Specificity and modifiability of cognitive biases in hypochondriasis.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: According to cognitive-behavioral models of hypochondriasis (HYP), biased attentional and memory processes related to health threat stimuli are crucial for the development and maintenance of severe health anxiety. Little is known about the specificity, temporal stability, and modifiability of these biases via psychotherapy. METHOD: In an emotional Stroop and subsequent recognition task, the authors compared attention and memory processes for health-related words (illnesses, bodily complaints, and panic-related words) in patients with HYP (n = 32), other somatoform disorders (SFD; n = 27), and panic disorder (PD; n = 25). A control group consisted of 31 healthy participants (CG). All patients were reexamined after 4 months of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). RESULTS: Patients with HYP showed a significant attentional bias toward all 3 target word categories. Evidence for a specific bias was found only for the PD group. General recognition performance for health threat and neutral words was best in the HYP group. After therapy, attentional bias had clearly decreased in the HYP and SFD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HYP can be characterized by attentional bias and more elaborate verbal processing. These irregularities tend to disappear after psychotherapy.
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Illness-related bias occurs in highly health-anxious individuals and patients with pathological HA, and describes the tendency to focus on information that confirms health worries and to ignore contradictory information.
“It was found to occur in highly health-anxious individuals [97,98], as well as in patients with pathological HA [99-101] and describes the tendency to focus on information that confirms their health worries and to ignore information that is contradictory [58].”
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- Authors
- Gropalis, M., Bleichhardt, G., Hiller, W., & Witthöft, M.
- Affiliations
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Venue
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 81
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 558-565
- ISSN
- 0022-006X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2117
- OpenAlex
- W2014594548
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Keywords
- health anxiety, cognitive biases, attentional bias, health hazards, somatoform disorders, panic disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy, emotional Stroop task, recognition memory, temporal stability
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Male, Middle Aged, Somatoform Disorders, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Panic Disorder, Treatment Outcome
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