Today we will talk about hypochondria. Admit it, who scans their body and thinks that this is definitely some kind of fatal disease and everything will be bad and terrible? With hypochondria, a person catastrophizes his condition. He has only one option - certain death, and he simply does not consider other options. And so the hypochondriac sits, scans his body, notices pain in his head and thinks: “This is probably brain cancer.” Sit further and notice that your heart is beating strangely: “I probably have a sick heart.” “Something somehow makes me feel nauseous, what if I’ve been poisoned by something?” What distinguishes hypochondria from an ordinary person is the bad habit of elevating one’s illnesses into a catastrophe. Here we can compare it with the metaphor of a match. You only have one match burning, and you turn on the fire alarm. To some extent, a match should burn, this is its job... Naturally, I want to ask every hypochondriac: “Where did you get such an accurate determinant of all diseases? Don’t want to work in a hospital, you’re so good at making diagnoses without examinations! You definitely have talent! You could save patients so much money on examinations and hospitals on measuring instruments.” By the way, is your scan really that accurate? Did the doctors confirm all your assumptions? Naturally, I do not argue with the fact that you need to undergo an annual medical examination and check your body, but in hypochondriacs this reaches an extreme degree. This is unnecessary, unhelpful and even harmful from an anxiety disorder perspective. The absurdity of your scan lies in the fact that you have no medical education. Even if you notice some strange sensations, you cannot make a diagnosis based on them. Differential diagnosis is necessary to determine exactly what needs to be treated. For example, extrasystoles can be both a manifestation of normality and pathology. Without the necessary knowledge, you will never understand whether your heart is beating normally or not. In addition to the fact that you do not have the necessary knowledge, you also cannot accurately determine what this sensation is. If you take the same extrasystoles, you cannot determine their number, and this is necessary to know to identify normality or pathology. If we consider you as a measuring device, you have very large errors, which certainly do not provide grounds for making a diagnosis. Well, what conclusions do we have? Firstly, the hypochondriac himself likes to catastrophize everything and find a threat where there is none. Secondly, hypochondriacs most often do not have a medical education and cannot make a diagnosis. There can be many causes of headaches, it is not necessarily brain cancer. Thirdly, a hypochondriac cannot accurately scan his body. It is not a measuring device and cannot record information. His sensations are often distorted through the prism of his perception. Here you can conduct an experiment and concentrate your sensations on your finger. You will notice a pulse, although you did not notice it before. The same goes for the rest of the scans. You intensify your sensations. Very strange dimensions that depend on the focus of attention, don’t you think? Maybe it’s worth trying to behave differently? Explain to yourself that you are not a doctor and not a measuring device to make diagnoses, which means you cannot find anything in yourself. What's the point of scanning yourself then? This is your bad habit of elevating your vegetative activity to a threat of catastrophic proportions. Naturally, breaking your habits will not be easy, and you will return to them one way or another. In the beginning, it will take effort to change your behavior, stop scanning, stop catastrophizing. Try to switch your attention from your feelings to what is happening outside. Engage in some activity and shift your attention to it. Of course, this will not save you, but it can significantly improve your condition. Hypochondria is a release of tension. You need to work not with hypochondria itself, but with what creates your tension. There will be no unnecessary anxiety, it will not.