Wendy (31) uses the RIVM’s symptom list every day to check whether she has corona. So that she can prove herself over and over again: look, you are not sick, you are not going to die, really.
Check for red spots
Wendy developed hypochondria around the age of 13, a disorder in which people believe they have a serious illness.
“It started after a classmate who nearly died from meningococcus,” she says. “Then came the realization that young people can also get sick. From that moment on I started checking obsessively whether I had red spots.”
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Since then, all the illnesses that Wendy hears about make her anxious. Since her grandfather died of a brain tumor, Wendy kept an eye on her for a headache. If someone posts something about breast cancer on Facebook, Wendy will check every day for weeks afterwards for bumps in her breast.
And then came corona …
“I was sometimes working on it 24/7. Very obsessive,” she says. “But things have been getting better lately.” Much better, in fact. She has been in treatment for a total of fifteen years.
“It went great, I even did it without help for three years. Until the corona virus broke out. Now I am back to square one.” Sarcastically she says after it: “Hooray.”
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Clinical psychologist Theo Bouman is hypochondrie-expert at the University of Groningen and agrees that this is a very difficult time for hypochondriacs. “Of course we haven’t done any major research on it yet, but you can assume that this pandemic will cause extra fear in people with fear of disease.”
Unknown
This is mainly because a lot is still unknown about corona. “If someone is afraid that they have palpitations, you can go to a cardiologist, who can say for sure what the problem is. But corona is much more vague. We don’t know what the long-term effects are, we don’t have a vaccine yet, the disease course is. sometimes very diverse. That insecurity creates fear. “
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Why the coronavirus is different from the flu
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Another big trigger for hypochondriacs is that people can also have and transmit corona without having symptoms. “That is of course very scary. For everyone, but for hypochondriacs in particular.”
Wash eighty times a day
And that causes some people to wash their hands eighty times a day, for example. Bouman: “Even if those people have just been home alone all day.” Bouman has also recently heard stories of hypochondria patients who continuously call their doctor or take their temperature.
Marjolein (42) is such a person. “My panic attacks have increased,” she says. “The corona crisis has ripped everything open again. I walk with the thermometer under my arm with every ache, shivering or whatever.”
In Marjolein it is further expressed in panic attacks, and she sometimes just feels very restless out of nowhere.
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According to Bouman, there is another consequence lurking: this pandemic may also cause more people to suffer from hypochondria.
“In all the years that I have been researching this, I have met a lot of people who have had no problems with anything their entire lives. But then one violent thing happens in their life, and they are suddenly very afraid of getting sick. . “
Final push
Violent events, such as a death, but also someone close to you who becomes ill, can induce hypochondria, according to various studies. “This period may be just the last push towards disease fear for people.”
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Still, Marjolein notices that things are also weakening a bit, now that the corona crisis is lasting longer. Okay, there are now two family members who have a cold at her house, which is far from ideal if you have hypochondria, but: “I’m getting better and better at being more relaxed about it, thankfully.”
Handles
Wendy is also looking for a way to not only keep the virus out, but also the fear of it. “I have started to avoid the news, I only read essential information, such as the measures that we must adhere to.”
In addition, the tools she received from the treatments still work. “The fear is still there all day, but I am not sliding back completely.”
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