Case Study: Hypochondriasis Hypochondriasis is a disorder that deals with the obsession of ones belief of a serious illness. Many whom suffer of hypochondriasis misinterpret their bodily symptoms. According to the Abnormal Psychology text book in the DSM-IV checklist people with hypochondriasis tend to be persistent even if they had medical reassurance they will stay fixated to the belief of an illness. They may have the absence of delusion. As we define the disorder we can easily treat the client Andrea Hilgard. “Although Hypochondriasis can begin at any age, it starts most often in early adulthood” (APA, 1994,2000; Comer 82). In the case of Andrea Hilgard a 37-year old woman, who suffers of hypochondriasis can distinctly recall a certain event that triggered her anxiety. Hilgard states that she first experienced her preoccupation about her health at the age of 10. As she was playing kickball with her friends she suddenly felt a sudden awareness of her own mortality. …show more content…
Andrea Hilgard always had a mild fear about the health of her loved ones but it never reached to the point where she starts distressing. During her pregnancy her health anxieties have become intense. She performed various test but with the strenuous reassurance of the doctor her anxiety diminished. Although she usually needed constant reassurance from a doctor it wasn’t until one morning where she woke up with a numbness sensation in her arm. She immediately jumped into conclusion and self-diagnosed herself with multiple sclerosis. Even when she went to the doctor for the multiple sclerosis she was fixated with the notion the idea of having MS because of what she read in a
Mairs’ piece is a careful examination of her experience with MS and her perspective towards her future. In contrast, Soyster writes humorously of a particular incident he had with MS and artfully weaves his ideas about the disease in with his story. In both instances, the authors share the purpose of narrating their encounter with MS to the world to raise awareness.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting the myelination of the central nervous system, leading to numerous issues regarding muscle strength, coordination, balance, sensation, vision, and even some cognitive defects. Unfortunately, the etiology of MS is not known, however, it is generally thought of and accepted as being an autoimmune disorder inside of the central nervous system (Rietberg, et al. 2004). According to a study (Noonan, et al. 2010) on the prevalence of MS, the disease affects more than 1 million people across the world, and approximately 85% of those that are affected will suffer from unpredictably occurring sessions of exacerbations and remissions. The report (Noonan, et al. 2010) found that the prevalence of MS was much higher in women than in men, and that it was also higher in non-Hispanic whites than in other racial or ethnic groups throughout the 3 regions of the United States that were studied.
According the fourth edition diagnostic manual of mental disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), the category psychotic disorders (Psychosis) include Schizophrenia, paranoid (Delusional), disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, residual type. Other clinical types include Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Affective Disorder/Manic depression, mania, Psychotic depression, delusional (paranoid) disorders. These are mental disorders in which the thoughts, affective response or ability to recognize reality, and ability to communicate and relate to others are sufficiently impaired to interfere grossly with the capacity to deal with reality; the classical and general characteristics of psychosis are impaired reality testing, hallucinations, delusions, and illusions. Mostly, these are used as defining features of psychosis even if there are other psychotic symptoms that characterise these disorders (L. Bortolotti, 2009).
As it stands there is no cure for multiple sclerosis so it stands to reason that the doctor is playing of my Aun...
“And I refuse to participate in the degeneration of the language to the extent that I deny that I have lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease; I refuse to pre- tend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish anyone person from another,” (138). Note that she refuses to identify as any other ordinary person. This leads us to believe that even though she may hate her disease, she accepts that it is a big part of her life, and should be treated as so. This in turn connects her with readers who also have been diagnosed with MS disease and furthermore makes them feel like they are not alone in their struggle. Mairs does not try to disguise the fact that she has MS, but instead embraces her differences.
According to National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. The central nervous system (CNS) comprises of the brain and the spinal cord. CNS is coated and protected by myelin sheath that is made of fatty tissues (Slomski, 2005). The inflammation and damage of the myelin sheath causing it to form a scar (sclerosis). This results in a number of physical and mental symptoms, including weakness, loss of coordination, and loss of speech and vision. The way the disease affect people is always different; some people experience only a single attack and recover quickly, while others condition degenerate over time (Wexler, 2013). Hence, the diagnosis of MS is mostly done by eliminating the symptoms of other diseases. Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects both men and women, but generally, it is more common in women more than men. The disease is most usually diagnosed between ages 20 and 40, however, it can occur at any age. Someone with a family history of the disease is more likely to suffer from it. Although MS is not
Primarily, the term MS refers to a chronic disorder that attacks the central nervous system (CNS). It is most common in temperate continents such as Europe and Australia with Asiatic and African continents having a lower risk of the disease (Wiley Online Library, 2013). A search organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society (2013) has estimated that there are 127,000 people living with MS in the United Kingdom. Further research by Chipps, Clanin, and Campbell (1992, pp. 158-167) shows that MS disorder more likely affects women than men with its symptoms occurring between the ages of 20 and 40 in most cases and is quite uncommon in childhood and old age. The nerve cells known as neurons in the brain constantly transmit and receive signals. They invoke emotions, activities and cognition that constitute the day to day experiences of humans. Under normal circumstances, these signals travel on a protected insulation path known as the myelin sheath. This insulation is vital as it enables signals to reach their target. In Multiple Sclerosis, the myelin sheath gets disintegrated causing the nerve fibre to be damaged leading to a disruption in the abili...
