Hypochondriasis and somatosensory amplification.
A self-report questionnaire completed by 177 out-patients showed that hypochondriasis and amplification had a zero-order correlation of 0.56, and in stepwise multiple regression amplification accounted for 31% of the variance in hypochondriasis, after sociodemographic variables had been accounted for. Fears of ageing and death, and a childhood history of illness in the family, increased the R2 to 0.50. Amplification was more powerful in women than in men and was also a significant (although weaker) correlate of somatisation, explaining 12% of the variance. Somatisation also correlated with being female, the propensity to seek medical care, and a diminished sense of efficacy over one's health. Our findings are consistent with the possibility that somatosensory amplification occurs in hypochondriasis.
Barsky
A J
AJ
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Wyshak
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001143:Arousal; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001364:Awareness; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010553:Personality Development; D010556:Personality Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology