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COVID, monkeypox symptoms: To have illness anxiety in 2022 - USA TODAY

COVID, monkeypox symptoms: To have illness anxiety in 2022 - USA TODAY

Aug 12, 2022 1 min, 6 secs

Somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder, formerly known as hypochondria, is an excessive fear and preoccupation of illness, according to Andrew Rosen, founder of the Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders.

People with illness anxiety disorder, despite medical professionals saying otherwise, will continue to have “irrational and cognitive distortions around something minor being something major,” says Crystal Burwell, a psychotherapist with an expertise in anxiety. .

The differentiating factor between people who are "understandably cautious and concerned about something like COVID or monkeypox" and clients who experience illness anxiety is that the latter will have consulted medical doctors and received no medical diagnosis, yet continue to have "extreme anxiety," Burwell says.

Burwell says those with a history of anxiety are most likely to experience illness anxiety since diseases like COVID-19 and monkeypox will amplify existing conditions.

Though health anxiety worsened in the past few years with COVID-19, Rosen says it had already been aggravated in the past decade due to social media and the availability of information at our literal fingertips.

Ken Goodman, a licensed clinical social worker, explains that health anxiety can also be an extreme reaction to external triggers, such as news reports or social media posts about illnesses like cancer.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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