"Worried Well" : is hypochondria a disease?

It costs the government millions, but the good news for the economy is the rise of the alternative and complementary health industries.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk some three million people in the UK suffer from imaginary food intolerances. Are we really a nation of hypochondriacs? The "worried well", it would appear, are everywhere: an estimated one in four GP appointments is now taken up by someone who has absolutely nothing wrong with them. For those with health anxiety every twinge can be the latest symptom of a terminal disease. Anxiety exacerbates any ache they have so that their pain becomes real - and potentially debilitating. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK suffer from such acute anxiety about their health that they are unable to work "They may be at the extreme end of the spectrum, but this is a problem for many people and it has to be seen as condition in itself," says Professor Paul Salkovskis, the director of the Maudsley Hospital Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma. "Their suffering is genuine, and their pain often greater than if something really was wrong with them."