Search results for "Illness anxiety"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
Health anxiety and hypochondriasis in the light of DSM-5.
2015
Background: In the DSM-5, the diagnosis of hypochondriasis was replaced by two new diagnositic entities: somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and illness anxiety disorder (IAD). Both diagnoses share high health anxiety as a common criterion, but additonal somatic symptoms are only required for SSD but not IAD.Design: Our aim was to provide empirical evidence for the validity of these new diagnoses using data from a case–control study of highly health-anxious (n = 96), depressed (n = 52), and healthy (n = 52) individuals.Results: The individuals originally diagnosed as DSM-IV hypochondriasis predominantly met criteria for SSD (74%) and rarely for IAD (26%). Individuals with SSD were more impaired,…
Illness‐related intrusive thoughts and illness anxiety disorder
2020
Introduction Intrusive thoughts about health threats (illness-ITs) are a potential cognitive risk factor for the development and maintenance of illness anxiety disorder (IAD). This study analyzes the dimensionality of illness-ITs from normalcy to psychopathology, and it evaluates whether the appraisals instigated by the Its mediate between these thoughts and IAD symptoms. Methods Two groups of individuals participated in the study and completed the Illness Intrusive Thoughts Inventory and the Whiteley Index. The first group was composed of 446 non-clinical community participants. Of them, 264 individuals (68.6% women; Mage = 30.03 [SD = 13.83]) reported having experienced an upsetting illne…
Dysmorphic and illness anxiety‐related unwanted intrusive thoughts in individuals with obsessive–compulsive disorder
2021
Background/objective Unwanted intrusive thoughts (UITs) are considered normal variants of the obsessions found in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Similarly, intrusive and persistent preoccupations about appearance defects in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and images and thoughts about illness in illness anxiety disorder (IAD) are abnormal variants of the thoughts and concerns about appearance and health found in non-clinical individuals. This study examines whether patients with OCD have frequent and distressing UITs with contents related to BDD and IAD, in addition to OCD-related UITs. Method Thirty-nine participants with OCD (Mage = 32.45, standard deviation [SD] = 11.57; 63% men) co…
Exposure therapy changes dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms in patients with hypochondriasis (health anxiety). A randomized controlled tri…
2015
Dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms are considered a central factor in maintaining hypochondriasis. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether exposure therapy (ET) without cognitive restructuring is sufficient to change dysfunctional evaluations of somatic symptoms. The current study was based on a randomized controlled trial and compared patients with hypochondriasis (N=73) receiving ET or cognitive therapy (CT) to a wait list (WL) control group. In both the ET and CT groups, dysfunctional symptom evaluations changed significantly compared with the WL group. No differences between the ET and CT groups emerged. The relationship between the treatment condition (active…
Consequências mal adaptativas de invasões mentais com conteúdos relacionados a transtornos obsessivos, dismórficos, hipocondríacos e alimentares: dif…
2021
Unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs) with contents related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD), and Eating Disorders (EDs) are highly prevalent, independently of the cultural and/or social context. Cognitive-behavioral explanations for these disorders postulates that the escalation from common UMIs to clinically relevant symptoms depends on the maladaptive consequences (i.e., emotions, appraisals, and control strategies) of experiencing UMIs. This study examines, from a cross-cultural perspective, the cognitive-behavioral postulates of the maladaptive consequences of having UMIs.Non-clinical 1,473 participants from Europe, the …
Optimizing Exposure Therapy for Pathological Health Anxiety: Considerations From the Inhibitory Learning Approach
2018
Abstract Exposure therapy has demonstrated its efficacy in the treatment of pathological health anxiety—however, psychotherapy research reveals that many patients do not show a clinically significant change. Therefore, improvements are necessary to optimize psychotherapy for pathological health anxiety. Most treatment rationales refer to habituation during exposure as the central mechanism of change. However, there is evidence that extinction learning is mediated by inhibitory learning processes. Targeting these processes may help to improve treatment outcomes in pathological health anxiety. The aim of this review was to adapt, from the inhibitory learning approach and empirical findings, t…
Somatic Symptom Disorder
2016
Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) represents a novel diagnosis that was first introduced in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . SSD is characterized by at least one persistent somatic symptom accompanied by dysfunctional cognitive, affective, or behavioral reactions. With the exact causes and maintaining factors still being unknown, multidisciplinary theoretical approaches (i.e., biological, psychological, social explanatory) are necessary for understanding the development and maintenance of SSD. Regarding the psychotherapeutic treatment of SSD, modular cognitive behavioral treatment approaches which focus on cognitive restructuring, stress reductio…