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– You cannot control your life, but you can control your thoughts, says the hypocritical doctor Ingvard Wilhelmsen.
– Some hypochondriacs do not take the crown epidemic as strongly. They deal with real things, not a small virus.
Ingvard Wilhelmsen (71) takes a few seconds break.
– And now they are a bit at home, because they are used to having anxiety from infections and diseases. “Finally, people understand how we feel,” they tell me. Others may have it heavier. People are different, including hypochondriacs.
He goes by the name of “hypochondriac”, and for good reason. Wilhelmsen has spent the last 26 years of his career talking to people who are so afraid of becoming seriously ill that they interpret each torment as a sign of severe somatic illness or, at worst; they must die
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Although we launch the term “hypochondro” to everyone who occasionally googles cancer symptoms, only about one percent of Norway’s population is actually hypochondriacal.
In 1995 Wilhelmsen, a physician, psychiatrist and internal medicine, opened the doors of Norway’s first hypochondriac clinic.
It is the sickest people who come to the Hypokonder Clinic, so they should receive hypochondriac and receive psychotherapy where they live without recovering. There are mainly two groups: those who are afraid of having a physical disability and those who are afraid of dying.
– Those who fear death are not so speculative, it is mainly cancer, stroke or heart disease. Those who are afraid of being disabled generally worry about getting MS or ALS.
– A little anxiety is positive.
Regardless of the disease they fear, they have one thing in common: They cannot accept that they cannot control disease or death in the future.
– Most of life is unpredictable. The only thing we can control are our own attitudes and actions, but nobody knows how life ends, says Wilhelmsen, adding:
– Life is an uncertain project, and we must all be aware of it and accept it.
However, a little health anxiety is only positive, says the hypochondriac.
– It is what makes people go to the doctor when they are sick, and what makes us stay away from them and follow infection control rules these days. Anxiety is a friend in distress, it leads to sensible action.
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However, for hypochondriacs, health anxiety has grown so large that anxiety has become the problem itself.
– If health anxiety is exaggerated, you end up spending your life without dying.
The adrenal glands do not prove the facts
Wilhelmsen, for example, talks to patients who fear contracting HIV. They convince themselves that they have the virus, without really being close to the possibility of becoming infected.
– If you monitor your body for symptoms before the disease spreads, you will eventually find something. Plus, you interpret everything as terrifying, dangerous, and threatening.
It is the mind that makes a hypochondriac sick. When we panic, the brain sends signals to the adrenal glands, two glands located in the upper part of our kidneys, that produce and emit “stress hormones.”
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The heart rate increases and the blood flows to the muscles, as we become sharper and more vigilant. The secreted hormones cause the body to go into fight or flight mode.
This has saved many lives. Because anxiety is, as Wilhelmsen says, “a friend in need.” The only problem is that the adrenal glands respond just as well when fear is irrational.
– The adrenal glands do not check if we have interpreted the symptoms or the situation correctly, they simply attack.
– People worry too much
So what is the solution? Yes, you must become aware of your thoughts and your attitude towards reflection and concern.
Because even if you can’t control the future and death, you can control which thoughts to spend time in, Wilhelmsen believes.
– People generally worry too much. Not just about life and death, but about everything. Your children Cheap flights. Tunnels There are many things you can think about, but the principle is the same: there are things you can’t do anything about and can’t control.
When patients sit in Wilhelmsen’s office and discuss all concerns, a phrase is often repeated:
“I know this is totally sick, that’s it.”
– But I do not think so. At some level they think that it helps to worry, that it is dangerous not to, because then everything can happen.
Let’s say you are afraid of flying. Does thinking about the worst possible scenario, or concentrating too much on the idea of flying, have any kind of protective effect?
Or do you think worrying can almost be magical? That if you stop thinking about it, will it be easier to steer the plane than if you constantly think that you expect everything to go well?
– The most obvious is with those with obsessions. Those who wash their hands countless times and yet say they understand that he is sick. I don’t think they fully understand it. They perform these rituals because they believe it helps, that it is the rituals that save them. However, it is the attempt to find calm and curb the need to wash that becomes the disease itself.
– You can still be hit
Fortunately, you can learn to control your thoughts. You can practice spending less time worrying and reflecting, and more time living life as it happens.
And then of course there is nothing in the way of taking precautions.
Recently, brain scientist Ole Petter Hjelle released the book “Live until you are 100 years old. 7 keys to a long and good life” where he goes through research-based advice for a longer, healthier life.
Wilhelmsen fully agrees that it is advisable to live healthy, with a focus on activity, a healthy diet and good relationships.
– But I think it is a better motivation to exercise to be in good shape while you live, not to live that long. Then you have more to give in life, says Wilhelmsen.
Because you can live completely after the book and still die young.
– You can jog every day and eat really healthy, but still get hit: crunchy and full of body antioxidants.
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