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PubMed2002

Hypochondriasis and fear of death.

Although fear of death has been linked to hypochondriasis, the relationship of this fear to the disorder has received little study. To address this deficiency, we administered a fear of death scale along with measures of hypochondriasis, including the Whiteley Index and Somatic Symptom Inventory, to 162 general medical outpatients. Partial correlations, controlling for age, between the fear of death scale and both the Whiteley Index and Somatic Symptom Inventory were strongly positive. A factor analysis of the fear of death scale yielded three dimensions-fear of dying, loss of meaning, and fear of separation-that were also highly correlated with hypochondriasis. Fear of death and hypochondriasis showed comparable relationships to age and gender as well as to personality dimensions measured by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Fear of death appears to be an integral part of hypochondriasis. Its presence lends support to three models of hypochondriasis-the perceptual, existential, and interpersonal-that correspond to the dimensions of fear of death.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1981

Hypochondriasis and tendency to adopt the sick role as moderators of the relationship between life-events and somatic symptomatology.

The relationship between measures of hypochondriasis and the tendency to adopt a sick role, life-events and somatic symptomatology was explored. A sample of 85 married couples drawn from the community (n = 170) completed mailed questionnaires about the past year's events and symptoms and about hypochondriasis and sick-role tendency. Life-events were related to symptoms (r = 0.17) as were hypochondriasis, sick-role tendency, and subjects' sex (rs = 0.23, 0.16, 0.22, respectively). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that hypochondriasis and sick-role tendency were also related to the association between events and symptoms, such that subjects with high scores on the former measures showed a reduced event-symptoms correlation compared with low and moderate scorers. Low scorers on hypochondriasis and sick-role tendency had a considerably stronger relationship between events and symptoms compared to those typically reported in the literature. It was suggested that hypochondriasis and sick-role tendency may be moderators of the life-event-symptom relationship and as such deserve more widespread use in life-events research.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The boundary between hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive disorder: a cross-sectional study from the Netherlands.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate similarities and differences between the symptom profiles of patients with hypochondriasis and those of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and to compare the contamination/cleaning OCD subtype to other OCD subtypes. METHOD: Between January 1998 and July 2002, 76 patients diagnosed with hypochondriasis (N = 31) or OCD (N = 45) (DSM-IV criteria) and 25 subjects with no formal DSM-IV diagnosis were compared with regard to the extent of diagnosis-specific symptoms, the number and nature of physical symptoms, and whether these symptoms evoked fear. The analyses were repeated after subdividing the OCD patients into the contamination/cleaning and other OCD subgroups. RESULTS: Patients with hypochondriasis and OCD differed significantly from each other on the extent of diagnosis-specific symptoms (all p < .001). Patients with hypochondriasis reported significantly more obsessive-compulsive symptoms and patients with OCD reported significantly more hypochondriacal symptoms than did the healthy control-group members (all p < .05). Neither group differed significantly from the other on the number and nature of feared physical symptoms. The contamination/cleaning OCD subtype did not differ significantly from other OCD subtypes in either the severity of hypochondriacal symptoms or the number of feared physical symptoms. CONCLUSION: Hypochondriasis and OCD can be distinguished on the basis of diagnosis-specific symptoms, although they share a number of similarities. In addition, although patients with the contamination/cleaning OCD subtype tend to be afraid of contracting diseases, the differences between the symptom profiles of these patients and those of patients with hypochondriasis exceed the similarities. Our results confirm that the 2 conditions are separable and valid diagnoses.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Pathological fear of death, panic attacks, and hypochondriasis.

The article has presented a concept of the pathological fear of death as a categorically defined phenomenon and outlined its distinguishing features. In an attempt to account for the origin of the pathological fear of death, most weight has been given to developmental and structural abnormalities in the regulation and control of the primary and disruptive forms of anxiety. The additional contributing factors have also been taken into consideration: a defect in the defensive and symbolic representation of death, and a general collapse of defensive functioning, with regression to a state of infantile helplessness and revival of the infantile death cognitions. A role of the cognitive abnormalities in the genesis of the pathological fear of death has been examined in the panic attacks and hypochondriasis, while a developmentally determined, pervasive mistrust in the bodily functioning and bodily worth has been stressed as a factor that crucially predisposes to the pathological fear of death in hypochondriasis, and to the respective type of hypochondriasis as well. A relationship between panic disorder and hypochondriasis has been examined in the light of the pathological fear of death that they often share. Finally, the article has briefly dealt with the relevance of the pathological fear of death for diagnostic assessment and psychotherapy of patients with panic disorder and hypochondriasis. The concept of the pathological fear of death requires further study and refinement in the area of its descriptive demarcation, psychogenesis, and clinical application.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1998

DSM-IV hypochondriasis in primary care.

