Hypochondriasis, Somatoform Disorders
Conditions
Keywords
Hypochondriasis, Health Anxiety, randomized controlled trial, Cognitive Therapy, Exposure Therapy
Brief summary
This study will compare the efficacy of cognitive therapy and exposure therapy for treating hypochondriasis.
Detailed description
Hypochondriasis is defined as a preoccupation with the fear of having a serious disease based on the person's misinterpretation of bodily symptoms (APA). For a long time hypochondriasis was seen as difficult to treat. Meanwhile effective psychological treatment for hypochondriasis exists. Psychotherapies using cognitive therapy (CT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure therapy (ET) or behavioral stress management approaches are effective in reducing symptoms of hypochondriasis. However, few studies compare different types of psychotherapy. In addition, in these studies numbers of participants were small, no differences between different treatments were found, and one third of the participants showed no satisfactory change. This study will compare the efficacy of CT and ET in a larger sample of 84 participants. Participants in this randomized controlled trial (RCT) will first undergo baseline assessment. Then they will be randomly assigned to either CT, ET or a waiting list (WL), all conditions are for the duration of 12 weeks. CT includes psychoeducation, attention training, cognitive restructuring, behavioral experiments, imagery rescripting and relapse prevention. ET includes change of safety behavior, exposition (in sensu and in vivo), and relapse prevention. Both treatment trials contain the identical number of sessions. Treatment response will be assessed at week 12 and additionally one and three years after treatment. Participants of the WL will be assigned to CT or ET after the waiting period.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALPsychotherapy (CT or ET)
weekly 50-minute sessions for 12 weeks
Sponsors
German Research Foundation
Goethe University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Meets DSM-IV criteria for hypochondriasis * German fluency and literacy * Informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Major medical illness expected to worsen significantly * Currently in psychotherapy * Suicidal tendency * Clinical diagnosis of alcohol or drug addiction, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder according to DSM-IV
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hypochondriasis Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (H-YBOCS) | 3 months | clinician-rated measure that assesses hypochondriacal obsessions, compulsions and avoidance |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Beck-Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) | 3 months | self-report measure that assesses depressive symptoms |
| Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) | 3 months | self-report measure that asessses anxiety symptoms |
| Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) | 3 months | self-report measure that assesses aspects of general psychopathology |
| Illness Attitude Scales (IAS) | 3 months | self-report measure that assesses attitudes, fears, and beliefs associated with the psychopathology of hypochondriasis and that of abnormal illness behavior |
| Health-related quality of life (SF-12) | 3 months | self-report measure the assesses the health-related quality of life |
| Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (CABAH) | 3 months | self-rated measure that focuses on attitudes related to the cognitive concept of hypochondriasis |
| Scale for the Assessment of Illness Behavior (SAIB) | 3 months | self-report measure that focuses on illness behavior |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed