Is hypochondria a form of OCD? - A test.

[tan235]

I've been thinking lately, and obsessively about my Hypochondria.
I will spend a good 4 hours a day googling my symptoms.
I will work myself up into a horrible state, calm myself down and then start all over again.
So far in the course of 2 weeks, I've had : Legionnaires disease, tetanus and melanoma.

I've been to the Dr about my mole - it was fine - regardless of whether or not I blew that one out of proportion a Dr's visit for such things is always better!

I've had anxiety/hypochondria for, lets say - 15 years.
I"ve had it so bad to the point where I couldn't leave the house. (I would sweat, get dizzy, blurry vision,)

All this leads me to believe 'we' suffer from OCD.

I also just did an online OCD test and scored a 19 - OCD is likely at 8-11 and almost definite 11- onwards.

I do things where I need to check I"ve locked the house about 3 times before I trust myself and they call OCD the 'doubt' disease - isn't that what we do with our HA?

I still haven't started on medication but I might as I'm OVER it - and I"m going to use negative terminology - "I can't get OVER it.'
No matter what I do I still have HA.

There is more to life than this.

Anyway what are your thoughts?
Here is the OCD Test - I'd love to know what you scored......

http://psychcentral.com/ocdquiz.htm



with all the people that are online and only 1 response??

[RoseEve]

I actually made a thread about this once. My health anxiety was OCD. I would obsess and research diseases for hours. That's the obsessive-compulsive cycle. It's good you are analyzing your thoughts.

[mm36]

Just took it and scored a 16. Thought about OCD a bit in the past but never really looked into into it for myself. Gives me something to think about.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I'm less sure on this issue myself, although I understand why you believe this.

The reason I say this is because having GAD, I've experienced elements of agoraphobia, social phobia and even HA...but its not the driver, the GAD is.

I also have OCD and I believe this is fueled by the GAD but it also OCD in its own right because it has been more persistant than the above and I have no control over it, I feel the compulsion to do things.

With OCD, you are completing a ritual that is aimed at preventing anxiety. Whilst this may not be successful, causing you to repeat it, doesn't this make it different to HA because by searching for answers it doesn't serve this purpose and only makes you even worse?

Scored 20 and thats basing Section 2 on now as opposed to when I was really bad which would have been much higher.

[puzzledlass]

I have OCD and have wondered this same thing myself. The constant thought patterns and analysing illnesses is reminiscent to OCD.

As Terry mentioned above with OCD you are performing these rituals in order to feel better, which as we know doesn't really work. With health anxiety we google and this makes things worse.

If you're like me however, I google to find the good stuff! I google to find the ridiculously low percentage of a particular illness, success stories etc. I seek out information to make me feel better but always find the negative which then sticks in my mind and takes over.

My OCD is not always rituals, often it is thoughts that will be stuck in my head and never leave. I will obsessively think about these things and that in itself is part of what OCD is. When I was younger I would have these horrid violent thoughts, I thought that I was a bad person and that I was actually capable of these things I was thinking. It was OCD.

People have this mindset that OCD sufferers must perform rituals (hand washing, counting etc) but that is just not true at all. It manifests in many ways.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Maybe the question is more why are you searching for answers for HA? If the answer is that you feel compelled without choice - its closer to OCD, although that doesn't make it OCD, or if the answer is that you are doing it to understand, rule something out or trying to diagnose - its more anxiety in its HA form as opposed to OCD as you are choosing what to do.

The problem with anxiety disorders is that they are often co morbid. If they didn't diagnose each individual element, we would all probably end up diagnosed with things like chronic anxiety, general anxiety, etc...as GP's often diagnose it until they refer you on to someone who understands proper diagnosis.

Its definately very true that HA sufferers suffer with obsessiveness, but thats also true of other disorders such as GAD.

Anyone with any anxiety disorder could always start experiencing OCD though so could it be that some people are experiencing both? My GAD fuels my OCD, for instance.

[tan235]

I'm less sure on this issue myself, although I understand why you believe this.



With OCD, you are completing a ritual that is aimed at preventing anxiety. Whilst this may not be successful, causing you to repeat it, doesn't this make it different to HA because by searching for answers it doesn't serve this purpose and only makes you even worse?

Scored 20 and thats basing Section 2 on now as opposed to when I was really bad which would have been much higher.

This is interesting and a clear way of understanding the potential difference - thank you .. I don't find myself having rituals I don't think, although I do believe that if I stop worrying about my health that something BAD will happen, so I'm caught in a catch 22 - obsessive.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That may show the difference then in your case because you are worried that something bad will happen if you stop worrying about it, but your action is to continue worrying about. In OCD, this could easily fit to Magical Thinking OCD but in thnat case you would have a ritual to negate the potential outcome e.g. mental statements or images, touching or touching until something feels 'right', etc as you feel the need to cancel it out.

The difference might be that whilst you obsess over your health and feel the compulsion to investigate it, your compulsion only brings you further increased anxiety. With OCD, the ritual is normally to do the opposite but if I'm honest, performing rituals can also increase anxiety which I assume comes more from frustration at doing something irrational that you feel you have no control of.

It would perhaps make more sense that HA is closer to Pure O? Pure O exists more in intrusive thoughts and obsessing over those thoughts as opposed to have compulsions (as far as I know anyway).

[Leslie735]

I scored a 20. I no doubt have OCD and have it since I was about 14, at least that is when I noticed it. It was mild years ago and has gotten worse. It has also changed. I use to have thoughts like "if I don't walk right of that stick on the ground this or that will happen." Now it's my health anxiety, I worry that if I stop worrying and be happy then it will actually happen. It's like my mind can't "let go" and just relax.

---------- Post added at 12:38 ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 ----------

Oh and I also obsessively wash my hands, it's better than it use to be but I have dry hands all the time because I wash and and hand sanitize more than I should. I also have a vomitting phobia that exaggerates this.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I scored a 20. I no doubt have OCD and have it since I was about 14, at least that is when I noticed it. It was mild years ago and has gotten worse. It has also changed. I use to have thoughts like "if I don't walk right of that stick on the ground this or that will happen." Now it's my health anxiety, I worry that if I stop worrying and be happy then it will actually happen. It's like my mind can't "let go" and just relax.

---------- Post added at 12:38 ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 ----------

Oh and I also obsessively wash my hands, it's better than it use to be but I have dry hands all the time because I wash and and hand sanitize more than I should. I also have a vomitting phobia that exaggerates this.

You've definately got the Contamination form then but it can also be a mental contamination if a cleaning ritual comes from a bad thought.

The issue of walking X way because you fear something will happen fits into Magical Thinking which I also have. I used to do things like this and I suppoise I probably still do this without even noticing at times because I no longer become anxious from it. When my underlying GAD flares up though I can feel more of a need to walk X way to Y place. It often felt like a box ticking exercise.