Psychopathology of severe health anxiety

Abstract

Most people will experience anxiety about health at some stage, perhaps after noticing a new or unexpected bodily symptom, in response to media coverage of a specific disease or following medical tests or physical illness. This is usually relatively short-lived, and anxiety subsides as symptoms abate or in response to reassurance from a doctor or other health professional. However, in some cases it persists and becomes a clinically significant problem. ‘Severe health anxiety’ refers to fears and beliefs that arise from misinterpreting bodily symptoms and health-related information as evidence of a potentially serious degenerative or life-threatening disease. Anxiety of this sort is rarely allayed for long by medical reassurance, and tends to shift from one symptom to another.