hypochondriasis

(noun)

A mental disorder characterized by excessive fear of or preoccupation with having a serious illness, despite medical results and reassurance to the contrary.

Related Terms

(noun)

A condition involving worry about having a serious illness; an inaccurate perception of the condition of body or mind despite the absence of an actual medical condition.

Related Terms

(noun)

A mental disorder characterized by excessive fear of or preoccupation with a serious illness, despite medical testing and reassurance to the contrary.

Related Terms

Examples of hypochondriasis in the following topics:

  • Somatic Symptom Disorders

    • With the 2013 release of the DSM-5, the diagnoses of somatization disorder, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder were removed.
    • This image "Hypochondriac" by graphic artist Jozsef Farago shows a man who has hypochondriasis.
    • Hypochondriasis is characterized by a persistent fear of illness.

  • How Stress Impacts our Health

    • These emotions can include anxiety, depression, uneasiness, apathy, alienation, and hypochondriasis.

  • Factitious Disorders

    • These disorders are distinct from hypochondriasis and other somatic symptom and related disorders in that those with the latter do not intentionally produce their somatic symptoms (i.e., symptoms related to the body).

  • Overview of Personality Assessment

    • Responses are scored to produce a clinical profile composed of 10 scales: hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviance (social deviance), masculinity versus femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia (obsessive/compulsive qualities), schizophrenia, hypomania, and social introversion.