Hypochondriacal delirium - how to treat?

In today's world, where not everyone can stand the race for a prosperous life, depression has become commonplace. But few people suspect that among them is hiding a mental deviation, known as hypochondriacal delirium.

Sometimes it manifests itself as a belief in a serious illness (cancer, AIDS, tuberculosis, etc.), in other cases, in irreversible changes in the internal organs (a stomach has broken, an intestine has become confused, and the lungs have decayed). The last situations mentioned are called nihilistic hypochondriacal delusions.

Definition of mental disability

Hypochondriac syndrome is when the patient is convinced of the presence of a serious disease that threatens his health. This deviation was first recorded in ancient Rome. For example, we can recall K. Galen, who was looking for the source of the disease under the cartilage in the ribs. It is believed that thanks to his actions this syndrome was called hypochondrion.

A single disease or side effect?

Starting the study, specialists initially treated him as a separate disease. But after receiving the first results, they realized that this syndrome occurs as a result of the influence of many pathologies of the psyche.

How the hypochondriac syndrome manifests itself depends on the underlying pathology. Therefore, having studied all the symptoms, experts divided them into separate types of hypochondria.

Causes of hypochondriac delirium

Even today, the factors affecting the appearance of hypochondria are not fully understood. Psychiatrists suggest that emotionally unbalanced people are at risk. Consider the main risk factors:

• The patient misunderstands the meaning of the word "health". He believes that a healthy person cannot experience discomfort in his body, therefore he perceives any discomfort as the presence of a serious illness.
• Doubtful individuals falling into a state of anxiety at the slightest trouble.
• Blood relatives suffer from hypochondria.
• The child was ill with a serious illness and later fears a recurrence of the situation.
• In a close environment there are terminally ill people.
• Mother too guarded her child, constantly looking for signs of terrible pathologies in his health. Over time, the child grows up, but continues to fear for his health, copying the behavior of his mother.
• The patient loved a person who died as a result of a dangerous disease.
• Man could not resist violence over his body.
• Chronic pessimist.
• The patient was not taught to correctly express their feelings.

The characteristic symptoms of a developing pathology

With hypochondriacal delirium, the patient behaves as follows:

1. The patient flows from one extreme to the other. That is, he is afraid to go to the doctor, believing that he will discover a fatal pathology in him, or, conversely, visit him too often without special need.
2. A person keeps a watchful eye on the state of his own body (massages his stomach in search of foreign formations, examines the inner walls of the oral cavity, observes secretions from the genitals and so on).
3. Any malaise is perceived by him as a mortal danger.
4. The close circle constantly hears complaints about feeling unwell and suffers questioning about the signs of fatal diseases.
5. The patient believes that he is sick with a specific disease, even detailed studies confirming the health of the organs cannot convince him otherwise.
6. Studying the symptoms of certain diseases, the patient involuntarily seeks them out. And he certainly finds it.
7. The patient cannot clearly state the reason for feeling ill, therefore, he is limited to general words (it hurts under the ribs, the stomach does not work, and so on).
8. A potential patient pestering a doctor for research, although there is no particular reason for this.
9. If the specialist has not confirmed the presence of a fatal disease, the patient consults the second / third doctor until he hears the desired diagnosis.

Known forms of hypochondria

Depending on how hypochondriac syndrome manifests itself, psychiatrists distinguish several forms of pathology:

1. Anxiety-hypochondria syndrome. It occurs as a result of prolonged depression, sudden psychoses and stresses. Having been nervous, the patient perceives any discomfort as a sign of cancer or another fatal disease. Such thoughts are exhausting, a person is afraid of the expected diagnosis, possible treatment, complications or death, analyzing all changes in life when he receives an official confirmation of the disease. The patient regularly undergoes research, and when he receives the conclusion that he is not sick, he goes to another specialist, believing that the first doctor does not understand anything in medicine.
2. Depressive-hypochondriac syndrome. Under the influence of strong emotions, a person begins to believe that he is seriously ill. The expectation of a fatal disease depresses, the patient moves slowly and inaudibly speaks. He quickly gets tired, sleeps poorly, eats little. The mood falls, a person feels guilty for reasons that are not worthy of attention. Even after a study that indicates the normal condition of the patient’s body, his condition continues to deteriorate due to the influence of depressive-hypochondriac syndrome.
3. Astheno-hypochondria syndrome. After serious psychological tests, a person searches for signs of pathologies in his own you. He complains of loss of strength, persistent headaches, general discomfort or pain in any area of ​​the body. The patient does not sleep well and eats nothing, is constantly irritated and reacts strangely to external stimuli. As a rule, the examination does not indicate the presence of a specific disease, but the patient does not believe the results and continues the examination. His convictions, symptoms that aggravate from every stress experienced by him, reinforce him.
4. Delusional hypochondria syndrome. It develops as a consequence of severe mental pathologies, for example, schizophrenia.
5. Hypochondriac-senestopathic syndrome. Appears under the influence of mental pathologies or malfunctions of the circulatory system, which are localized in the brain. The clinic of hypochondriac syndrome consists in the physical sensations of crawling through the body, touching, vibration, and so on. In some cases, patients believe that a foreign object is inside their body: a bug, a spider, or some object.

