Excessive Concern For Health
Excessive concern for health causes us to pay too much attention to any discomfort and to think that we are suffering from an illness, which is probably not not real.
We live in a time of constant information bombardment. Themes dealing with the care and protection of the body are on the agenda. This has created an atmosphere in which the excessive preoccupation with health has a fulcrum, from which it is projected into everyday life.
Health is defined as a state of physical, emotional and social well-being. It is not just about the absence of disease. It is more and more common to find people who are afraid of getting sick or of seeing their loved ones catch an illness.
While it is true that worrying about your health and having an adequate lifestyle is essential in preventing disease, over- worrying can be a problem. So we will explain to you, in this article, what we can do about this and what are the strategies to remedy it.
What is excessive health concern?
As we can imagine, worrying about yourself is normal. We are all afraid of getting sick somewhere. It is perfectly natural and beneficial if it leads us to improve our habits. For example, eating a healthy diet or exercising frequently.
Likewise, it allows us to be alert to signs of illness and to go to the doctor when necessary. However, when the concern only grows, it can lead to anxiety.
When this happens, negative thoughts and fear of getting sick constantly occupy our mind. A state of alarmism is created and any pain or any risk of contagion makes us think that we are sick.
The general disinformation about various world situations has increased the fear of the population in a brutal way. There is now a phenomenon of collective concern that goes beyond individual concern and places large groups of people in the same alert process.
Anxiety can lead us to do irrational things. If we don’t control the excessive concern for health, we take drastic measures that end up being counterproductive and generate disease, instead of protecting ourselves from it.
What are the signs that show excessive concern?
The line between normalcy and excessive concern is very thin. However, some signals can tell us that we are close to the limit. And the first point is none other than the state of alarmism of which we spoke a little above.
When someone constantly pays attention to discomfort or pain, no matter how small, it can indicate an obsession. And even more so if that person starts looking for information on this topic or keeps thinking about it. The behavior of these people leads to an organization of their existence around this supposed problem. Their family, professional and friendly relationships deteriorate because of this obsessive disorder.
Many people even come to think of it as a symptom of a specific illness. They catalog their hypothesis as a pathology and self-diagnose, heading straight for hypochondria.
In this case, these people begin to worry about the consequences of this so-called disease. They also tend to turn this point into a frequent and unique topic of conversation, without giving rise to further explanations or narratives.
On the other hand, excessive preoccupation with health can also manifest itself in very strict control of diet or exercise. People may even end up taking inappropriate medications or vitamin supplements.
What can be done about it?
The most important thing in this situation is to try to ask for help. When the concern turns into anxiety, your best bet is to see a psychologist to try to put an end to the problem. Psychotherapy is usually the best form of treatment.
In addition, we must remember that the sources of information at our disposal are not always reliable. It is essential to verify the data and prevent fear from taking hold of us. There are many articles circulating on the Internet, but we need to make sure that they have been written by reliable authors and that the site we are looking at is serious.
