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Hypochondria
Published in Francis X. Dercum, Rest, Suggestion, 2019
It occasionally happens that a patient becomes suddenly alarmed by some new symptom or by some trivial accident. On such occasions he may present all the signs of an acute attack of fright. The latter may be attended by palpitation of the heart, by pallor of the face, and by coldness of the extremities. Such attacks differ radically from the attacks of fear, which occur spontaneously and without special exciting cause, in neurasthenia. Furthermore, the fear is always generalized in character and never assumes the special forms seen in neurasthenia, such, for instance, as agoraphobia or claustrophobia. The fright, as a rule, does not last long, the patient being for the time reassured by those about him or by the physician whose advice he seeks. The previously existing nosophobia, it need hardly be added, is apt to be much worse afterward.
The impact of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental-health services in Europe
Published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2021
Johannes Thome, Jocelyn Deloyer, Andrew N. Coogan, Deborah Bailey-Rodriguez, Odete A. B. da Cruz e Silva, Frank Faltraco, Cathleen Grima, Snaebjorn Omar Gudjonsson, Cecile Hanon, Martin Hollý, Jo Joosten, Ingegerd Karlsson, Gabriela Kelemen, Maria Korman, Krzysztof Krysta, Boleslav Lichterman, Konstantin Loganovsky, Donatella Marazziti, Margarita Maraitou, Serge Mertens deWilmars, Merja Reunamen, Shyhrete Rexhaj, Muhammet Sancaktar, Javier Sempere, Isabelle Tournier, Emilie Weynant, Christiaan Vis, Marie-Clotilde Lebas, Laurence Fond-Harmant
Increased levels of anxiety were broadly reported, as was the potential for negative impacts on mental health wellbeing due to COVID-19 measures such as social distancing, isolation and curfews which are likely to lead to elevated stress levels, depression, domestic violence and suicide. Similar concerns were expressed regarding the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 containment measures. Mental-health services were reported to be increasingly encountering patients with strong fear of being infected (in the absence of any COVID-19 symptoms or other reasons to suspect COVID-19), as presenting through more frequent nosophobia, pathophobia and hyponchondria. These heightened threat responses were reported to be linked to deteriorations of pre-existing conditions such as depression, obsessive behaviour and an abnormal degree of vigilance in preventing any possibility of contamination. Increases in panic attacks and obsessions (e.g. cleaning and contamination) were also observed. More severe symptoms at presentation and increased rates of re-admission were also noted, as were concerns that patients with chronic mental health conditions were experiencing deterioration of their symptoms and increased distress.