Health Anxiety Flashcards
What is the most common age of onset for health anxiety?
early adulthood
When does health anxiety typically arise?
When a person is under stress, seriously ill or recovering or there is a loss of a family member.
Also if a person is exposed to illness-related media
Where is health anxiety described in DSM-IV?
Under somatoform disorders
For how long must the preoccupation with health problems have persisted for it to be health anxiety?
Six months.
Who developed the model of health anxiety?
Warwick & Salkovskis (1990)
What is the central mechanism of Warwick and Salkovskis (1990)’s model of health anxiety?
Tendency to misinterpret bodily symptoms as evidence for serious physical illness.
What are the four factors of the degree of perceived threat in health anxiety?
Perceived likelihood of illness
Perceived awfulness of illness
Perceived ability to affect course of illness/coping
Perception of the extent to which external factors will help
What factors need to be considered in assessment of health anxiety?
What are the thoughts or images which trigger the health anxiety?
What evidence does the client have for his/her beliefs?
What is the level of bodily focus by the client?
Which behaviours trigger the anxiety?
Establish personal meaning of the illness
What was the onset, severity and duration?
What medical interventions have already occurred?
What is the client’s expectation of treatment?
What kinds of psychoeducation might be helpful in health anxiety?
Bodily sensations in arousal and anxiety
The role of selective attention
What are the four maintaining processes in health anxiety according to Warwick and Salkovskis (!990)?
Information processing biases
Physiological reactions
Safety seeking behaviours
Avoidance
What are the two distinctive difficulties in health anxiety?
Getting the client to engage
Getting others to stop giving reassurance
What are possible triggers or early contributing factors in health anxiety?
Family history Early childhood responses to illness Unsatisfactory medical management Involvement with medical services Contact with GP/hopsital
