Anxiety around illness symptoms

Do you google your symptoms a lot? Have you hopped from one specialist to another trying to find a diagnosis that can finally explain your symptoms? Do you worry that you might have something serious and nobody can find out what it is, or that the doctors might be missing something? Anxiety around symptoms is more common than you might think, especially when you live for a long time with a chronic or functional condition. In this episode, we explore what illness anxiety means, what are somatic symptom disorders, what that has to do with the mind-body connection, and what you can do next time you find yourself being too vigilant or anxious around your symptoms. It's not all in your head, your physical symptoms are real. But if you address your thoughts, you might also improve your bodily sensations.

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References:

[1] Henningsen P. (2018). Management of somatic symptom disorder. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 20(1), 23–31. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2018.20.1/phenningsen

[2] Dunphy, L., Penna, M., & El-Kafsi, J. (2019). Somatic symptom disorder: a diagnostic dilemma. BMJ case reports, 12(11), e231550. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2019-231550

[3] Dunphy, L., Penna, M., & El-Kafsi, J. (2019). Somatic symptom disorder: a diagnostic dilemma. BMJ case reports, 12(11), e231550. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2019-231550

[4] The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, And The Human Condition, book by Dr. Arthur Kleinman

[5] Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own, book by Dr. Andrew Weil