Can fake illness become real?

Question

Some people i know keep complaining that they are ill, if they keep up the pretense can it become real?

Answer 1

It won't become real in the sense, they won't catch the flu from pretending to have it, but their body may start simulating the symptoms associated with that particular illness. This is called phsycosomatic illness. Its somewhat self-inflicted, but can come about subconciously if there is a great enough desire to experience such effects...
One particular case was where a girl exhibted most of the signs of pregnancy, without obviously having sex, and without the swelling of the abdomen, simply because the desire to have a child was so great...

Answer 2

LOLOLOL The great saying - meant to be a joke but surprisingly turns out to often be factual - is that Hypochondriacs (people who are always claiming to have something wrong with them) live longest because they see a doctor so often. A little hypochondria is, in reality, a healthy thing, because people who really "listen" to what their bodies are saying, pick up on signals that others ignore. They get to the doctor, and if there IS something wrong, it is identified quickly, and fixed BEFORE it has a chance to become something that's gone too far to fix. Of course there are people who are sooo fanatical in this regard that in the end, even the family doctor pays them little attention any more, and then the opposite is true. Because of this, I am sure there are many cases where a person who behaves in this really excessive way, actually comes down with something that he or she was going to get anyway, but when they go to the doctor whining that they "just don't feel right" the doctor, who has had to deal with this person many many wasted times, says "yeah yeah yeah", and sends them home with the proverbial bottle of cold tea with a prescription label on it LOL
While "pretending" to be sick can't actually give you whatever it is you are telling everybody you just know you've got, it's also true that there is a very very powerful connection between the body and the mind, and if you are constantly worrying, worrying, worrying about your health, that does often affect the body's immune system in a negative way. And when the Immune System isn't doing its proper job of protecting the body, it kind of opens the door for disease elements to sneak in there and begin to do their dastardly job on the poorly protected body. Many studies have been done on people who live unusually long lives. Some of it of course is "lucky genes" but a LOT of it also has to do with the one thing all these people seemed to have in common... they had a consistently upbeat personality. They didn't spend a lot of time worrying and worrying about all kinds of things. They let their life happen, they dealt with the bad stuff, and moved on , always looking ahead with optimism and cheerfulness. Their cheerful attitude passed its message on to their immune system, and the immune system acted accordingly.

Answer 3

Maybe. When i was younger i hated school so pretended i had headaches and fever. Then after a while it turned out i had malaria! Positive thinking is so important, look at the placebo effect, patients can actually make themselves feel better if they are optimistic, so logically it would work the other way when people are negative. Not, of course, to say that all illnesses are in the mind. But positive thinking can't hurt.

Answer 4

according the most recent rules and beliefs imposed by scientific law, if someone exhibits the symptoms of a physical illness, and furthermore, is diagnosed and confirmed to have acquired that illness, beyond the shadow of a doubt, there is no evidence pointing to that persons mental disposition having ANY affect on it whatsoever. if they happened to feel a certain way before, during, or after the diagnosis, it is merely coincidence.

this is of course, i'll repeat, according to the most recent scientific law. we can believe anything we want, really, in terms of how much control we really have over the inner workings of our bodies. I myself am a firm believer that one's will plays a very prominent role in the fighting and warding against various deseases and maladies

another factor, of course, is nourishment, hygiene, etc etc. these things play a very important role in the fight against infection and disease. it's possible (to give some credit to the rumours) that these things, through the willingness to make certain changes to one's habits, can cause or prevent one from becoming ill, and this can be mistaken for nothing more than will power alone.

Answer 5

I think it is quite possible. Our body and mind aren't really separable. If you keep telling yourself that you are ill, you are probably more likely to be ill because your body just reacts to your mentality. When you are ill, try telling yourself that you'll get better soon. It works for me!

Answer 6

This only is an illness, those people need to see a psy

Answer 7

Yes. Hypochondria..A real illness from faining illness

Answer 8

maybe they are ill listen to them more, they may just want some attention a bit of tender living care, its human.

Answer 9

Hypochondria is a recognised medical condition

Answer 10

Depends on what type of illness, mental, physical, or emotional? If it is organic in origin, then probably not.