The object of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of the DSM-IV diagnosis of hypochondriasis in a primary care setting. A large sample (N = 1456) of primary care users was given a structured interview to make diagnoses of mood, anxiety, and somatoform disorders and estimate levels of disability. The prevalence of hypochondriasis (DSM-IV) was about 3%. Patients with this disorder had higher levels of medically unexplained symptoms (abridged somatization) and were more impaired in their physical functioning than patients without the disorder. Of the various psychopathologies examined, major depressive syndromes were the most frequent among patients with hypochondriasis. Interestingly, unlike somatization disorder, hypochondriasis was not related to any demographic factor. Hypochondriasis is a relatively rare condition in primary care that is largely separable from somatization disorder but seems closely intertwined with the more severe depressive syndromes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The Health Anxiety Inventory: development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis.

BACKGROUND: A self-rated measure of health anxiety should be sensitive across the full range of intensity (from mild concern to frank hypochondriasis) and should differentiate people suffering from health anxiety from those who have actual physical illness but who are not excessively concerned about their health. It should also encompass the full range of clinical symptoms characteristic of clinical hypochondriasis. The development and validation of such a scale is described. METHOD: Three studies were conducted. First, the questionnaire was validated by comparing the responses of patients suffering from hypochondriasis with those suffering from hypochondriasis and panic disorder, panic disorder, social phobia and non-patient controls. Secondly, a state version of the questionnaire was administered to patients undergoing cognitive-behavioural treatment or wait-list in order to examine the measure's sensitivity to change. In the third study, a shortened version was developed and validated in similar types of sample, and in a range of samples of people seeking medical help for physical illness. RESULTS: The scale was found to be reliable and to have a high internal consistency. Hypochondriacal patients scored significantly higher than anxiety disorder patients, including both social phobic patients and panic disorder patients as well as normal controls. In the second study, a 'state' version of the scale was found to be sensitive to treatment effects, and to correlate very highly with a clinician rating based on an interview of present clinical state. A development and refinement of the scale (intended to reflect more fully the range of symptoms of and reactions to hypochondriasis) was found to be reliable and valid. A very short (14 item) version of the scale was found to have comparable properties to the full length scale. CONCLUSIONS: The HAI is a reliable and valid measure of health anxiety. It is likely to be useful as a brief screening instrument, as there is a short form which correlates highly with the longer version.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Test of an interpersonal model of hypochondriasis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the interpersonal model of hypochondriasis proposed by Stuart and Noyes. According to this model, hypochondriasis is associated with insecure attachment that in adults gives rise to abnormal care-seeking behavior. Such behavior is associated with interpersonal difficulties and strained patient-physician relationships. METHODS: One hundred sixty-two patients attending a general medicine clinic were interviewed and asked to complete self-report measures. Instruments included the Whiteley Index of Hypochondriasis, Somatic Symptom Inventory, Relationship Scales Questionnaire, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, NEO Five-Factor Index, and measures of physician-patient interaction. The Structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM-III-R Hypochondriasis was also administered. RESULTS: Hypochondriacal and somatic symptoms were positively correlated with all of the insecure attachment styles, especially the fearful style. These same symptoms were positively correlated with self-reported interpersonal problems and negatively correlated with patient ratings of satisfaction with, and reassurance from, medical care. Hypochondriacal and somatic symptoms were also positively correlated with neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that hypochondriacal patients are insecurely attached and have interpersonal problems that extend to and include the patient-physician relationship. These data support the proposed interpersonal model of hypochondriasis.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Relationship between hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: close relatives separated by nosological schemes?

