Health Anxiety and Its Relationship to Disability and Service Use

Bobevski, Irene; Clarke, David M.; Meadows, Graham

doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000252

Cited by 62 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This study shows that women, individuals with past or present psychiatric illnesses and individuals with chronic disease have greater sensitivity to and awareness of sensations in their own bodies. Health anxiety may be higher in women and individuals with a history of psychiatric disease (Bobevski et al, 2016). The increase in health anxiety in individuals with chronic disease linked to an increased risk may also reflect the psychological distress that people feel during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender

Özdin

2020

Int J Soc Psychiatry

1,154

179

929

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is having negative effects on societies’ mental health. Both the pandemic and the measures taken to combat it can affect individuals’ mental health. Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of depression, anxiety and health anxiety in Turkish society during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine the factors affecting these. Method: The study was performed using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked to complete a sociodemographic data form, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI). The effects on depression, anxiety and health anxiety levels of factors such as age, sex, marital status, living with an individual aged above 60, the presence of a new Coronavirus+ patient among friends or relatives, previous and current psychiatric illness and presence of accompanying chronic disease were then investigated. Results: In terms of HADS cut-off points, 23.6% ( n = 81) of the population scored above the depression cut-off point, and 45.1% ( n = 155) scored above the cut-off point for anxiety. In regression analysis, female gender, living in urban areas and previous psychiatric illness history were found as risk factors for anxiety; living in urban areas was found as risk factor for depression; and female gender, accompanying chronic disease and previous psychiatric history were found as risk factors for health anxiety. Conclusion: The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that the groups most psychologically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are women, individuals with previous psychiatric illness, individuals living in urban areas and those with an accompanying chronic disease. Priority might therefore be attached to these in future psychiatric planning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender

Özdin

2020

Int J Soc Psychiatry

1,154

179

929

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Importantly, the overall number of bodily symptoms is a strong predictor of disability and health care use and appears to be a better measure of overall severity than the severity of a single symptom or single FSS or the description of bodily symptoms as “medically unexplained” [11,12,13]. High health anxiety is an additional, independent predictor of health care use [14,15]. Impaired quality of life and work participation in the FSS are at least as severe as those found in well-defined medical diseases with comparable symptoms [16,17].…”

Section: The Clinical Problem: a Matter Of Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Management of Functional Somatic Syndromes and Bodily Distress

Henningsen

Zipfel²,

Sattel³

et al. 2018

Psychother Psychosom

231

182

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Functional somatic syndromes (FSS), like irritable bowel syndrome or fibromyalgia and other symptoms reflecting bodily distress, are common in practically all areas of medicine worldwide. Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these symptoms and syndromes vary substantially across and within medical specialties from biomedicine to psychiatry. Patients may become frustrated with the lack of effective treatment, doctors may experience these disorders as difficult to treat, and this type of health problem forms an important component of the global burden of disease. This review intends to develop a unifying perspective on the understanding and management of FSS and bodily distress. Firstly, we present the clinical problem and review current concepts for classification. Secondly, we propose an integrated etiological model which encompasses a wide range of biopsychosocial vulnerability and triggering factors and considers consecutive aggravating and maintaining factors. Thirdly, we systematically scrutinize the current evidence base in terms of an umbrella review of systematic reviews from 2007 to 2017 and give recommendations for treatment for all levels of care, concentrating on developments over the last 10 years. We conclude that activating, patient-involving, and centrally acting therapies appear to be more effective than passive ones that primarily act on peripheral physiology, and we recommend stepped care approaches that translate a truly biopsychosocial approach into actual management of the patient.

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“…Fourth, the relationship between health anxiety and health care utilization was explored. People with health anxiety often make use of health care resources in ways that are maladaptive and costly for the health care system (APA, 2000;Bobevski, Clarke, & Meadows, 2016;Ciechanowski, Walker, Katon, & Russo, 2002). As Abramowitz, Schwartz, and Whiteside (2002) claim, health services utilization represents a central way in which individuals with health anxiety attempt to gain reassurance that they are medically healthy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Role of Neuroticism and Insecure Attachment in Health Anxiety, Safety-Seeking Behavior Engagement, and Medical Services Utilization

Anagnostopoulos

Botse

2016

Sage Open

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The purpose of this study was to explore an extended interpersonal model of health anxiety, according to which healthanxious individuals are trapped in a vicious circle of health-related reassurance-seeking, alienation from others, and worry about health, while somatic absorption with body sensations, insecure attachment, neuroticism, safety-seeking behaviors, and medical services utilization were also included in the model. Data were collected from 196 Greek university students using standardized instruments. Results indicated that anxious attachment was directly related to absorption (β = .163, p < .05) and alienation (β = .204, p < .05), while avoidant attachment was directly related to absorption (β = −.344, p < .001), reassuranceseeking (β = −.130, p < .05), and alienation (β = .148, p < .05). Neuroticism was positively and significantly associated with all dimensions of health anxiety. Absorption, alienation, and anxious attachment were related to medical services utilization, which, in turn, was related to safety-seeking behaviors (β = .200, p < .01). Neuroticism and anxious attachment were also indirectly and positively associated with worry. Moreover, absorption was positively related to worry and reassuranceseeking, worry was positively related to reassurance-seeking, and alienation was positively related to worry. Study results highlight the key role that interpersonal (e.g., alienation from others) and perceptual factors (e.g., the tendency to focus on bodily sensations) can play in health anxiety maintenance, and the importance of anxious and avoidant attachment in safetyseeking behavior engagement. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research and practice are outlined.

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Health Anxiety and Its Relationship to Disability and Service Use

Cited by 62 publications

References 36 publications

Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender

Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender

Management of Functional Somatic Syndromes and Bodily Distress

Exploring the Role of Neuroticism and Insecure Attachment in Health Anxiety, Safety-Seeking Behavior Engagement, and Medical Services Utilization

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