Health Anxiety/Hypochondriasis Health Anxiety/Hypochondriasis is a type of somatoform disorder, a mental illness in which a person has symptoms of a medical illness but the symptoms cannot be fully explained by an actual physical disorder. People with hypochondria are very worried about getting a disease or are certain they have a disease, even after medical tests show they do not. These people also often misinterpret minor health problems or normal body functions as symptoms of