It has been proposed that the relationship between obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and hypochondriasis can basically be conceptualized along the severity continuum, so that hypochondriasis would be conceived of as a more pervasive and more incapacitating form of the same or closely related underlying psychopathology. Clinically, this relationship is manifested through emergence of hypochondriasis as a complication of the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. The principal components of the psychopathology common to both disorders, are perception of excessive threat to oneself with the consequent experience of vulnerability and insecurity, mistrust in oneself and others, greatly increased need for control, inordinate search for security, poor tolerance and fear of uncertainty and ambiguity, and specific cognitive style, mainly developed to support a struggle for control. In view of the most striking phenomenological characteristic of both disorders being an excessive need for control, displayed in a repetitious manner, the essence of hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder could be captured by the term "chronic disorders of the measure of control." The main phenomenological differences between hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder have been interpreted as expressive of the lower and higher levels of intrapsychic integration respectively. In this regard, the manner in which the bodily self has been formed and the degree to which it has been incorporated into the self as a whole have been considered particularly important.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Study of psychometric properties of two new questionnaires assessing beliefs in hypochondriasis in a non-clinical population].

Most instruments focussing on hypochondriasis symptoms do not have for goal to assess beliefs specifically. Instead, these instruments are used to measure specific behaviors. To assess underlying beliefs with these kinds of instruments, you have to extract false beliefs by deduction. In cognitive therapy, it is important to target erroneous beliefs in order to change them. On the other hand, existing instruments are not really suitable to target erroneous health beliefs. Even if some questionnaires are built to assess beliefs directly, it seems that they only measure the conviction of having an illness and do not assess the general health beliefs present in excessive health worriers. However, many researchers argue that this other kind of beliefs are the ones responsible in maintaining hypochondriasis symptoms. Presently, researchers assume that erroneous beliefs can maintain worries about illness among people with hypochondriasis symptoms like false beliefs about worry maintain worries in people with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Even if the importance of false beliefs in the maintenance of pathological worries is now recognized, most instruments on hypochondriasis symptoms do not have for goal to assess erroneous beliefs concerning worry about health. For instance, although the questionnaire Why do people worry? (WW) shows good psychometric properties and measures beliefs related to general worries, this questionnaire is not specific enough to correctly evaluate beliefs associated to health worry. A new questionnaire has to emerge in order to assess false beliefs associated to worry about health. This manuscript presents the development and the validation of a new questionnaire: the General Health Beliefs Questionnaire (GHBQ) that assesses general health beliefs, and also presents the development and the validation of a new questionnaire assessing beliefs associated to worry about health: the Why do people Worry about Health? (WW-H) . In this study, the GHBQ's and the WW-H's psychometric qualities and the factorial structure were assessed. More precisely, this study examined the factorial structure, the temporal stability, the convergent, divergent and criteria validities of the GHBQ and the WW-H. Four hundred and twenty nine French-speaking university students (non-clinical participants) completed a battery of questionnaires at the beginning of a class. The questionnaires were: The General Health Beliefs Questionnaire (GHBQ), the Why do people Worry about Health (WW-H), the Illness Worry Scale (IWS), the Beck Depression Inventory-short form (BDI-short form) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). A second administration took place three weeks later with the same sample to test the temporal stability of the GHBQ and the WW-H. The principal component analysis with orthogonal rotation (varimax) supports a five components solution for the GHBQ: 1) magical thinking, 2) health, 3) consequences, 4) responsibility, and 5) vulnerability. The principal component analysis with oblique rotation (direct oblimin) (d=0) found a two components solution for the WW-H: 1) utility and 2) magical thinking associated to worries about health. The internal consistency of the GHBQ and the WW-H is excellent (a=.80 and a=.90, respectively). A correlation of 0.49 was found between the GHBQ and the WW-H. The correlation between the GHBQ and the IWS who evaluates the tendency to worry (r=.50) and between the WW-H and the IWS (r=.49) showed that the convergent validity of these questionnaires is adequate. On a three weeks interval, the GHBQ (r=.70) and the WW-H (r=.71) showed a satisfying temporal stability. The means of the high worriers (80 superior percentile at the IWS) (M=38.8, ET=8.93) and the means of the moderate worriers (between the 40 and the 60 percentile at the IWS) (M=32.8, ET=8.00) on the GHBQ have been compared. A significant difference has been found between the two groups [F(1,181)=23,129, p<0,001]. Also, the means of the high worriers (M=27.3, ET=8.59) and the means of the moderate worriers (M=23.8, ET=8.56) on the WW-H haveave been compared. An ANOVA has found a significant difference between these two groups [F(1,180)=7,396, p=0,007]. These results show that general health beliefs and false beliefs associated to worry about health are more often present in high worriers than in moderate worriers. The GHBQ and the WW-H allow psychologists, physicians and psychiatrists to do a quicker and more exhaustive evaluation of general health beliefs and false beliefs associated to worry about health, in less costs. These questionnaires will improve the chances of success of the hypochondriasis' treatment by helping clinicians to detect and correct false beliefs more easily.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Hypochondriasis and somatization.

