| hypochondriacal melancholia | <psychiatry> Melancholia with many associated physical complaints, often with little basis in fact. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| melancholia | <medicine> A kind of mental unsoundness characterised by extreme depression of spirits, ill-grounded fears, delusions, and brooding over one particular subject or train of ideas. Origin: L. See Melancholy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| hypochondriacal | Relating to or suffering from hypochondriasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| hypochondriacal neurosis | <psychiatry> A mental disorder characterised by a preoccupation with bodily functions and the interpretation of normal sensations (such as heart beats, sweating, peristaltic action and bowel movements) or minor abnormalities (such as a runny nose, minor aches and pains or slightly swollen lymph nodes) as indications of highly disturbing problems needing medical attention. Negative results of diagnostic evaluations and reassurance by physicians only increase the patients anxious concern about his health and the patient continues to seek medical attention. It was thought by the ancients to be due to disturbed function of the organs of the upper abdomen. Synonym: hypochondriacal neurosis. (18 Nov 1997) |
| involutional melancholia | A depressive disorder of middle life, commonly associated with the climacteric. (05 Mar 2000) |