Background: In his article on amplification, somatization and somatofo
rm disorders Barsky [Psychosomatics 1992;33:28-34] pointed out the imp
ortance of studying the perception and processing of somatic and visce
ral symptoms. Subsequently, it was demonstrated that hypochondriacal p
atients are not more accurately aware of cardiac activity than a group
of non-hypochondriacal patients. Authors concluded that hypochondriac
al somatic complaints do not result from an unusually fine discriminat
ive ability to detect normal physiological sensations that non-hypocho
ndriacal patients are unable to perceive. The aim of the present study
was to Investigate tactual sensitivity to non-painful stimuli In hypo
chondriacal patients and healthy subjects. Methods: Twenty-seven outpa
tients with DSM-III-R hypochondriasis and 27 healthy control subjects
were compared. In all subjects the two-point discrimination threshold
was measured, as well as subjective sensitivity to harmless bodily sen
sations as measured by the Somatosensory Amplification Scale. Results:
It was found that hypochondriacal patients reported more distress and
discomfort with benign bodily sensations. The two-point discriminatio
n threshold of hypochondriacal patients was not significantly lower in
patients as compared to controls. Conclusions: Hypochondriacal subjec
ts considered themselves more sensitive to benign bodily sensations wi
thout being better able to discriminate between two tactual bodily sig
nals. These findings of the present study correspond quite closely to
those reported earlier.