disease, but it takes several months and sometimes even years.

The sooner a hypochondriac finds the strength to turn to a psychiatrist, the faster he can solve his problem.

SMART, suspicious, suspicious; suspicious, suspicious, suspicious. One who imagines danger where there is none in reality is morbidly suspicious. A suspicious patient delays his recovery. Suspicious character. A suspicious person... ... Dictionary Ushakova

suspicious- oh, oh; flax, flax 1) Seeing danger and trouble in everything. Arina Vlasyevna was suspicious, constantly expecting some great misfortune (Turgenev). 2) Distrustful, morbidly suspicious. A suspicious person. It was extremely... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

SUSPICIOUS, oh, oh; flax, flax. Seeing everything for himself as n. unfavorable, fearful of everything. M. man. M. character. | noun suspiciousness, and, female Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Aya, oh; flax, flax, flax. One who sees danger and trouble in everything; distrustful, morbidly suspicious. M. man. M. character. Be suspicious. ◁ Suspicious, adv. M. keep an eye on who l. M. relate to whom l.... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

suspicious- oh, oh; flax, flax, flax. see also suspicious, suspiciousness One who sees in everything a danger, a nuisance for himself; distrustful, morbidly suspicious. An opinionated person. Imaginative character. Be suspicious... Dictionary of many expressions

THINK, church. think, think, believe or assume, have an opinion about something. To imagine impersonally, to think, to seem, to imagine; to see, to seem. To hesitate, to seem to oneself. He thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Pray east. flickering tul... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Suspiciousness- a negative moral quality of an individual, expressed as a distorted perception of other people’s opinions about themselves. Suspiciousness is seeing something bad, unfavorable, dangerous in everything and everyone. It seems to a suspicious person that... Fundamentals of spiritual culture (teacher's encyclopedic dictionary)

Writer, born October 30, 1821 in Moscow, died January 29, 1881, in St. Petersburg. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, married to the daughter of a merchant, Marya Fedorovna Nechaeva, occupied the position of doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. Busy at the hospital and... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

- (Rousseau) famous French writer (1712 1778). In the rationalism of the 18th century. a new cultural current entered, the source of which was feeling. It transformed cultured person, his attitude towards himself, towards people, towards nature and towards culture.... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Main article: Jean Jacques Rousseau Rousseau as a promoter of new social and political ideals, especially in three main his works: in “New Heloise”, “Emile” and “The Social Contract”. In “Letter to d'Alembert” Rousseau calls “Clarissa Garlot”... ... Wikipedia

Books

, Shubinsky Valery. 480 pp. The first biography of the encyclopedist and poet in post-Soviet times, one of the founders of Russian culture of modern times. Using historical research, evidence...
Lomonosov. All-Russian man, Shubinsky Valery Igorevich. The first biography in post-Soviet times of a scientist-encyclopedist and poet, one of the founders of Russian culture of modern times. Using historical research, evidence...