The word hypochondria derives from Greek roots, which is related to an excessive concern for health, lexically composed of "hypo" which means "underneath", in addition to "khondrión" which means "cartilage" and the suffix "ia" which alludes to "quality". According to the Royal Spanish Academy, hypochondria is a medical term that refers to the condition that has the peculiarity or is characterized by a strong sensitivity on the part of the nervous system, in addition to habitual pictures of sadness and worry that become constant and overwhelming for health.
Hypochondria is a condition, which the patient believes, in an absurd and unjustified way, that he is suffering from some given disease of extreme gravity; It is supported by the full belief that certain physical symptoms are the result of a serious condition, even when there is the support of medicine that disagrees that there is no such disease. According to various sources, the origin of the word refers to an anatomical area that is the hypochondrium, located just below the ribs and the xiphoid process of the sternum, which, as stated by the humoral medical school, is where it was assumed that the vapors that cause this evil.
A person who suffers from hypochondria is known as "hypochondriac", an individual who constantly undergoes different types of meticulous analyzes and who become obsessive, about their basic physiological functions, believing that these are a safe source of biological disease. It should be noted that hypochondria occurs in the same way in men and women; but also, people with this condition do not create these symptoms intentionally, that is, pretending to be sick.
