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Health Anxiety

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

  • 14 Accesses

Synonyms

Health phobia; Hypochondriasis

Definition

Health anxiety refers to an excessive concern or preoccupation about being ill based on the misinterpretation of somatic symptoms despite medical reassurance indicating otherwise.

Description

Health anxiety refers to an excessive concern or preoccupation about the meaning and potential consequences of somatic symptoms. Individuals high in health anxiety are more likely to believe that their physical symptoms are signs of a serious disease than their low anxious counterparts despite medical reassurance indicating otherwise.

Several environmental, biological, and psychological (e.g., behavioral and cognitive) factors have been implicated as causes of health anxiety (Abramowitz and Braddock 2008; Kirmayer and Looper 2006). Evidence from research examining the environmental antecedents of health anxiety indicate that individuals, especially females, who have experienced serious illness as children, suffered the death of a loved one from a...

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References and Further Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Tamer F. Desouky & Pablo A. Mora

  2. War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, Veterans Affairs NJ Healthcare System, East Orange, NJ, USA

    Lisa M. McAndrew

Authors
  1. Tamer F. Desouky
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  2. Lisa M. McAndrew
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  3. Pablo A. Mora
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tamer F. Desouky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USA

    Deborah J. Wiebe

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© 2020 This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

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Desouky, T.F., McAndrew, L.M., Mora, P.A. (2020). Health Anxiety. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_958-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_958-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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