Houghton Mifflin · 1996
Phantom Illness (Houghton Mifflin) challenges the stereotype of hypochondriacs as self-involved complainers, while delving into the history and medical understanding of illness fears, somatization, and the debilitating experience of believing oneself to be seriously ill. Hypochondria is estimated to cost the health care system hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Drawing on interviews with researchers and clinicians and real case histories, the book explores links with panic and chronic illness and examines treatments that can help people recover.