“Hypochondria is the only disease that hypochondriacs believe they don’t have.“In France, more than one person in ten is afraid of the disease, even if they have no symptoms. This disorder, which is not considered a disease, can be very heavy in the daily lives of those affected. Hypochondriasis can affect mental health, stress, anxiety and relationships with others Emotional life can be disrupted.
With access to many resources on the Internet, one might think that everyone can be informed and reassured with reason on health topics, but it is rather the opposite that is happening. Exposure to a lot of information of all kinds on websites and forums can quickly create confusion and fear. Online self-diagnoses can thus increase hypochondria.
Among young people, the fear of being affected or of developing a serious illness in the absence of symptoms can be fueled by the information conveyed in the media and everywhere around us.
The covid-19 health crisis, from which we are emerging, may have generated a feeling of paranoia in people who were not hypochondriacs before.
Psychologist, Antoine Spath answers your questions and explains how you can get out of hypochondria. He is also co-author with Caroline Michel of the book Do you think it’s serious? Small treatise for the use of hypochondriacs who want to get out of it published by Larousse.
Antoine Spath has developed a test to find out if you are a hypochondriac or not.