Negative Reports or “A Certain Discourse Used in a Certain Way”

Abstract

Clinical observation allows us to identify invariants in hypochondriacal discourse. We notice that they belong to three categories that we define and interpret. In terms of content, complaint is characterized by a meaningful location of the said-to-be algic part of the body. The psychological aspects are mainly a tendency to conflict euphemization, a specific dynamic of depressive and paranoid traits and a basal fantasy inhibition. However, our interpretation of the centrality of complaint and the intensity of discourse experience, as well as the inevitable therapeutical failure in hypochondria induce new hypotheses.