Psychotherapies for hypochondriasis.
BACKGROUND
Hypochondriasis is associated with significant medical morbidity and high health resource use. Recent studies have examined the treatment of hypochondriasis using various forms of psychotherapy.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of any form of psychotherapy for the treatment of hypochondriasis.


METHODS
1. CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References were searched on 7/8/2007, CENTRAL, Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cinahl, ISI Web of Knowledge, AMED and WorldCat Dissertations; Current Controlled Trials meta-register (mRCT), CenterWatch, NHS National Research Register and clinicaltrials.gov; 2. Communication with authors of relevant studies and other clinicians in the field; 3. Handsearching reference lists of included studies and relevant review articles, and electronic citation search in ISI Web of Knowledge for all included studies.


METHODS
All randomised controlled studies, both published and unpublished, in any language, in which adults with hypochondriasis were treated with a psychological intervention.


METHODS
Data were extracted independently by two authors using a standardised extraction sheet. Study quality was assessed independently by the two authors qualitatively and using a standardised scale. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan software. Standardised or weighted mean differences were used to pool data for continuous outcomes and odds ratios were used to pool data for dichotomous outcomes, together with 95% confidence intervals.


RESULTS
Six studies were included, with a total of 440 participants. The interventions examined were cognitive therapy (CT), behavioural therapy (BT), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), behavioural stress management (BSM) and psychoeducation. All forms of psychotherapy except psychoeducation showed a significant improvement in hypochondriacal symptoms compared to waiting list control (SMD (random) [95% CI] = -0.86 [-1.25 to -0.46]). For some therapies, significant improvements were found in the secondary outcomes of general functioning (CBT), resource use (psychoeducation), anxiety (CT, BSM), depression (CT, BSM) and physical symptoms (CBT). These secondary outcome findings were based on smaller numbers of participants and there was significant heterogeneity between studies.


CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive therapy, behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and behavioural stress management are effective in reducing symptoms of hypochondriasis. However, studies included in the review used small numbers of participants and do not allow estimation of effect size, comparison between different types of psychotherapy or whether people are "cured". Most long-term outcome data were uncontrolled. Further studies should make use of validated rating scales, assess treatment acceptability and effect on resource use, and determine the active ingredients and nonspecific factors that are important in psychotherapy for hypochondriasis.
Thomson
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Institute of Psychiatry, Psychological Medicine, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London, UK, SE 5 8AF. alex.thomson@iop.kcl.ac.uk
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D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000628:therapy*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000628:therapy; D014850:Waiting Lists