Hypochondria is a mental condition where a person believes that they are sick and no amount of persuading can make them believe otherwise.
They often visit doctors complaining about "phantom" ailments that they have, and when told by the physician that their examination shows that there is nothing wrong with them they will still not believe them.
The symptoms of hypochondria are similar to other forms of anxiety but they are usually concentrated on a particular body part or sensation that the person feels.
This mental condition is in large part attributed to hypersensitivity of the nerves; or in other words an abnormally high level of concentration on the sensations in the body.
Hypochondriacs are only able to focus their thoughts on a very narrow range of bodily sensations; this is what contributes to the self-destructive nature of hypochondria.
Sufferers usually put a lot of emphasis on every little thing that they feel and take them as some form of deadly disease.
The symptoms that hypochondriacs usually think they have are so small that normally they can be ignored and taken lightly.
But for hypochondriacs, these little symptoms are messengers of doom, they believe that they are signs that they have something life-threatening.
If you wish to feel what hypersensitivity feels like try this simple experiment: first focus on your right hand, then on a single finger, then on just the fingertip.
Put all your concentration on just that fingertip.
You will notice then that you can now feel every little sensation that that fingertip experiences, you may even imagine a sensation there sometimes.
Take note that had you not focused your attention on your fingertip you would not even notice those sensations you felt, this is hypersensitivity.
This hypersensitivity is the root cause of all symptoms of hypochondria.
Every little bodily sensation, even if they're not even painful, the hypochondriac's brain will interpret them as something painful or at the very least, abnormal.
They believe that just because they are extremely aware of the sensation that they felt they subconsciously believe that there must be pain.
What the hypochondriac doesn't understand is that this abnormally high awareness, often bordering to obsession of every little thing going on in the body is what causes their hypochondria.
These trigger their anxiety and even panic attacks.
This is the body's fight or defensive system working against itself.
But there is a solution to rid sufferers of this obsession with their bodies, though it is admittedly easier said than done for hypochondriacs.
They need to put their complete trust in their physician and in themselves also.
They should avoid focusing all their attention on a single body part for an extended amount of time; they must know that if they do that they will definitely feel something.
The truth is that there really is "something" going on everywhere in our bodies, so just ignore it.
With proper therapy and medication, one can rid themselves from this debilitating mental illness and enjoy their lives to the fullest.