How is cognitive-behavioral therapy used for hypochondria?

This is how to intervene in hypochondria through cognitive-behavioral psychology.

Hypochondriasis is a psychological disorder that is very annoying and can even lead those who develop it to adopt behavioral patterns that put their health at risk.

Fortunately, it is a disorder that can be treated effectively from Psychology, and specifically, from the cognitive-behavioral model applied to hypochondriasis.. Let's see how.

What is hypochondriasis?

Hypochondriasis, also called hypochondriasis, is a disorder of psychopathological character. in which the person develops a combination of fear of developing one or two specific diseases, on the one hand, and obsessive thoughts related to self-checking and confirming that he or she is suffering from the symptoms of those diseases, on the other.

In other words, the person suffers because of the fear generated by the idea of having developed a health problem, and at the same time becomes prone to interpret any experience as a sign that he or she has developed that disease, so that he or she ends up resorting to "self-diagnostic" practices. Even going to the doctor and being informed that he or she is not suffering from a medical illness does not serve to reassure the person in the medium and long term.

Thus, hypochondriasis can be seen as an extreme view of what happens to apprehensive people, but in a way it also has some qualitatively different characteristics. For example, the focus of what produces fear is always on diseases that arise within the body (and not on the fear of injury), and in addition, hypochondria interferes with the quality of life of the person, causing him/her to adopt behavioral patterns based on avoidance. A tendency to avoidance that is not justified by their true state of health or by the risks of contracting or aggravating an illness.

In addition, as a rule, the discomfort associated with hypochondriasis is linked to real physical health problems, particularly in the form of pain and itching.. That is why it is included within somatoform disorders (recently renamed as somatic symptom disorder), since the psychological discomfort generated by this vicious circle of anxiety, self-checks and obsessive thoughts can generate physical discomfort through suggestion.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the simple belief that one has "poor health" without mentioning a specific disorder cannot be considered hypochondriasis. For this psychological disorder to occur, the person must give a name to the pathology (or pathologies) that he/she believes he/she has, and on the basis of these beliefs, interprets in one way or another those things that he sees as symptoms.. In any case, the diagnosis of this kind of psychopathological problems can only be made by professionals of psychiatry and clinical psychology.

How is hypochondria treated from cognitive-behavioral psychology?

As we have seen, hypochondriasis is based on a feedback dynamic between anxiety and fear. between anxiety and fear, on the one hand, and self-checking behaviors, on the other hand.. These two elements lead the person to be very prone to suffer from obsessive thoughts and to have a very biased view of his state of health, since both through thoughts and through interaction with the environment and with his own body he has constant reminders that there are aspects of his body that worry him.

For this reason, cognitive-behavioral psychology is very effective, since it also acts through the double channel: it intervenes both in the mental and private processes associated with the management of emotions and thoughts, as well as in observable actions. In fact, it has been observed that the effects of this form of psychological intervention are maintained long after psychotherapy has ended.

But let us look in a little more detail at the processes of psychological intervention that take place in the cognitive-behavioral model as applied to hypochondriasis.

1. Questioning dysfunctional beliefs

Cognitive restructuring is one of the pillars of cognitive-behavioral psychological intervention. raising key questions and ideas that lead the person to question his or her most dysfunctional beliefs, those that have been underpinning the dynamics of thought and behavior.those that have been underpinning the dynamics of thought and behavior that give strength to the disorder.

That is to say: the patient is not directly confronted by criticizing him for believing certain things, but is invited to verify for himself to what extent those ideas resist being contrasted with reality.

2. Detection of the problematic thoughts

Knowing how to identify the recurrent thoughts (i.e., those that appear involuntarily, bursting into our consciousness) that precede self-checks is very useful to neutralize their influence on us. As we get used to seeing them from an objective and "rationalized" point of view, we become more resistant to letting ourselves be carried away by the negative feelings they generate in us, given that we we emphasize their predictability..

3. Training in anxiety management techniques

Some of these techniques have immediate effects, and others have both immediate and cumulative effects in the medium and long term. Examples of relaxation techniques include controlled breathing with the diaphragm, Jacobson's progressive Muscle relaxation, etc.

4. Development of new healthy lifestyle habits through a routine plan.

This element of cognitive-behavioral therapy involves both objectively limiting self-checking behaviors (e.g., setting a clear daily and weekly limit) and implementing life routines that were previously avoided out of fear of aggravating or contracting an illness, so that gradually the patient's self-checking behaviors will be reduced.The person gradually learns to lose the fear of these experiences.

Do you want to have professional psychological support?

If you are looking for psychology services to overcome problems related to hypochondria, anxiety or dysfunctional fears in general, contact me.

I am an expert psychologist in the cognitive-behavioral model and I work helping adults and adolescents. You can have my services in person at my office in Madrid, or through the online modality by video call.