The treatment of hypochondriasis: exposure plus response prevention vs cognitive therapy.
In this study (1) exposure in vivo plus response prevention, (2) cognitive therapy and (3) a waiting-list control condition were compared on their efficacy on the treatment of hypochondriasis. Seventy-eight patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of hypochondriasis were randomly assigned to one of these conditions. Patients in both active treatment conditions improved significantly on all the measures, whereas the patients in the waiting-list control condition did not improve. The improvements were clinically significant. Exposure in vivo plus response prevention and cognitive therapy were equally effective. The improvements were maintained at the 7 months follow up.
Visser
S
S
Psychiatric Centre Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. sako.visser@pca-znw.nl
Bouman
T K
TK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D016896:Treatment Outcome