Abstract
Health anxiety and hypochondriasis are serious and debilitating conditions that are poorly understood by health care providers and general public. This is so partly because of the derogatory use of the term hypochondriasis by the general public. There has been a push by mental health professionals in recent years to use the term health anxiety and to use hypochondriasis only for its extreme form. The Internet has become a popular medium, through Web sites and chat rooms, for patients to seek information, reassurance, and exchange of medical information, sometimes of limited veracity. The term cyberchondria has even been coined to describe this phenomenon. The authors review the research literature related to health anxiety and discuss the beneficial treatments of CBT and pharmacology. The utilization of intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy is highlighted with a case illustration.
MeSH terms
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Anti-Anxiety Agents / therapeutic use*
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Antidepressive Agents / therapeutic use*
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Anxiety / diagnosis
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Anxiety / psychology*
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Anxiety / therapy*
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Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
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Anxiety Disorders / psychology
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Anxiety Disorders / therapy
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Attitude to Health*
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy*
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Combined Modality Therapy
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Comorbidity
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Delusions / diagnosis
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Delusions / psychology
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Delusions / therapy
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Family Therapy
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Habituation, Psychophysiologic
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Humans
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Hypochondriasis / diagnosis
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Hypochondriasis / psychology*
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Hypochondriasis / therapy*
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Implosive Therapy*
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Male
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / diagnosis
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / therapy
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Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology
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Patient Admission
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Physician-Patient Relations
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Sick Role
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Social Support
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Somatoform Disorders / diagnosis
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Somatoform Disorders / psychology
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Somatoform Disorders / therapy
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Young Adult
Substances
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Anti-Anxiety Agents
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Antidepressive Agents