From the author: I have been using this approach to treat hypochondria for fifteen years. Author: master of short-term strategic therapy Oleg Vladimirovich Surkov “I'm afraid of getting sick! What to do?" - this is a question asked by anxious people who are concerned about their health. Psychologists call such people hypochondriacs. To understand who a hypochondriac is, I suggest you read a quote from their book by Jerome Klapka Jerome “Three in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog”: I remember I once went to the British Museum to read about methods of treating some trivial disease, with which I fell ill - I think it was hay fever. I wanted to find out what else I was sick with. I read about the dance of St. Vitus and learned, as one might expect, that I was sick with this disease. Having become interested in my condition, I decided to research it thoroughly and began to read it in alphabetical order. I read about ataxia and learned that I had recently become ill with it and that the acute period would begin in two weeks. Fortunately, I suffered from Bright's disease in a mild form and, therefore, could still live for many years. I had diphtheria with serious complications, and I apparently had cholera from early childhood. I conscientiously worked through all twenty-six letters of the alphabet and became convinced that the only disease that I did not have was inflammation of the kneecap. At first I was a little upset - it seemed to me an undeserved insult. Why don't I have kneecap inflammation? How can we explain such injustice? But soon less predatory feelings took over. I thought about the fact that I had all the other diseases known to medicine, became less greedy and decided to do without inflammation of the kneecap. Thus, a hypochondriac is constantly looking for various diseases in himself and finds them. What definition can be given of hypochondria? Hypochondria is a phobic condition associated with fear for one’s own health. A person begins to look for early signs of illness. He is afraid of getting infected, or is sure that he is already sick. Even after a thorough medical examination showed that there was not the slightest cause for concern. If the research results indicate the absence of a disease, then this further convinces the person of the presence of an “unknown incurable disease.” If the heart skips a beat, then the hypochondriac has the question “is everything okay with me?” What does a person do in such situations? What does a hypochondriac do? The first, and perhaps the most common solution is to contact doctors and request a diagnostic examination. However, this does not bring the expected effect. If the test results are negative, then the person does not trust them. A hypochondriac changes doctors. The second thing hypochondriacs do is to talk a lot and willingly about their health and complain to others. Almost each of us has encountered such people in our lives. The third solution is that they are looking for a person who could save them if something happens. That is, they ask for help. The fourth solution is to search for information about the problem. A person concerned about his health reads health magazines, watches television programs, and searches for the necessary information on the Internet. However, searching for information does not solve the problem, but only aggravates it and enriches it with details. Hypochondriacs constantly go to emergency services and torment local therapists. Often seeking medical help leads to the fact that they are no longer taken seriously. A constant state of stress about the state of one's own health can actually lead to changes at the physiological level. A person evokes in himself what he is afraid of. He can really get sick. To change the situation of a hypochondriac, you need to block his attempts to solve the problem. These attempts are listed above. But first we need to prepare the ground for change. It is necessary for a person to admit that every time he goes to the doctor, he only fuels his problem and perpetuates it. It is also important that the person recognizes the second obvious fact: talking about the problem and searching for information only aggravates!