Varieties of delusional hypochondria

It occurs in several versions:

1. Paranoid hypochondriac syndrome, which consists in the appearance of obsessive thoughts: voices sound in the head, even at the cost of incredible efforts that do not want to subside; sudden hallucinations when the patient thinks that worms have settled in his body, insects have flown in, and so on; physical delirium that carries false sensations of the harmful effects of the environment (cosmic rays, radiation).
2. Paranoid hypochondriac syndrome is the expectation of a serious pathology that official medicine does not want to confirm. As a result, the patient is aggressive towards the treating specialists, believing that they do not want to notice the real reason for his poor condition. There are known cases of the opposite situation: the patient does not believe the results of the examination, indicating the presence of a fatal disease, accuses doctors of wanting to conduct experiments on him.
3. Kotar syndrome, known as nihilistic delirium, - the patient is confident in his death or lack of soul. He convinces those around him that otherworldly entities support his life, waiting for a specific task to be completed.
4. With the further development of the paranoid variant, a more severe stage occurs - paraphrenic hypochondria syndrome. Its characteristic symptoms are the unreality of the cause of the disease (the patient is sure that aliens are conducting experiments on him).

The presence of a combination of diseases

The presence of one disease does not exclude the appearance of another. There are cases when in patients from somatic departments quite distinct symptoms of hypochondria were found: obsessive thoughts or states of severe anxiety. The situation of such patients was aggravated by the inattentive attitude of doctors and nurses, as well as too straightforward statements about the development of the disease and future forecasts. Without wanting it, they negatively influenced the condition of sick people, contributing to the development of hypochondriac syndrome.

Diagnosis of psychological deviation

Hypochondriac syndrome is very insidious. It is difficult to diagnose due to the fact that the patient is already constantly in the constant field of view of doctors, regularly undergoing research in search of various diseases. It may take many years before the patient consults a psychiatrist and finds out the true diagnosis, which is guilty of persistent health problems.

But this does not always happen. In our mentality, the idea that mental illness is something terrible and shameful, which is better not even to remember in a decent society, is firmly entrenched. Unfortunately, while the patient is looking for the cause of his torment in other areas, denying the psychiatric nature of the disease, his situation is aggravated, cutting off the person from any social connections.

But not everything is as sad as it seems at first glance. If you diagnose hypochondria in time and start treatment in a timely manner, then it is quite realistic to achieve impressive results. But when the disease is started, even the most eminent psychiatrists will not be able to help a hopeless patient.

Pathology treatment

In the first stages of hypochondriacal delirium, certain actions must be performed:

• regularly relax your exhausted body: yoga, hobbies, herbal baths, favorite music;
• forget about the existence of medicine and not try to study the symptoms of a new disease;
• try to protect yourself from stress, which can aggravate the general situation;
• Accustom yourself to sleep, to provide the body with a complete rest;
• love active sports, leaving less free time for harmful thoughts.

Important points for any doctor are the formation of a trusting relationship with the patient, as well as psychological work with the patient’s close circle, which does not always understand what to do with such a person. The most popular methods of treatment are hypnosis, meditation, auto-training, herbal medicine, homeopathy.

In medical recipes, both folk remedies (motherwort, valerian, lemon balm) and pharmaceuticals (antidepressants, sleeping pills) are often found. If the syndrome is in conjunction with a neurosis, such patients are prescribed antipsychotics.

Before treating hypochondriac syndrome, the doctor warns the patient that this nonsense is a pathology of the individual, so the maximum that he can do is to alleviate the manifestation of symptoms, making life easier for the patient. And whether he is cured completely or not, depends only on himself.

Is it possible to be treated independently?

Not in each case it is worth being treated independently, especially since you do not need to rely on the help of other people, even if they are close people. The patient himself is not able to determine the degree of development of the pathology, and in the case of outside interference, completely unexpected results are possible. Therefore, any therapy should be started only after consulting a specialist who will study all the symptoms and take control of the hypochondriac syndrome.

All psychiatrists specify that individuals with strong will and unbending character can stay on the path of independent treatment. This is due to the fact that the neurotic state is very intrusive and sometimes fills the whole consciousness with fears. In order not to succumb to them, you need a lot of moral strength.

Self-treatment begins with the work of a psychologist, when the patient is fully aware of the presence of such a pathology, is convinced of the absence of suicidal thoughts and received confirmation from a specialist. From this moment, independent work begins. Its essence boils down to occupying the brain with something more important and increasing the level of socialization. A positive bonus will be the assistance of the family, which will help to understand the causes and eliminate them.

As medicines, motherwort, valerian, chamomile, mint, lemon balm or pharmacy herbal mixtures are allowed to be used. Strengthen their impact will help “Valensan”, “Bifren”, “Valeron” or “Persen”. But only a doctor should prescribe them, not the patient himself.

The patient should work fruitfully on the path of his socialization, not forgetting about study and work. When new fears appear, they can be thrown out in conversations with loved ones or in online communication. It is advisable to constantly learn new skills, and, having consolidated another useful skill, reward yourself with something tasty.

Pending fast results will be disappointed. Such a deep disease is eradicated gradually, step by step. The best option would be to start work on your own self-esteem, then move on to perceiving yourself and identifying in society. When these stages are finally worked out, you can start self-realization. If with hypochondriacal delirium the patient believes that he has realized all his desires and received well-deserved success in society, he has practically no chance to return to the past state.