Between 60% and 80% of healthy individuals experience somatic symptoms in any one week. About 10% to 20% of a random sample of people worry intermittently about illness. A substantial proportion of patients present physicians with somatic complaints for which no organic cause can be found. Patients who are hypochondriacal do not understand the benign nature of functional somatic symptoms and interpret these as evidence of disease. Hypochondriacal concerns range from common short-lived worries to persistent and distressing fears or convictions of having a disease. Hypochondriasis can be secondary to other psychiatric disorders (eg, melancholia or panic disorder), and hypochondriacal attitudes remit when the primary disorder is successfully treated. Patients with primary hypochondriasis are also anxious or depressed, but the fear of disease, or the false belief of having a disease, persists and is the most important feature of their psychopathology. There are substantial differences among hypochondriacal patients in their personalities and psychopathologies. Psychotherapy as well as psychotropic drugs are effective in the treatment of functional somatic symptoms. There are no adequate controlled studies on the value of psychotherapy in hypochondriasis; the recommended guidelines are based on uncontrolled studies of hypochondriasis and on controlled studies of the psychotherapy in similar disorders. The prognosis of functional somatic symptoms as well as that of hypochondriasis is good in a substantial proportion of patients.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1996

The pharmacotherapy of hypochondriasis.

This article addresses the diagnosis and pharmacologic treatment of hypochondriasis. Diagnostic issues are reviewed briefly, focusing on the need for a thorough medical re-consideration of the patient's presenting symptoms. Because the diagnosis rests on the absence of a medical cause to account for the presence or intensity of the physical symptoms, neither self-report forms nor non-medically trained interviewers should be used to definitively make the diagnosis of hypochondriasis. We review the case reports and small uncontrolled series on the pharmacologic treatment of hypochondriasis, emphasizing the growing body of evidence suggesting particular efficacy for the serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Preliminary results from an ongoing placebo-controlled trial of hypochondriasis using fluoxetine are presented. While the controlled trial supports the open treatment data in revealing a high rate of improvement among patients completing treatment with fluoxetine, it also demonstrates that many patients respond to placebo as well. In conclusion, although the traditional nihilistic attitude regarding the possibility of successful treatment of hypochondriacs appears no longer warranted, the question remains open as to whether SSRIs have particular efficacy in patients with hypochondriasis or whether nonspecific treatment effects are the primary cause of improvement.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

Functional somatic symptoms and hypochondriasis. A survey of empirical studies.

Empirical studies suggest the following main conclusions: functional somatic symptoms are extremely common; a large proportion appear to be caused by physiologic activity and tend to be aggravated by emotion. Hypochondriacal patients misunderstand the nature and significance of these symptoms and believe that they are evidence of serious disease. Hypochondriasis can be a part of another syndrome, usually an affective one, or it can be a primary disorder. The prevalence differs between cultures and social classes. Constitutional factors, disease in the family in childhood, and previous disease predispose to hypochondriasis. Various stressors can be precipitating events. Selective perception of symptoms, motivated by fear of disease, and subsequent increase in anxiety with more somatic symptoms appear to be links in the vicious cycle of the hypochondriacal reaction. Psychotherapy as well as psychotropic drugs are effective in the treatment of functional somatic symptoms. There are no adequate controlled studies of psychotherapy in hypochondriasis, and the recommended treatments are based on studies with similar disorders. The prognosis of treated hypochondriasis is good in a substantial proportion of patients.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1990

Transient hypochondriasis.

