Treating Hypochondria

I've thought multiple times about how, if at all, I could overcome my tendancy to over analyze things. I've known for a long time that its an obsessive-compulsion in me to focus on my health. I also know that various drugs have helped me over the years, but I've never quite shaken it permanently. I came across this article, and it seems pretty interesting. Especially the question about it (hypochondria) starting at an early age. I know as a small child I feared (irrationally) all sorts of things.

If it was Nuclear bombs or tornadoes, or air plane parts, I knew they were gonna hit my house. I remember when we moved once I freaked out for months about the fact that we were on some sort of first-strike list for nuclear bombs. I'd try and calculate just how long it would take the blast wave to get to my house (and yes, I mean *calculate*). So, I can see a pattern.

There's another very interesting question that leads to this statement:

DANIEL CAPPELLO: Why do doctors hate hypochondriacs?

JEROME GROOPMAN: There are several reasons. One is that doctors want to deal with what they believe is real disease, meaning physical problems, and not constant complaining about imagined issues...[The last] —and this is sort of the psychoanalytic insight—is that many physicians have hypochondriacal feelings themselves, because they see how fragile the world is. Some people believe that physicians dislike hypochondriacs so much because it is a sort of mirror to their own compartmentalized fears.

I find that extremely interesting. I know I've read in the past that many soon-to-be doctors in medical school go through a phase where they diagnose themselves with a disease they are currently learning. I've always wondered how they coped with the in depth knowledge they have of disease. Considering they are only human, I'd assume not very well.

Full text of article at the New Yorker