title: Social fears in hypochondriasis.
abstract: 152 students and inpatients of a psychosomatic clinic were divided into a hypochondriacal and a normal group with scores on the Hypochondriacal Beliefs and Disease Phobia scales from the Illness Attitude Scales. Social phobic characteristics were assessed by a clinical questionnaire. Significantly more subjects belonging to the hypochondriacal group scored above clinical cut-offs on measures of fear of criticism and fear of intimacy than subjects belonging to the normal group. Theoretical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Neurobiology of Behavior, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwenzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D012803:Sick Role