Consecutive visitors to a general medicine outpatient clinic were screened with a hypochondriasis questionnaire. Two thirds (n = 41) of those exceeding a preestablished cutoff met the criteria for DSM-III-R hypochondriasis when given a structured diagnostic interview, while the other third (n = 22) did not. The latter group showed significant decreases in their hypochondriasis questionnaire scores over a 3-week interval. They had less psychiatric disorder and more medical morbidity than the DSM-III-R hypochondriacs. They also viewed their medical care more positively, and their physicians considered them less hypochondriacal. The transiently hypochondriacal group was also compared with a random sample (n = 75) of the patients below the cutoff on the screening instrument. They had more Axis I disorder, more personality disorder, reported higher levels of somatosensory amplification, and more medical disorder. The differences in psychiatric comorbidity and amplification persist when medical morbidity is controlled for by matching and analysis of covariance. This is consistent with the hypotheses that among patients confronted with a medical illness, those with personality disorder and those who are sensitive to somatic sensation are more likely to develop transient hypochondriasis.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

A prospective 4- to 5-year study of DSM-III-R hypochondriasis.

BACKGROUND: Although hypochondriasis is generally thought to be a chronic and stable condition with a relatively low remission rate, this disorder remains understudied. METHODS: This is a 4- to 5-year prospective case-control study of DSM-III-R hypochondriasis. Medical outpatients meeting DSM diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis completed an extensive research battery assessing hypochondriacal symptoms, medical and psychiatric comorbidity, functional status and role impairment, and medical care. A comparison group of nonhypochondriacal patients from the same setting underwent the same battery. Four to 5 years later, both cohorts were re-interviewed. RESULTS: One hundred twenty hypochondriacal and 133 nonhypochondriacal comparison patients were originally studied. Follow-up was obtained on 73.5% (n = 186) of all patients. At follow-up, the hypochondriacal sample was significantly (P<.001) less hypochondriacal and had less somatization (P<.001) and disability than at inception, but 63.5% (n = 54) still met DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria. When compared with the comparison group using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance, these changes remained statistically significant (P<.0001). Changes in medical and psychiatric comorbidity did not differ between the 2 groups. When hypochondriacal patients who did and did not meet diagnostic criteria at follow-up were compared, the latter had significantly less disease conviction (P<.05) and somatization (P<.01) at inception, and their incidence of major medical illness during the follow-up period was significantly (P<.05) greater. CONCLUSIONS: Hypochondriacal patients show a considerable decline in symptoms and improvement in role functioning over 4 to 5 years but two thirds of them still meet diagnostic criteria. Hypochondriasis, therefore, carries a very substantial, long-term burden of morbidity, functional impairment, and personal distress.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis.

