CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 167Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsPsychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for hypochondriasis/health anxiety: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome and moderators

Olatunji, Bunmi O., Kauffman, Brooke Y., Meltzer, Sari, Davis, Michelle L., Smits, Jasper A.J., Powers, Mark B.·2014·Behaviour Research and Therapy
DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.002
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The present investigation employed meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for hypochondriasis/health anxiety as well as potential moderators that may be associated with outcome. A literature search revealed 15 comparisons among 13 randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) with a total sample size of 1081 participants that met inclusion criteria. Results indicated that CBT outperformed control conditions on primary outcome measures at post-treatment (Hedges's g = 0.95) and at follow-up (Hedges's g = 0.34). CBT also outperformed control conditions on measures of depression at post-treatment (Hedges's g = 0.64) and at follow-up (Hedges's g = 0.35). Moderator analyses revealed that higher pre-treatment severity of hypochondriasis/health anxiety was associated with greater effect sizes at follow-up visits and depression symptom severity was significantly associated with a lower in effect sizes at post-treatment. Although effect size did not vary as a function of blind assessment, smaller effect sizes were observed for CBT vs. treatment as usual control conditions than for CBT vs. waitlist control. A dose response relationship was also observed, such that a greater number of CBT sessions was associated with larger effect sizes at post-treatment. This review indicates that CBT is efficacious in the treatment of hypochondriasis/health anxiety and identifies potential moderators that are associated with outcome. The implications of these findings for further delineating prognostic and prescriptive indicators of CBT for hypochondriasis/health anxiety are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.002

Cites

79 of 79 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The remission rate of OCD one year after conclusion of an evidence-based treatment with an SSRI or a cognitive behavioral approach is about 53%.

    “In clinical practice, OCD is considered as the most resistant anxiety disorder; a finding that is empirically supported by several meta-analyses which show that remission rate of OCD 1 year after conclusion of an evidence-based treatment with a SSRI or a cognitive behavioral approach is about 53% and that treatment effect diminished rapidly after the acute treatment phase [8–10].”

    From Personalized exposure and experience sampling method feedback versus exposure as usual for obsessive–compulsive disorder: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [9]

  • Treatment effect diminishes rapidly after the acute treatment phase in OCD.

    “In clinical practice, OCD is considered as the most resistant anxiety disorder; a finding that is empirically supported by several meta-analyses which show that remission rate of OCD 1 year after conclusion of an evidence-based treatment with a SSRI or a cognitive behavioral approach is about 53% and that treatment effect diminished rapidly after the acute treatment phase [8–10].”

    From Personalized exposure and experience sampling method feedback versus exposure as usual for obsessive–compulsive disorder: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [9]

  • OCD is considered the most resistant anxiety disorder.

    “In clinical practice, OCD is considered as the most resistant anxiety disorder; a finding that is empirically supported by several meta-analyses which show that remission rate of OCD 1 year after conclusion of an evidence-based treatment with a SSRI or a cognitive behavioral approach is about 53% and that treatment effect diminished rapidly after the acute treatment phase [8–10].”

    From Personalized exposure and experience sampling method feedback versus exposure as usual for obsessive–compulsive disorder: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [9]

  • CBT has the greatest evidence base for health anxiety management compared with several control conditions, including treatment as usual, medication, placebo, waitlist, support groups, non-CBT-based psychoeducation, and other psychological interventions.

    “Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has the greatest evidence base for health anxiety management compared with several control conditions, including treatment as usual, medication, placebo, waitlist, support groups, non-CBT–based psychoeducation, and other psychological interventions [20,21].”

    From A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Chatbot (Otis) for Health Anxiety Management: Mixed Methods Pilot Study (2022) · cites this paper as [21]

  • Most evidence for psychological treatments of health anxiety is obtained with forms of cognitive behavioural therapy, but also includes stress management, mindfulness and acceptance, and commitment therapy.

    “with most evidence obtained with forms of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) but also including stress management, mindfulness and acceptance, and commitment therapy.[10][11][12]”

    From Why health anxiety needs to be recognised in hospital practice (2020) · cites this paper as [10]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Olatunji, B. O., Kauffman, B. Y., Meltzer, S., Davis, M. L., Smits, J. A. J., & Powers, M. B.
Affiliations
  • Vanderbilt University (US)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Corresponding author
Olatunji, Bunmi O.
ORCID
Venue
Behaviour Research and Therapy
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-07
Volume
58
Pages
65-74
ISSN
0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.002
OpenAlex
W2078070910
Cited by
167
References
78
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 2
FWCI
2.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
cognitive behavioral therapy, health anxiety, treatment outcomes, treatment moderators, depression, symptom severity, dose-response relationship, waitlist control, usual care
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Depression, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review