Malades imaginaires - Voyage en hypocondrie

For although hypochondriacs live in their imagination, their suffering is real enough, and makes them difficult to live with. In their case, tragedy and comedy often go hand in hand... The hypochondriac’s body is a mysterious machine, and as he can’t actually take it apart, he has to keep a close watch on it, as machines inevitably go wrong or break down. A healthy person is hardly aware of his internal organs, but the hypochondriac is obsessed with his, and convinces himself that they are disfunctioning. In his panic he first calls all available emergency services, then various doctors – generalists then specialists – before trying "alternative" therapies... This constant round of doctors, firemen, chemists and psychologists is one of the characteristics of this chronicle illness. The hypochondriac relies absolutely on his first-aid kit, on clinical tests – preferably painful – and analyses, without which provisions he cannot face the anxieties that leave him feeling all alone in the world.