JANUARY 11

Hypochondriasis

Hypochondria is a psychological disease. One who suffers from this disease imagines that he has one or more physical complaints, although he is not actually ill. The hypochondriac becomes convinced that he is afflicted by disease, even although it is absent.

A resident of Pune, India, Mr. Farhat Haroon Khan, once told me of such an instance. He had become acquainted with a 20-year old Arab student, who had come from Bahrain to Pune to pursue a course of higher studies. During his stay in India, the latter began to imagine that his health had been ruined by Indian food and that he was suffering from some fatal disease.

He asked Farhat Haroon to take him to a good doctor and Mr. Haroon obliged him by taking him to a Dr. S.M.H. Modi. Dr. Modi examined the student thoroughly and prescribed certain tests. Then after seeing all the reports, he asked Mr. Haroon to tell the Arab patient that he was ‘as fit as a horse.’

After the doctor’s thorough examination, the young Arab’s worries immediately evaporated, and he began to live a normal life, just as if he had never taken ill.

This type of disease is not confined only to individuals. Sometimes an entire nation or community may suffer from it. This can be traced to wrong guidance by leaders who induce a fear psychosis in their followers by causing them to believe that they are surrounded by danger on all sides. The key to progress for such a nation is the ability to see such dangers for what they are—imaginary; and then to root out all fear from the national psyche. Then nothing can stand in the way of the country’s success.