Why does someone become a hypochondriac?
545492
Your friend needs attention obviously for lack of attention.  Since she is your friend, I would talk to her about it.  ONE DAY, maybe one day she will be actually ill and will need actual medical attention, but nobody will believe her.  She is doing herself more harm than good in the long run.  \nThe person who gave the answer about Munchausen Syndrome doesn't qualify as an answer solving your question.  That is when a parent purposely harms her child in order to get attention of others.  \nYour friend isn't harming others, only herself.  Since she has been diagnosed as being a hypochondriac, her doctor should have gotten her into a mental health professional.  Talk with your friend and encourage her to see someone to help her with this mental illness.\nGood Luck to you!  I can see you are a true, caring friend.  Your friend in very lucky.\nLovetofly
735179
Plenty of people get nervous, it's probably from fear of finding out a diagnosis, or just a fear of having to have certain tests done. Some people get "White Coat Syndrome". It's when their blood pressure rises when they visit a doctor, when their pressure is otherwise normal.
1070237
It's obviously a very personal thing, so there are innumerable reasons why a person does this.  I suppose the most common reasons would be: mental illness, self-euthanasia, shame or guilt, loneliness, unhappiness, innability to cope with the problems in their life ....
785077
we all have it in our souls to become control freaks, some however feel the need to dish it out more than others. sad but true. know stop asking these questions. oh sorry it just slipped out see what i mean.
321318
There is more than one stigma attached to mental health conditions. Yes it is uncomfortable, and the stigma most attached that troubles me the worst, is that because the person can't see what is wrong with you, it's as if you are just making it up. If you walk in on crutches, people are much more empathetic, than if they see someone having a panic attack. Terms like "unbalanced, mentally ill" are tossed around pretty freely, without really understanding what is going on. I have a friend who suffers from severe depression and a very severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and her own family thinks that she could change this, if she would just fight it, get a job, get up in the morning, take a shower, etc... and everything will fall back into place.  I know that mental conditions can do a lot of damage to the person with the illness, but it hurts to have other people trying to diagnose you, and tell you how to get over it, when they really do not have a clue as to what the person with the illness is facing. If you would like to know more info. about a particular illness, or talk about it in greater detail, or if you have more questions, please feel free to e-mail me at brew40fw@msn.com, I hope this helps, and I wish you the best
1163111
You're referring to agoraphobia.  Read more about it here:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoraphobic
657873
An inappropriate way of redirecting their stress. If they cause themselves pain, they stop thinking about everything else that is troubling them.
623544
Stress, inproper diet, lack of water and lack of physical activity can all increase anxity and depression.  When the body is weak the mind will weaken as well.  Also you can also triggering a fear recation in your body.  Too much fear with out dealing with the fear will cause the body to strain since you are in the flight or fight mode.  That and additional stress will cause muscals to tense up causing the chest pains.  The best way to dealing with fear is to identify it, learn about it, and then confrot it.  It also could be overwhelming stress caused by working a job that doesnt fit your personality. for example a introvert working with many people at the same time or non stop for a long period of time.  Introverts need time alone to recharge and extroverts need fast pace situations with lots of stimuli to get energized.  The best thing to do is learn more about your self and your needs.   I hope I help you a bit.  I know how you feel.  I have the same problem (except for the low blood pressure).  I have been dealing with it for about 6 or more years now.  I have made some progress but some of the things I am still working to improve.  Good luck.
803608
Your eating disorders always come back to feeling a lack of control in your life......People have eating disorders mainly because they feel their world is out of control....So they maintain some control by not eating, sounds paradoxical, I know, but that is how it works.....I hope you seek some counseling to get to the root of your problems...Best of luck...
709937
I think you are thinking OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).  people with this disorder focus on different things that they worry about and then have to do an action to fulfill that excessive worry.  So your friend may hate messes and so to decrease that anxious feeling that messes cause her, she cleans to supress that
1078368
They become stronger because of the inbuilt 'fight or flight' response we all have when we feel endangered, or angry. When a person goes into fight mode an excess of adrenalin is pumped through the body making them seem suddenly stronger than they were.
