Reading About Illnesses When You Have Depression
In doing this blog and the migraine blog, I read a lot of information about different types of depression (and often people with migraines have depression). Right now, I’m reading The Family Intervention Guide to Mental Illness: Recognizing Symptoms and Getting Treatment by Bodie Morey and Kim T. Mueser, PhD. The book deals not only with various types of depression and mood disorders, but also fun things like schizophrenia, dementia and obessive compulsive disorder.
In reading all of the symptoms, I can’t help but see myself having every single one of these conditions.
This Is Normal
Actually, it’s a normal reaction to read about an illness and then suddenly think you have it. It’s not just hypochondria (which is also mentioned in the book, come to think of it.) Haven’t you ever read a magazine artile or saw a news show about a newly discovered disease and then start feeling the very same early symptoms of the disease? I can’t hear anything about arthritis without my back giving a twinge, for example. And I can’t hear anythign about diabetes without thinking “Mmmmm — sugar..” (OK, maybe that was a bad example.)
However, most people get over this sensation in a few days. They run around like a maniac in order to take care of their lives and in the process, the memory of the upsetting disease we think we may be getting goes further and further from our minds.
Time Frame
And I think that’s why we are suddenly convinced that we have the condition we were just learning about. It was takng up our full attention. But if a couple of weeks go by and you still think something’s wrong, it couldn’t hurt to go see a doctor.
Hope this helps.
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