Headache? Must Be a Tumor
May 5, 2005
Stay in Germany long enough and you're sure to notice that people here tend to be a bit sensitive when it comes to their health.
Open the window and there'll soon be complaints of a draft, which can have all manner of terrible consequences for your health. Don't open the window often enough and you'll be treated to a lecture on the health benefits of proper "airing out" techniques.
Germany is a nation where "circulatory disturbances" can earn you a doctor's note and week off from work. And should you dare to show up at work with a sniffle or sore throat, be prepared to weather mean glances from colleagues who wish you'd just kept yourself -- and your germs -- at home.
Irrational fear
But these national foibles aside, a new study from the University of Mainz has found that the German obsession with health can go to some very unhealthy extremes. One in 14 Germans is a hypochondriac, the study found, meaning that 7 percent of the nation's population suffers from an irrational fear of illness.
"Those affected find that their thoughts are often concentrated on the body," said Gaby Bleichhardt, one of the study's authors. "They're constantly monitoring their bodily well-being."
The only relief from the never-ending cycle of fear are constant visits to the doctor. But for five months now, psychologists in Mainz have been offering a special treatment concept for hypochondriacs, designed to reduce the number of trips to the clinic.
With the help of behavioral therapy, the patients learn to steer their thoughts in a different direction, away from the body and the terrible illnesses such as cancer, AIDS or Alzheimer's just waiting to invade it.