702760
panic attacks are related more to anxiety disorders, and the experience is a severe rush of adrenaline. \n\nSchizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. A person experiencing untreated schizophrenia is typically characterized as demonstrating disorganized thinking, and as experiencing delusions or auditory hallucinations.\nAlthough the disorder is primarily thought to affect cognition, it can also contribute to chronic problems with behavior and emotion.\n\nDemonic possession, in supernatural belief systems, is a form of spiritual possession whereby certain malevolent extra-dimensional entities, demons, gain control over a mortal person's body, which is then used for an evil or destructive purpose. Unlike in channelling or other benign forms of possession, the subject has no control over the possessing entity and so it will persist until forced to leave the victim, usually through a form of exorcism. Many cultures and religions contain some concept of demonic possession, but the details vary considerably. Some cultures, in particular the Roma people also believe that demons can also possess animals, plants, deceased persons or inanimate objects.
809328
It's a fairly common preoccupation of some OCD sufferers. Just like there are different types of other illnesses, there are several different typical presentations of OCD. Some patients are into worries of contamination (frequently leading to repeated handwashing and other self-cleaning behaviors); others are into checking locks, or sniffing certain objects, etc.\n\nOver time, someone with a contamination fear leading to their OCD behavior can start feeling like they may have even missed noticing just when it was that they came in contact with potentially contaminated or dirty items. So the worrying and efforts to "undo" the real or imagined contamination (much more imagined than real, for sure) takes on a life of its own. They may start washing their hands pre-emptively as it were. So the answer to your question is yes. The rest of the answer sheds some additional light on this type of disorder and how it comes to adopt certain forms.
319254
Very high.  Why?  Because this has very little to do with chemicals, it has everything to do with her coping skills.  It is one of psychology's biggest mysteries about how the brain function works.  When you become depressed for example, you begin to create a nerve dysfunction in the brain actually perpetuating the problem.  The symptons cause the probelm if that makes sense.  My point is that if she has never had coping skills, her thinking is always irrational and will cause the problems in her brain.  That's why without learning how to "cope" she's not gonna be healthy.  Her biggest issue is that without someone, she will die.  A lot of peole fear this.  It's usually caused by neglect and/or abandonment as a child.  And as an adult, they can not comprehend that they will not die without someone there.  They revert to that 5 year old thinking.
847891
People are afriad of mental illness. If they admit that mental illness is beyond our control, then it can happen to them. Most people do not understand the depth of pain and suffering that goes with mental illness of any kind. They may be able to pull themselves out of a short term funk but have not idea what it is like to live in a dark cloud.\n\nWhen they tell you to snap out of it, they are allowing themselve believe that they could snap out of it if mental illness happened to them. People have tried to blame the victim of all kinds of illnesses. If someone gets cancer, they must have smoked or had an unhealthy lifestyle or bad genes, for example. \n\nBlaming the victim is especially hurtful. We are punished twice-once by the sickness and again by those who blame us for having a problem of any kind.  They want to believe that it is a flaw in character that the sick person has and they don't have. \n\nA lot of doctors actually dismiss patients with "it's all in your head, here is an antidepresssant." This happens many times more to women that it does to men. The word hysterical, has as its root "hyster" referring to women.
1009035
Yes, it is a form of paranoia and can be found in many mental illnesses. All you can do is anchor yourself and try to get past the panic attack. Talk to your dr about getting an "as needed" med for those attacks.
544221
Psychitric disorders sometimes involve feelings that the body has changed (& is changing) in significant ways.  This is because these disorders create perceptual distortions.  The person suffering from these perceptual distortions should consult a physician (preferably a psychiatrist) immediately.  Major tranquilizers (not anti depressants like Zolof or any SSRIs) generally help.