Hypochondria

I feel like when the term hypochondria or health anxiety is said, most people imagine a person that fears that they have lung cancer or are having a heart attack, or some very rare disease for that matter. 

No one ever thinks that a person might perhaps be terribly afraid that they have some mental illness. Beyond the fact that I find psychiatry to be an unsubstantial field of medicine, I didn't always completely believe that. 

When I was 13 or 14, I used to be infatuated with autism. I was convinced I have it, and whether I fit the symptoms currently or not- there's this small problem that when a person is convinced they have a mental illness, they change their behaviour to act according to their self-diagnosis. 

I would lack facial expressions, I took everything literally, I was very closed off due to my conviction. Not that much has changed, though, I don't struggle in the field of communication (though I'm unsure whether that's the right term for this trait?). 

I make expressions, my voice does have a tone. I don't fit into the traits of autism. I was just paranoid. I had a conviction. I think this mental illness hypochondria is though in this day and age more popular with BPD. 

I don't spend a lot of time on the internet anymore, but when I did, BPD was so widespread with people thinking they have it. I think we might look down upon these people a lot, and call them attention seekers, and not take them seriously. 

I think this is stupid. Though, essentially hypochondria is a mental disease of itself, it is too looked down upon even when it concerns physical problems. We laugh at people who think that they're dying, when their heartbeat is elevated. 

We shun off those who get a whole body MRI, because they're scared of cancer. I think maybe instead of laughing at them, we should point our ears - listen and understand.