Do You Constantly Focus On Your Health Issues?

There is a newer way of approaching what used to be called hypochondria, where patients have chronic anxiety about their health and can’t stop thinking about their health issues.  The two new concepts are: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder.  These new diagnoses put the focus on unnecessary bodily attention and health concerns, taking it away from unexplained symptoms the patient is having.  According to an article in the New York Times, as many as 5% of patients going into doctor’s offices believe they have a serious health problem when no illness can be found.  These patients may or may not have this serious health problem, but their symptoms are exaggerated and this can cause detrimental anxiety.  Another form of this is when people believe there are life-threatening germs everywhere.  Maybe you know someone who has experienced this with the Covid crisis.  Sometimes these concerns result in a vicious cycle of illness.  To learn more, read: