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Health anxiety: Help for the well-but-worried
Internet sites and online message boards are buzzing with people who despairingly refuse to believe they are well even though a physician has given them a clean bill of health. There’s Jimmy, for example, who confessed: “I have no reason to believe I have a particular ailment, and against all reason and logic I just feel like I have it.”
He knows about health anxiety (also called hypochondria) but his medical diagnosis hasn’t helped. Jimmy is still haunted by what-ifs and panic attacks. He ends his comments: “I have no symptoms or risk factors, just an irrational fear that I can’t control.”
About the author
Russ Gerber is Manager of Christian Science Committees on Publication for The First Church of Christ, Scientist.

October 29, 2012 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Cristina Minola, Susan Vreeland, Barbara Alexander
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A different tack
Jeff Ward-Bailey, Staff Editor
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The government that blesses all
Mark Sappenfield
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Quenching the volcanoes of partisanship
Jack Lindsey
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Elections, justice, and mercy
Rosalie E. Dunbar, Senior Staff Editor
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Health anxiety: Help for the well-but-worried
Russ Gerber
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Love casts out demons
Nate Frederick
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'Think globally act locally' moments
Diane Bolman
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A prophecy fulfilled
Malcolm Drummond
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Frisbee and a 'holy day'
Emily Clarke
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When I prayed for myself...
Rod Jones
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The 'business' that replaces 'busyness'
Irene Schanche Bowker
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Like joining a new family
Kristen Coleman
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Love and wisdom trump hatred
Sharon Carper
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'Where art thou?'
Deanna Mummert
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Distinctly democratic
Dorcas Strong
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Study points to health benefits of prayer
Donald Ingwerson
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'Spiritual fitness' and suicide prevention
Carey Arber
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'Undisturbed' and healed after an election
Roberta Dever
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Skin growth dissolved
Ann Kneeland with contributions from Jennifer Kneeland
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Healing of premenstrual tension
Martha Corrêa Henriques Samary
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Divine simplicity...or mental algebra?
The Editors