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Hypochondriacs: I Told You I Was Ill
Channel 4 Monday 19 February at 9pm
Every time 26-year-old Laura gets a tummy ache or swollen glands, she spends hours on the internet, convinced she has terminal cancer. Kevin lives in constant fear of contracting HIV. A drop of blood can send him into a state of extreme panic.
Jane is 37 and has spent the past five years confined to a wheelchair despite the fact that doctors cannot find anything wrong with her legs. And the smallest ache or pain convinces 40-year-old mum Sarah that she could die at any moment.
Recent studies suggest that as many as one in four GP consultations are taken up by the 'worried well', or hypochondriacs as these people are often labelled. But now this condition has a name: Health Anxiety Disorder. Can it be cured? This compelling film follows these sufferers as they undergo an intensive period of cognitive behavioural therapy at a country retreat, administered by the Maudsley hospital's Dr Florian Ruths. Will it make them better, or will they remain uncured, destined to spend the rest of their lives in and out of their doctors' surgeries?
