Preoccupation by a
person with his or her general state of
health or the condition and function of a
particular organ. Hypochondria often is linked with obsession and depression and may be a symptom of a specific mental illness.
Complaints usually involve the
abdominal organs; the person
insists that there is a malady, against all
reassurance by the physician.
Often he exaggerates the
intensity of normal physical sensations, or describes bizarre discomforts. He cannot admit that his troubles are not due to physical
illness and rarely agrees to seek psychiatric help. He is liable to
damage himself by taking
excessive medication, and in some severe cases there is a risk of suicide.
Hypochondria is a personality disorder that may become manifest from
adolescence onward. The origins of the disorder may lie in childhood experiences, however, particularly where illness may have been used
successfully as "emotional blackmail" or as a device to secure attention.