Ma. Haenen et al., HYPOCHONDRIASIS AND SYMPTOM REPORTING - THE EFFECT OF ATTENTION VERSUS DISTRACTION, Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 65(1), 1996, pp. 43-48
Background: This study examined symptom perception in hypochondriacal
patients without physical stimulation. Methods: Seventeen outpatients
with DSM-III-R hypochondriasis and 16 healthy control subjects were co
mpared. All subjects were asked to report perceived sensations in thre
e conditions: attention, distraction and control. Results: It was foun
d that hypochondriacal subjects showed remarkably higher levels of sym
ptom reporting than healthy subjects in all three conditions. In spite
of excessive attention to bodily sensations in a control condition, a
ttention instructions still added significantly to symptom reporting i
n hypochondriacal patients. The effect of distraction was not signific
ant in either of the groups. Furthermore, group differences in symptom
reporting appeared to be related to preoccupation with bodily symptom
s rather than to general anxiety level as measured by the STAI. Conclu
sions: Hypochondriacal patients report more bodily sensations than hea
lthy controls when no instructions are given. In addition, focussing o
n bodily sensations seems to cause a significant overall increase of p
erceived symptoms in hypochondriacal patients, whereas in healthy subj
ects there is a trend towards an increase in symptom reporting.