Somesh is overly occupied with the thought that he is getting symptoms of cancer. He had visited doctors many times and no such disease was diagnosed. He might be suffering from:-
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Illness anxiety disorder
Option (1) Somatic Symptom disorder — Incorrect. Here the person has persistent body-related symptoms and is preoccupied with those symptoms. Somesh has no symptoms of his own to worry about; he fears developing a disease.
Option (2) Obsessive-compulsive disorder — Incorrect. Its marks are obsessive thoughts that cannot be stopped and compulsive actions the person feels driven to repeat, such as washing or checking. Somesh’s concern is entirely about having an illness.
Option (3) Illness anxiety disorder — Correct. It involves persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness and constant worry about this possibility, with anxiety about one’s health. Somesh keeps thinking he has cancer although repeated visits to doctors found nothing.
Option (4) Conversion disorder — Incorrect. Its symptoms are the reported loss of part or all of some basic body functions, such as paralysis, blindness or deafness, often after a stressful experience. Somesh has lost no function.
NCERT (2025-26): “Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders … Somatic symptom disorder involves a person having persistent body-related symptoms which may or may not be related to any serious medical condition. People with this disorder tend to be overly preoccupied with their symptoms and they continually worry about their health and make frequent visits to doctors. As a result, they experience significant distress and disturbances in their daily life. Illness anxiety disorder involves persistent preoccupation about developing a serious illness and constantly worrying about this possibility. This is accompanied by anxiety about one’s health. Individuals with illness anxiety disorder are overly concerned about undiagnosed disease, negative diagnostic results, do not respond to assurance by doctors, and are easily alarmed about illness such as on hearing about someone else's ill-health or some such news. In general, both somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder are concerned with medical illnesses. But, the difference lies in the way this concern is expressed. In the case of somatic symptom disorder, this expression is in terms of physical complaints while in case of illness anxiety disorder, as the name suggests, it is the anxiety which is the main concern. The symptoms of conversion disorders are the reported loss of part or all of some basic body functions. Paralysis, blindness, deafness and difficulty in walking are generally among the symptoms reported. These symptoms often occur after a stressful experience and may be quite sudden.…” |