Overview

Hypochondriasis (or hypochondria, sometimes referred to as health phobia) refers to an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. Often, hypochondria persists even after a physician has evaluated a person and reassured him/her that his/her concerns about symptoms do not have an underlying medical basis or, if there is a medical illness, the concerns are far in excess of what is appropriate for the level of disease. Many people suffering from this disorder focus on a particular symptom as the catalyst of their worrying, such as gastro-intestinal problems, palpitations, or muscle fatigue.

Hypochondria is often characterized by fears that minor bodily symptoms may indicate a serious illness, constant self-examination and self-diagnosis, and a preoccupation with one's body. Many individuals with hypochondriasis express doubt and disbelief in the doctors' diagnosis, and report that doctors’ reassurance about an absence of a serious medical condition is unconvincing, or un-lasting. Many hypochondriacs require constant reassurance, either from doctors, family, or friends, and the disorder can become a disabling torment for the individual with hypochondriasis, as well as his or her family and friends. Some hypochondriacal individuals are completely avoidant of any reminder of illness, whereas others are frequent visitors of doctors’ offices. Other hypochondriacs will never speak about their terror, convinced that their fear of having a serious illness will not be taken seriously by those in whom they confide.

Overcoming Agoraphobia - How a Fresh Look at Its Causes Can Be the Key to Success

If you've had trouble overcoming agoraphobia, and you feel like you've tried everything and exhausted all your options, it's possible that a simple change of perspective could be the answer.

By redefining the way you see your agoraphobia, you can change the way it affects and controls you. But before you can successfully change your perspective, you'll need to first remind yourself of how you see your agoraphobia right now, and for most people this will be a very stereotypical point of view.

And that stereotypical point of view is this: Agoraphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of public places or open areas, especially those from which escape could be difficult or help not immediately accessible.

That's what you'll find as the definition of agoraphobia if you look it up somewhere online, and that's how you would probably define it yourself. But for many people with agoraphobia this definition is nothing more than a memorized sentence from a dictionary - it actually means nothing to them.

And because so many agoraphobia sufferers have lost touch with what their agoraphobia actually is, and what it actually means to them on a day-to-day basis, successfully overcoming it can be next to impossible.

The key to beating this problem is to redefine your agoraphobia, because only then will you see it for what it really is, and only then will you have those eureka moments when solutions suddenly begin to suggest themselves.

First of all - what agoraphobia is not (despite many experts who will tell you otherwise). Agoraphobia is not actually a fear of public places or open areas. And it's not even a fear of having a panic attack when you're outside your comfort zone; those are all symptoms of agoraphobia, but they are not agoraphobia themselves.

Agoraphobia is a defense mechanism.

It's a defense mechanism against any unknown thing you fear.

This definition goes against a lot of common and established beliefs, but if you actually take a long, hard, fresh look at what your agoraphobia means to you, I think you'll find that you agree with the "defense mechanism" idea.

To understand why agoraphobia is actually a defense mechanism, it's vital to fully understand it's true cause. And for the vast majority of people, that cause is a different, underlying panic disorder.

Many people, many experts, believe that you can experience agoraphobia completely on its own, with no other anxiety disorders or symptoms. But these people, and these experts, have usually never suffered with agoraphobia and anxiety and panic disorders themselves. And so they're not in a strong position to make such claims.

As an example, someone with generalized anxiety disorder could become increasingly more withdrawn - their constant, unjustified worrying may cause them to go deep into their "defensive shell." This person will begin to limit their movement away from their comfort zone, simply because any new experiences and interactions could potentially become new worries.

This person will begin to go to increasingly greater lengths to avoid new situations, in order to protect themselves from new situations that could become uncontrollable worries and fears.

And that's why agoraphobia is a defense mechanism.

There are many other forms of panic and anxiety disorder beside generalized anxiety disorder, and each of them has the potential to cause agoraphobia. Health anxiety (or hypochondria), social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, separation anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even phobias.

They all have the potential to cause agoraphobia. In cases where there are apparently no other panic disorders as the underlying cause, there's often one that's gone completely unnoticed - because the agoraphobia spirals out of control and becomes all that you can focus on, the smaller things, which are often the things which cause and control the agoraphobia, are impossible to see.

That's why anyone affected by agoraphobia should look at identifying any underlying panic disorder causes, and addressing those, instead of addressing the agoraphobia directly.

This has to be a better approach - it allows sufferers to address the cause, and not the symptom. Addressing the symptom will never achieve anything, except masking the problem temporarily.

So the key to discovering a way out of your agoraphobia are these: take a fresh look at it, and don't just see the dictionary definition of it; get a fresh perspective; go hunting for the true underlying cause, which will almost certainly be some other form of anxiety disorder; treat the underlying cause, and not the superficial one.

Following a simple plan like this can work wonders.



Autor: Alex Taylor

Alex Taylor is a freelance writer/researcher from England. Having overcome a lifelong battle with anxiety and panic disorder in 2007, Alex now devotes his time to helping others recover. He achieves this via his highly-acclaimed online course, "Beat Panic Today." You can access "Beat Panic Today" free of charge by visiting Alex's website: http://www.PreventYourPanic.com


Added: March 29, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

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