Justanutter
04-08-15, 13:26
Was going through old posts of a retired Dr who used to post on here in response to people - he was amazing. His name was (I use the past term as he was in his late 80s a few years ago, so assuming he may not be with us any longer...) RLR. Here's what he said about health anxiety - which is what I feel is most of the cause of it today - he's spot on....
Vigilence to concerns that one has a life-threatening illness or disease more typically originates from feelings of vulnerability from lack of self-confidence and self-concept.
People with health anxiety commonly envision their symptoms to be at the farthest end of the spectrum in terms of severity and it not only produces significant fear, but also a diminished outlook in general that can have an impact on motivation and sense of well-being.
The tendency to focus on severity of health problems has increased in recent decades due to greater information available on the internet and the use of this portal by healthcare agencies to increase proactive attention to individual health practices. Naturally, information about heart disease and cancer becomes a front and center topic. Realize, however, that statistics about cancer and heart disease indicating these diseases to be on the rise are misleading. Advances in technology which allow us to detect problems much earlier make it appear that the disease could exist anywhere in any person, which isn't true at all.
It's also critical to realize that changes to the structure of healthcare providers in general produces the need to market patients, if you see my point. Advertisments tend to suggest that you can never be too careful and that those subtle symptoms, or even no symptoms at all, could nevertheless suggest your health to be at risk. So it's no wonder that people are becoming increasingly anxious about their health.
I was in practice for more than 40 years as a physician and specialist. I'm here to tell you that there is no explosive growth taking place in terms of diseases. We're just getting better at detecting it earlier in the same average caseload that has in reality, remained fairly stable.
So take a breath and relax. Anxiety tends to produce fearfulness, which subsequently causes vigilence to a threat that cannot be identified. Thus, your mind will naturally seek to prompt any action necessary for you to feel safe once again. In other words, if the cause can't be identified, it can exist in any form and present itself at the most inopportune moment. The real truth is that you're unlikely to get cancer and the odds are far less than what the healthcare marketing group is working to make you believe.
Best regards,
Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
Vigilence to concerns that one has a life-threatening illness or disease more typically originates from feelings of vulnerability from lack of self-confidence and self-concept.
People with health anxiety commonly envision their symptoms to be at the farthest end of the spectrum in terms of severity and it not only produces significant fear, but also a diminished outlook in general that can have an impact on motivation and sense of well-being.
The tendency to focus on severity of health problems has increased in recent decades due to greater information available on the internet and the use of this portal by healthcare agencies to increase proactive attention to individual health practices. Naturally, information about heart disease and cancer becomes a front and center topic. Realize, however, that statistics about cancer and heart disease indicating these diseases to be on the rise are misleading. Advances in technology which allow us to detect problems much earlier make it appear that the disease could exist anywhere in any person, which isn't true at all.
It's also critical to realize that changes to the structure of healthcare providers in general produces the need to market patients, if you see my point. Advertisments tend to suggest that you can never be too careful and that those subtle symptoms, or even no symptoms at all, could nevertheless suggest your health to be at risk. So it's no wonder that people are becoming increasingly anxious about their health.
I was in practice for more than 40 years as a physician and specialist. I'm here to tell you that there is no explosive growth taking place in terms of diseases. We're just getting better at detecting it earlier in the same average caseload that has in reality, remained fairly stable.
So take a breath and relax. Anxiety tends to produce fearfulness, which subsequently causes vigilence to a threat that cannot be identified. Thus, your mind will naturally seek to prompt any action necessary for you to feel safe once again. In other words, if the cause can't be identified, it can exist in any form and present itself at the most inopportune moment. The real truth is that you're unlikely to get cancer and the odds are far less than what the healthcare marketing group is working to make you believe.
Best regards,
Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)