hypochondria

(Newser) - Hypochondriacs worry constantly about their health, even when nothing is actually wrong. Now, a new study suggests they do, in fact, have reason to worry—and it might be because all that worrying is making them ill. The Swedish study in JAMA Psychiatry found that people diagnosed with hypochondriasis—more...

(Newser) - A large Swedish study has uncovered a paradox about people diagnosed with an excessive fear of serious illness: They tend to die earlier than people who aren't hypervigilant about health concerns. Hypochondriasis, now called illness anxiety disorder, is a rare condition with symptoms that go beyond average health worries,...

(Newser) - Did you know that there’s a rare syndrome-- fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva—that can cause your bones to grow so uncontrollably that you become a “stone man”? That’s just one of the strange ailments described in the Hypochondriac’s Handbook, a new book chock-full of rare diseases....