Purchase Solution

Hypochondriasis details

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Hypochondriasis is a medical term that means "an intense illness concern." A person with hypochondriasis is overly concerned with having a serious illness despite many reassurances that there is no physical illness present. How would you deal with someone who presented with this disorder? What steps would you take to develop a differential diagnosis? What treatments would be appropriate in the treatment of a person with this disorder?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

Hypochondriasis details are briefly integrated.

Solution Preview

Please rate 5/5 for my notes and references. Your business is valuable to me! Thank you so much for using BrainMass.com! As a loyal BM customer, please ensure you have us added to your Facebook account (if you have one). Thank You!

Since my great-grandmother suffered from hypochondriasis, I have personal investment in this topic since it greatly hindered her quality of life and affected her socialization as well as health.

Because true and full remissions are rare in hypochondriasis, psychotherapy is a recommended intervention and is shown to reduce "doctor shopping" and invalidism (http://www.brown.edu/Courses/BI_278/Other/Clerkship/Didactics/Readings/Hypochondriasis.pdf). Research also shows an effectiveness for individual cognitive behavioral therapy.

It is advised to treat Hypochondriasis similar to any other form of a severe anxiety. However, research reveals how a main problem in hypochondriasis is that "people are actually misinterpreting as dangerous, their otherwise normal bodily perturbations and sensations" (http://www.ocdchicago.org/images/uploads/pdf/EP13.pdf). Intersections also exist between hypochondriasis and OCD, making it challenging to ...

Solution provided by:
Stacy Shaneyfelt, MA
Education
  • BS , Slippery Rock University
  • MA, Slippery Rock University
Recent Feedback
  • "thk u"
  • "Thank you. Posted one more.. if you are online pls help. "
  • "thk u"
  • "thk u"
  • "thnk you"
Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Controversies in Developmental Psychology

This quiz addresses controversies in developmental psychology.

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Erik Erikson researched eight stages of psychosocial development beginning at birth and ending at death. This quiz challenges your knowledge of each stage, the corresponding age range, and the conflicts present during each stage.

Key Psychology Theories and their Developers

Match which psychologist developed and/or contributed to which theory.

Theories of Work Motivation

This quiz tests the student's understanding of the major theories of work motivation from an organizational behavior perspective.

Anxiety Disorders

This quiz is designed to help students gain a better understanding of various types of anxiety disorders.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • How hypochondriasis is influenced by the legal system

    586441 How hypochondriasis is influenced by the legal system Discusses how Hypochondriasis is influenced by the legal system I think that hypochondriasis is influenced by the legal system, due to the fact that it appears that a component of an individual's

  • Abnormal Psychology - Hypochondria

    339251 Abnormal Psychology and Hypochondriasis Describe one specific eating, sleeping or psychophysiological disorder. I've selected hypochondriasis.

  • DSM-IV-TR Diagnosis

    As Richard expresses in his concerns, many people with hypochondriasis feel they are not understood by their physicians and'or clinicians.

  • objective personality tests

    There are ten clinical scales: Hypochondriasis, Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Masculinity/Femininity, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, Hypomania, and Social Introversion.

  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

    (2) Dissociative Disorders: Dissociative Amnesia | Depersonalization Disorder | Dissociative Fugue | Dissociative Identity Disorder | Dissociative Disorder NOS (300.15) (3) Somatoform Disorders: Body Dysmorphic Disorder | Conversion Disorder | Hypochondriasis

  • Mental disorders and how they differ

    Hypochondriasis Hypochondriasis is a disorder in which a person mistakenly fears that changes in their physical functioning indicates a serious disease.

  • DSM Five-Axis Diagnosis

    other disorders such as: Panic attacks (Panic Disorder); embarrassment experienced in public; (Social Phobia) being contaminated; (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder); being away from home (Separation Anxiety Disorder); or having a serious illness as in Hypochondriasis

  • Objective Personality Tests

    There are ten clinical scales: Hypochondriasis, Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Masculinity/Femininity, Paranoia, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, Hypomania, and Social Introversion.

  • Anxiety Disorder: Neurological Structure and Process

    Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), being away from home or close relatives (as in Separation Anxiety Disorder), gaining weight (as in Anorexia Nervosa), having multiple physical complaints (as in Somatization Disorder), or having a serious illness (as in Hypochondriasis

View More Related Solutions