Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T21:47:44.636Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Monosymptomatic Hypochondriasis, Abnormal Illness Behaviour and Suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Paul E. Bebbington
Paul E. Bebbington*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, S.E.5
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Two cases of chronic monosymptomatic psychogenic eye pain with abnormal illness behaviour are presented. Both failed to respond to a wide variety of treatments, and despite the accepted low suicidal risk in hypochondriasis both killed themselves. The origin, prognosis and therapy of such behaviour are discussed in this context.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 5 , May 1976 , pp. 475 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andy, O.J. (1973) Successful treatment of longstanding hysterical pain and visceral disturbance by unilateral anterior thalamotomy. Journal of Neurosurgery, 39, 252–4.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G. N. (1971) Origins of disease phobia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 241–57.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G. N. (1973) Patterns of hypochondriasis: a principal component analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 541–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Euthorn, A. & Beck, E. (1955) Prefrontal leucotomy: a clinico-pathological report. Lancet, i, 23–7.Google Scholar
Fordyce, W. E., Fowler, R. S. & DeLateur, B. (1968) An application of behaviour modification technique to a problem of chronic pain. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 6, 105–7.Google Scholar
Freeman, W. (1959) Psychosurgery. In American Handbook of Psychiatry (ed. Arieti, S.). New York: Basic Books Inc.Google Scholar
Greer, H. S. & Cawley, R. H. (1966) Some Observations on the Natural History of Neurotic Illness , Australian Medical Association Mervyn Archdall Medical Monograph No. 3. Sydney.Google Scholar
Hay, G. (1970) Dysmorphophobia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 399–406.Google Scholar
Hopwood, M. (1965) A case of severe psychogenic pain. Guy's Hospital Reports, 114, 325–7.Google Scholar
Katzenelbogen, S. (1942) Hypochondriacal complaints, with a special reference to personality and environment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 98, 815–22.Google Scholar
Ladee, G. H. (1966) Hypochondriacal Syndromes. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Lester, D. (1972) Suicide after restoration of sight. Journal of the American Medical Association, 219, 757.Google Scholar
Mead, B. T. (1965) Management of hypochondriacal patients. Journal of the American Medical Association, 192, 33–5.Google Scholar
Meares, R. & Horvath, T. (1972) ‘Acute’ and ‘chronic’ hysteria. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 653–7.Google Scholar
Mechanic, D. (1962) The concept of illness behaviour. Journal of Chronic Disease, 15, 189–94.Google Scholar
Moffic, H. S. & Paykel, E. S. (1975) Depression in medical in-patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 346–53.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. (1951) Illness and the role of the physician: a sociological perspective. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 21, 452–60.Google Scholar
Penman, J. (1954) Pain as an old friend. Lancet, i, 633–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrie, A. (1967) Individuality in Pain and Suffering. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pilowsky, I. (1969) Abnormal illness behaviour. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 42, 347–51.Google Scholar
Pilowsky, I. (1970) Primary and secondary hypochondriasis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandmavica, 46, 273–85.Google Scholar
Richards, E. L. (1919) A study of the invalid reaction. Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry, 11, 3930413.Google Scholar
Reusch, J. (1951) Chronic Diseases and Psychological Invalidism: a Psychosomatic Study. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Schwarz, H. (1929) Zircumscripte Hypochondrien. Monatsschrift fur Psychiatrie und Neurologie, 72, 150–64.Google Scholar
Sigerist, H. (1932) Man and Medicine. New York: Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Stenback, A., Achte, K. A. & Rimon, R. H. (1965) Physical disease, hypochondria and alcohol addiction in suicides committed by mental hospital patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 933–7.Google Scholar
Zaidens, S. H. (1950) Dermatologic hypochondriasis: a form of schizophrenia. Psychosomatic Medicine, 12, 250–3.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.