CONTEXT: Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. OBJECTIVE: To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. DESIGN: A cognitive and emotional Stroop task, consisting of congruent and incongruent color words, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-related and panic-related negative words, and neutral words, was used in 3 patient groups and a control group during functional magnetic resonance imaging. SETTING: Academic outpatient department for anxiety disorders. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: Medication-free patients with OCD (n = 16), panic disorder (PD) (n = 15), and hypochondriasis (n = 13) and 19 controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Voxel-wise analyses of cerebral blood flow changes for contrasts of interest (incongruent vs congruent color words, OCD-related vs neutral words, and panic-related vs neutral words) within and between groups. RESULTS: During incongruent vs congruent color naming, all patient groups recruited additional posterior brain regions relative to controls, but performance was impaired only in OCD. In OCD, color naming OCD-related, but not PD-related, words correlated with increased activation of frontal-striatal and temporal regions, although performance was unimpaired. In contrast, in PD, increased frontal-striatal involvement was found during color naming both OCD-related and panic-related words. In PD, color naming panic-related words was slowed and correlated with increased activation of the right amygdala and hippocampus. Patients with hypochondriasis showed a similar activation pattern to patients with PD. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis of increased distractibility for irrelevant information in patients with OCD, PD, and hypochondriasis associated with frontal-striatal and limbic involvement compared with controls. Although patients with OCD did not display an attentional bias in behavior relative to controls, there was a clear, specific neural response during color naming OCD-related words, involving mainly ventral brain regions. In contrast, generalized emotional interference effects were found in PD and hypochondriasis, involving ventral and widespread dorsal brain regions, reflecting not only unconscious emotional stimulus processing but also increased cognitive elaboration.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Cognitive behavior therapy for hypochondriasis: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Hypochondriasis is a chronic, distressing, and disabling condition that is prevalent in ambulatory medical practice. Until recently, no specific treatment has been clearly demonstrated to be effective. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of a cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for hypochondriasis. DESIGN: A randomized, usual care control group design, conducted between September 1997 and November 2001. The individual primary care physician was the unit of randomization, and all patients clustered within each physician's practice were assigned to the experimental treatment (individual CBT and a consultation letter to the primary care physician) or to the control condition. Subjects were assessed immediately before and 6 and 12 months after the completion of treatment. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 80 patients from primary care practices and 107 volunteers responding to public announcements, all of whom exceeded a predetermined cutoff score on a hypochondriasis self-report questionnaire on 2 successive occasions. INTERVENTION: A scripted, 6-session, individual CBT intervention was compared with medical care as usual. The CBT was accompanied by a consultation letter sent to the patient's primary care physician. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hypochondriacal beliefs, fears, attitudes, and somatic symptoms; role function and impairment. RESULTS: A total of 102 individuals were assigned to CBT and 85 were assigned to medical care as usual. The sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the 2 groups were similar at baseline. Using an intent-to-treat analytic strategy, a consistent pattern of statistically and clinically significant treatment effects was found at both 6- and 12-month follow-up, adjusting for baseline covariates that included educational level, generalized psychiatric distress, and participant status (patient vs volunteer). At 12-month follow-up, CBT patients had significantly lower levels of hypochondriacal symptoms, beliefs, and attitudes (P<.001) and health-related anxiety (P =.009). They also had significantly less impairment of social role functioning (P =.05) and intermediate activities of daily living (P<.001). Hypochondriacal somatic symptoms were not improved significantly by treatment. CONCLUSION: This brief, individual CBT intervention, developed specifically to alter hypochondriacal thinking and restructure hypochondriacal beliefs, appears to have significant beneficial long-term effects on the symptoms of hypochondriasis.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Hypochondriasis and somatization: two distinct aspects of somatoform disorders?

We investigated boundaries and overlap between somatization and hypochondriasis on different levels of psychopathology: (1) comorbidity between hypochondriasis and somatization on the level of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994): (2) comorbidity with other mental disorders; (3) differences in clinical characteristics: and (4) overlap on the level of psychometric measures. The sample consisted of 120 psycho somatic inpatients. Somatoform, hypochondriacal, and depressive symptomatology, cognitions about body and health, and further aspects of general symptomatology were investigated. Diagnoses of Axis I and II were based on DSM-IV Our results suggest a large overlap on the level of DSM-IV-diagnoses: only 3 of 31 hypochondriacal patients had no multiple somatoform symptoms, while 58 of 86 patients with multiple somatoform symptoms had no hypochondriasis. However, the overlap between hypochondriacal and somatization symptomatology on the level of psychometric measurement is only moderate, indicating that hypochondriasis is a markedly distinct aspect of somatoform disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Using controlled comparisons in disgust psychopathology research: the case of disgust, hypochondriasis and health anxiety.

The present paper describes the results of a study investigating the relationship between measures of disgust and measures of hypochondriasis and health anxiety. The results indicated that (1) there were highly significant correlations between measures of trait disgust and disgust sensitivity and measures of hypochondriasis and health anxiety, (2) the relationship between disgust sensitivity measures and hypochondriasis and health anxiety were still significant even when levels of trait anxiety were controlled for, but (3) controlled comparisons revealed that the measures of disgust also predicted scores on measures of disgust-irrelevant control psychopathologies (claustrophobia and height phobia)--even after trait anxiety had been partialled out. In addition, the series of multiple regressions carried out clearly indicated that trait anxiety and disgust sensitivity appear to be independent constructs each of which have relationships with anxious psychopathologies over and above the effect of the other. The discussion explores the nature of the possible relationships between disgust, hypochondriasis and health anxiety, and also looks at the implications for disgust psychopathology research of using controlled comparisons which indicate the existence of significant relationships between measures of disgust and anxious psychopathologies that, a priori, would be considered to be disgust irrelevant.

Adult↗