Best Life Therapy Blogs - Grief, Anxiety, Stress & More
- posted: Feb. 03, 2025
Are you constantly worrying about your health? Do you worry often about having or developing a serious illness even when you have minimal or no symptoms? Many people have heard the term hypochondriac which has been the term used to categorize health anxiety for many years until the recent DSM V update. The current DSM has this broken health anxieties down into two sub-categories. Both of these involve excessive worry about health. When there are no actual physical symptoms, it is referred to as illness anxiety disorder (IAD). Somatic system disorder (SSD), refers to people with excessive health anxiety who actually have physical symptoms that have no clear medical cause. Somatic is defined as something related to the body, but it starts in the mind and is a way of thinking about our body. Some people hear the term and think that somatic means, it's all in your head. It is more complicated than that.
Research shows that somatic symptoms tend to appear more often in people who have a lower socio-economic status, lower educational level, a history of abuse, have undergone stress. In the case of illness anxiety disorder, there is often a precipitating factor or a stressful event such as a serious illness of a parent, the death of a seriously ill parent during childhood, a childhood illness or a history of abuse. To be diagnosed with SSD, the state of being symptomatic must be present for more than 6 months even if any one of the symptoms isn't continuous during that time frame.
Symptoms of SSD can disrupt their daily lives including pain or tinnitus. The difference between the two is that somatic systems are physical and appear in SSD disorder. Usually people with SSD have more than one physical symptom but no known cause.
People will IAD may seek out medical reassurance often to try to put their mind at ease. It isn't uncommon for people with this condition to worry about the medical provider missing something. The anxiety makes it difficult for them to accept a diagnosis. People with SSD are likely to spend a lot of time obsessing over their symptoms.
Rather than get hung up on which type of health anxiety you have, it's important to know that the treatment approaches include talk therapy. Focusing on our thought patterns, learning healthy coping skills to manage pain and reduce stress can help. Self-care, relaxation strategies such as mindfulness and deep breathing can reduce symptoms of health anxiety. In some cases, it may be necessary to consult with a medical provider to see if a combination of medication and talk therapy might help. We are happy to schedule a time to meet with you so you can get started with talk therapy. While Best Life Therapy does not have a provider prescribing meds on staff with us at this time, we can provide you with a referral for that. If you are ready to get started, just click the request an appointment link on the first page of our website to reserve your appointment. If you are dealing with health anxiety, it is important to seek help. At Best Life Therapy, we are here to help you!
- posted: Feb. 03, 2025
Are you constantly worrying about your health? Do you worry often about having or developing a serious illness even when you have minimal or no symptoms? Many people have heard the term hypochondriac which has been the term used to categorize health anxiety for many years until the recent DSM V update. The current DSM has this broken health anxieties down into two sub-categories. Both of these involve excessive worry about health. When there are no actual physical symptoms, it is referred to as illness anxiety disorder (IAD). Somatic system disorder (SSD), refers to people with excessive health anxiety who actually have physical symptoms that have no clear medical cause. Somatic is defined as something related to the body, but it starts in the mind and is a way of thinking about our body. Some people hear the term and think that somatic means, it's all in your head. It is more complicated than that.
Research shows that somatic symptoms tend to appear more often in people who have a lower socio-economic status, lower educational level, a history of abuse, have undergone stress. In the case of illness anxiety disorder, there is often a precipitating factor or a stressful event such as a serious illness of a parent, the death of a seriously ill parent during childhood, a childhood illness or a history of abuse. To be diagnosed with SSD, the state of being symptomatic must be present for more than 6 months even if any one of the symptoms isn't continuous during that time frame.
Symptoms of SSD can disrupt their daily lives including pain or tinnitus. The difference between the two is that somatic systems are physical and appear in SSD disorder. Usually people with SSD have more than one physical symptom but no known cause.
People will IAD may seek out medical reassurance often to try to put their mind at ease. It isn't uncommon for people with this condition to worry about the medical provider missing something. The anxiety makes it difficult for them to accept a diagnosis. People with SSD are likely to spend a lot of time obsessing over their symptoms.
Rather than get hung up on which type of health anxiety you have, it's important to know that the treatment approaches include talk therapy. Focusing on our thought patterns, learning healthy coping skills to manage pain and reduce stress can help. Self-care, relaxation strategies such as mindfulness and deep breathing can reduce symptoms of health anxiety. In some cases, it may be necessary to consult with a medical provider to see if a combination of medication and talk therapy might help. We are happy to schedule a time to meet with you so you can get started with talk therapy. While Best Life Therapy does not have a provider prescribing meds on staff with us at this time, we can provide you with a referral for that. If you are ready to get started, just click the request an appointment link on the first page of our website to reserve your appointment. If you are dealing with health anxiety, it is important to seek help. At Best Life Therapy, we are here to help you!
We Specialize in Anxiety, Depression, Grief and Trauma
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- Photo taken at Flushing County Park, Michigan