Hypochondria: A psychoanalytic review

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical review of hypochondria from a psychoanalytic perspective . The author distinguishes two different models within this framework. The first, based on Freud's instinct model, considers hypochondria to be, initially, a demonstration of an anxiety neurosis and, later, a formof present neurosis with a sexual etiology. The second, based on the model of Klein'sobject relationships, views hypochondria as the resultofthe introjection of an external object as bad, ill and damaged. The most important contributions to each of these models are presented.