Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related

3514 readers

53 users here now

Health: physical and mental, individual and public.

Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.

See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.

Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.

Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.

Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.

Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

WhoRoger@lemmy.world

RoyalEngineering@lemmy.world

Awa@lemmy.world

In hypochondria paradox, Swedish study finds a higher death rate in those who fear serious illness (apnews.com)

submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A large Swedish study has uncovered a paradox about people diagnosed with an excessive fear of serious illness: They tend to die earlier than people who aren’t hypervigilant about health concerns.

Hypochondriasis, now called illness anxiety disorder, is a rare condition with symptoms that go beyond average health worries. People with the disorder are unable to shake their fears despite normal physical exams and lab tests. Some may change doctors repeatedly. Others may avoid medical care.

“Many of us are mild hypochondriacs. But there are also people on the other extreme of the spectrum who live in a perpetual state of worry and suffering and rumination about having a serious illness,” said Dr. Jonathan E. Alpert of Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I wonder if it's the extra stress and anxiety of just worrying about illness so much that makes it worse for the person and shortens their life? It's like a feedback loop where they stress out and worry about getting sick, which in turn makes them feel worse and inevitably get sick because of a stressed immune system, which makes them more stressed and anxious, over and over again all throughout their life.

[–] qooqie@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Pretty much

The researchers found that people with the diagnosis have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, particularly suicide. Chronic stress and its impact on the body could explain some of the difference, the authors wrote.