Health Anxiety: Current Perspectives and Future Directions

Abstract

Health anxiety is a ubiquitous experience that arises when bodily sensations or changes are believed to be indicative of a serious disease. Severe expressions of health anxiety are most often classified as hypochondriasis in the current DSM-IV-TR; however, various alternative classification schemas have been proposed for the DSM-V. Regardless of classification, severe health anxiety has significant negative impacts on well-being, social and occupational functioning, and health care resource utilization. In this review, we focus on classification issues pertinent to severe health anxiety, summarize recent research regarding potential mechanisms underlying the condition, and summarize the state of the art with respect to assessment and treatment. Future research directions are noted and suggested throughout.

Health Anxiety in Preadolescence - Associated Health Problems, Healthcare Expenditure, and Continuity in Childhood

“…In contrast, general illness worries and hypochondrical beliefs were rarer, suggesting these cognitions may specifically be an expression of significant HA. Illness worry may be related to an underlying medical condition (Asmundson et al 2010). However, chronic physical conditions were not found to account for the expressed level of concern.…”

“…Health anxiety (HA) is a broad diagnostic construct encompassing excessive health and illness worries that extend from mild to severe forms with ICD-10-and the former DSM-IV-defined 'hypochondriasis' at the extreme clinical endpoint (Asmundson et al 2010;Creed and Barsky 2004). Severe HA is characterized by core cognitive, somatic and behavioral features (Asmundson et al 2010; Barsky et al 2001;Fink et al 2004;Rachman 2012).…”

“…Severe HA is characterized by core cognitive, somatic and behavioral features (Asmundson et al 2010; Barsky et al 2001;Fink et al 2004;Rachman 2012). The core cognitive feature is obsessive rumination with thoughts about suffering from a disease where benign bodily sensations and changes are misinterpreted as signs of disease processes.…”

Cyberchondriasis: Fact or fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health information on the Internet

“…It has been argued that engaging in frequent checking behaviors increases awareness of and preoccupation with bodily sensations and symptoms and perpetuates health-related fears, thereby exacerbating health anxiety (Abramowitz & Moore, 2007;Asmundson, Abramowitz, Richter, & Whedon, 2010;Salkovskis & Warwick, 1986. Thus it is possible that seeking health information online had a detrimental impact on participants with higher levels of health anxiety due to the increased frequency with which they engaged in this behavior.…”

A community study of generalized anxiety disorder with vs. without health anxiety in Hong Kong

“…When thus clinically defined, it does not capture less severe forms of health anxiety that is dimensionally distributed in community and clinical settings (Asmundson, Abramowitz, Richter, & Whedon, 2010;Ferguson, 2009). Community-based studies indicated that as many as 10% of people exhibited health anxiety or the conviction of a serious illness, as measured by item 64 of the Screening for Somatoform Symptoms (SOMS) which measures the core feature of hypochondriasis (Rief, Hessel, & Braehler, 2001).…”