ABSTRACT
The main clinical distinction between hypochondria and psychosomatic states is that in the former a flooding and intense anxiety regarding the body is frequently present, while in the latter, such anxiety is usually absent. Since the hypochondriac's flooding, but unsymbolized, anxiety is so prevalent, hypochondria has been historically classified as one of the types of actual neurosis, a term used by Freud to include intense physical and emotional states. The intricate relation between hypochondriac anxiety and excessive daydreaming has important implications for our clinical work. Even in otherwise relatively well functioning personalities, the hypochondriac involvement with the body might become so extensive that, at its extremity. It can induce autistic-like withdrawals into a world of hypertrophied attention to one's sensations, where daydreaming disease and deterioration and the ensuing flooding anxiety become densely intermingled, creating a very painful and detached existence.
