Trapped within

We are thinking beings. We have so much on our minds. And the mind is always restless. It is so common to find ourselves conversing with ourselves many times a day. This happens without our knowledge sometimes. Sometimes we consciously wonder aloud. This is what happens to all of us normally, each day, every day.

But what happens when you slightly deviate from "normal"? Is it not possible that the mind may start playing tricks on you? And you start to believe something that does not exist...

I have always been proud of being 'as healthy as an ox'. I have never known or seen what an illness or "perception" of illness can do to an individual, simply because I have not come across many such individuals. Of course I have been ill myself. And once or twice, seriously ill. But what is considered normal is to bounce back after the episode.

In recent times, I have made a good friend. She is otherwise quite active and healthy. She keeps herself busy mostly. But small things always upset her, especially about her health, like a boil on the hand, a small bout of cold, or just perspiring sometimes. She is paralyzed with anxiety over these small bodily changes and seeks constant reassurance from us and her family about her nagging feeling of something being seriously wrong with her. She is not convinced with our reassurances and seeks medical help for each small perceived illness. And that is not enough either. She does'nt believe that one single medicine or course of treatment or doctor can cure her. She seeks help from various doctors and local healers and changes medicines often and then becomes anxious about if she should have stuck to one treatment from the start! She needs reasons about why the boil or flu started in the first place.

It drives me mad to be around her during her bouts of illnesses. Her house is filled with medicines for all sorts of anticipatory illnesses. She sometimes self-evaluates her illness and reads up books and surfs the net about what it is that ails her. It is not only hard for her, but also for people around her, especially her family. They tell her it is nothing, just a boil. But then, what if this boil is a "manifestation of something serious within the body"? I cannot help but think what is it that drives an individual into such a deep well of anxiety. And then it hits me- it is a case of hypochondriasis. I read about it from this link here. This helps me make up my mind somewhat more about her being a hypochondriac.

It is such a sensitive issue. Any illness is, but those related to the mind are more so. There is a stigma attached to mental illnesses. No one wants to accept that a psychiatrist is the one they should be seeking help from, not a physician or any other doctor. And as a well-wisher, it is impossible to let the person in denial suffer through this hell for the rest of their lives. It is treading on a thin rope to be the one to tell them that it is not anything physical, but related to the mind without implying that he/she is "mad".

I feel a lot for people who are otherwise healthy but are trapped within themselves. How do we free them?