Yesterday, my client gave me a cool name to describe behavior in some forms of anxiety disorders and hypochondria. Diagnostic shopping is when you regularly and even excessively frequently engage in some kind of medical diagnosis at those moments when you notice unusual or unpleasant sensations in the body. This simply happens more often than with other people, or actually several times a month. Well, or clearly against the background of another attack of anxiety. What is included in the concept of diagnostic shopping: Visiting doctors of narrow specializations. Most often these are cardiologists, neurologists, osteopaths, gastroenterologists, oncologists, urologists, endocrinologists, and cosmetologists. You go to them to get authoritative advice and some kind of reassurance that “everything is fine with you.” Radiation diagnostics. Most often this is an ultrasound of an organ, CT or MRI of a separate area of ​​the body, or even the whole body. The choice of this or that part of the body is often made by you yourself, precisely on the basis of the fact that there are some sensations in your body that you do not understand. Blood tests. It’s difficult to single out something that is most common, but now there are actually hundreds of different tests. But there are definitely tumor markers, iron and hemoglobin levels, sugar levels, hormones, serotonin levels, the state of the immune system, monitoring of the inflammatory process, specific markers of a heart attack and the state of microelements. Family doctor. This applies more to those who live outside of Russia; after all, in our country a family doctor is not the most common phenomenon. You can use such a specialist at the first opportunity, you don’t always even go to see him, it happens that you agree that you can just call him, in fact, to calm down. “Your” specialist. As a rule, those who engage in diagnostic shopping visit many specialists. And many have specialists who are more talkative, open, and interested in you. It is these specialists that you try to contact more often, even if your current complaints are not entirely within their specialization, because you receive understanding and attention from them. Pediatrician. Often those who engage in diagnostic shopping worry not only about their health, but also about the health of their children. Therefore, they regularly bring their children to the pediatrician, regularly call a pediatrician to their home, regularly... change pediatricians, since they are not particularly satisfied with them (in terms of a responsible attitude towards their child). Genetic studies. And lovers of such shopping are pronounced hyper-controllers and are prone to negative expectations. And then they explore themselves even at the genetic level. After all, this even allows you to predict certain diseases. Do you have bouts of diagnostic shopping? If you found the article useful or pleasant, feel free to click the “thank you” button at the bottom right. If you have anxiety, fears, neurosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression. If you want to manage your condition on your own, then start learning specific skills to manage your condition now.