A new study suggests that illness anxiety can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fortunately, there are effective treatments
In an English churchyard, the Irish comedian Spike Milligan’s gravestone has a chastening message for those who knew him: “I told you I was ill.”
We can all identify with Milligan’s concerns. Who hasn’t panic-researched supposed symptoms, fearing the worst? His joke speaks to our fear that legitimate health concerns will be shrugged off as nothing to worry about – “Oh, it’s just hypochondria.”
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