there are very distinct signs when they are going through these episodes. when dealing with a hypomania episode the person will experience A feeling of being on top of the world, exhilaration or euphoria, Over-self-confidence, an inflated sense of self-esteem, and psychosis. the other episode is depression, when going through this obviously you suffer with depression and expreince extreme sadness .in some cases he/she will think about ending their life. patients will also be easily irritated, this could be triggered by noises, smells, tight clothing, and other things that would usually be tolerated or
How common is delusional parasitosis? Though it is considered a rare disorder, it is considered by many psychiatrists to be underestimated due to the nature of the symptoms and by the patients seeing a variety of doctors, dermatologists, veterinarians, pest control specialists, entomologists and not necessarily psychiatric (Driscoll, 1993)(Szepietowski, 2007)(Bak, Tumu, Hui, Kay, Burnett, et al., 2008)(Hinkle, 2011). There is a large unknown figure, and by looking at the few cases reports and searching through Internet forums can merely give a vague idea of the true frequency (Freudenmann & Lepping, 2009). Because delusional parasitosis is not at all well known to non-specialists, under those circumstances the condition often goes undiagnosed, or may be incorrectly diagnosed.
I believe Catherine Tramell suffers from a number of mental illnesses. I would describe her as a psychopath with narcissistic personality disorder. She displays very heavy antisocial and histrionic features and traits. Displays to be a paraphilic with her partners, along with showing to be schizoid with her relationships. People who suffer from narcissistic disorder displays the signs of your thinking that your brilliant, wonderful, important, and worthy of constant admiration.
Horwitz, Allan. (2010). How an Age of Anxiety Became an Age of Depression. , 88(1), p112-138.
Grandiose delusion is a type of disorder that causes a person to have an enlarged sense of power or self-worth. A person with this disorder will believe that they are of great talent. The jealous type of the disorder deals with a person when they believe their spouse is guilty of infidelity without any evidence. The persecutory type of delusion makes a person believe someone is mistreating them, or trying to harm them. Somatic delusion is a type of disorder that makes a person believe they have a medical or physical issue.
Most psychiatrists believe that when a person suffers from paranoia they most likely have paranoid schizophrenia. According to Frederick Frese chief psychologist at Ohio mental hospital, Paranoid schizophrenia is defined as “ excessive concern about one's own well being, sometimes suggesting the person holds persecutory beliefs concerning a threat to themselves or their property.” Some characteristics are “confusion; indecision; nervousness, suicidal and homicidal thoughts. People with paranoia tend to believe that they have super sensitive hearing. They hear inanimate object taking to them or voices that don’t exist ”Many People with schizophrenia go through periods of getting better and worse. They have remission and relapse. They can go for long periods of time without any symptoms (Frese 13)
Delusional Disorders: Paranoid - Projection, Erotomania - Projection Grandeur - Reaction formation, Omnipotence, Somatic - Regression
As a student who is interested in psychology and the way the brain works/functions, learning about the somatic symptom disorder intrigues me. I have never actually heard of this disorder before, but hypochondria is about the closest to a somatic disorder that I have learned about. Now, the first thing that really caught my attention about this disorder was the definition about it, “People with somatic symptom disorder become excessively distressed, concerned, and anxious about bodily symptoms that they are experiencing, and their lives are greatly disrupted by the symptoms” (Comer, 2014). This blew my mind. I had always know about people thinking they have had every sickness or believe they are suffering from something they are not, I am also aware of the placebo effect, but the fact that people can create such strong distress in their lives from bodily symptoms they experience is something that brought out my curious nature of why and how. Another thing that is very interesting to me is that there are two patterns of somatic symptom disorder, called somatization pattern (the individual experiences a large and even varied number of bodily symptoms) and predominant pain pattern (which is the individual’s primary bodily problem being the experience of pain) (Comer, 2014).