More thoughts on health and worries...

We live in the age of space exploration, wireless communication, heart transplants, and genetic engineering. Yet, we are still plagued by fears of death and diseases, maybe even more than our ancestors centuries ago. It seems that medical advances and technological progress did little to alleviate the mental angst of being mortal. For some people, worries about having a serious undiagnosed illness or preoccupations with medically unexplained bodily sensations and symptoms mark a substantial part of their time or even take over and become the main focus of their daily life. Paradoxically, the desire to prevent getting seriously sick becomes a crippling force that takes the joy out of living, destroys relationships and pushes the affected person to go from doctor to doctor in an exhausting quest for a cure or a definitive diagnosis. On the other extreme, there are people who avoid doctor visits at all cost, terrified that their worst fears will be confirmed. Technology inadvertently adds to the suffering as people with illness worries are often powerless in the face of medical information bombarded with media, about diseases and epidemics, medical TV shows, and advertisements. There is the Internet, with detailed and graphic disease information just a click away at any time of day or night. There is even a new colloquial term “cyberchondriac” for a person who spends hours researching symptoms and diseases online unable to stop despite the mounting anxiety, sometimes to the point of feeling overwhelmed or developing a panic attack. According to statistics, about one in a hundred of Americans has illness worries intense and prolonged enough to receive a clinical diagnosis of hypochondriasis. About one in ten to one in twenty-five people suffer from less intense illness worries that still affect their life. For a long time hypochondriasis was considered untreatable, and frustrated doctors were weary of such patients and anxious to get rid of them. Modern Western medicine is focused on diagnosing and treating intense and life-threatening conditions. For example, doctors can replace arteries, hearts, kidneys or bring back someone who suffered a serious injury, yet migraines, chronic pains, and fatigue are still not very well understood or treated. It seems mind-body interconnection is more at play there; an interconnection that science is still in the process of understanding. In the mean time, miscommunications between patients and physicians frequently lead to mutual dissatisfaction and wasted time, money, and other resources. Lately, however, a substantial progress has been made in helping people to live a happier and more fulfilling life despite having some illness concerns or bothersome sensations. Clinical research conducted in the US, UK, Netherlands and Italy has shown that a group of medications – selective serotonin intake inhibitors – as well as a special type of psychotherapy – cognitive-behavioral therapy – are effective in helping people with illness worries to gain their life back. In addition, these treatments do not take long to make a difference – in 2 to 3 months patients notice a significant change in how they feel. There is another ongoing treatment study at Columbia and Harvard Universities that explores whether the combination of both psychotherapy and medication is better than each of the treatments alone. The medication works by correcting a chemical imbalance in the brain, while the psychotherapy teaches people new skills and habits to deal with illness concerns more effectively and to be less distressed by them. Overall, excessive illness worry might seriously affect one’s life. It can linger on for years or even decades. There is no need to continue to suffer – there is hope and treatments that help. For more information about the disorder, diagnosis and help available visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypochondria http://www.illnessworry.cumc.columbia.edu/ http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3700/3783.asp?index=9886 http://www.thehealthstudy.com/index.html