Cognitive Biases in Pathological Health Anxiety

Author:

Witthöft Michael1,Kerstner Tobias2,Ofer Julia2,Mier Daniela2,Rist Fred3,Diener Carsten4,Bailer Josef2

Affiliation:

1. Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany

2. Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

3. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Münster

4. School of Applied Psychology, SRH University of Applied Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract

Pathological health anxiety refers to the medically unfounded fear of suffering from a severe illness. Differences in cognitive processes related to attention, memory, and evaluation of health threat have been hypothesized to underlie pathological health anxiety. In no study, however, have researchers systematically and simultaneously assessed different cognitive biases. On the basis of the idea that multiple cognitive biases simultaneously contribute to psychopathology (the combined-cognitive-bias hypothesis), we compared 88 patients with pathological health anxiety, 52 patients with depressive disorder, and 52 healthy participants on their performance in several cognitive tasks involving health-threatening content. Individuals with pathological health anxiety showed a stronger attentional bias to health-threat-related information, more negative explicit (but not implicit) evaluations of health threat, and biased response behavior in light of health threat. The results suggest that stronger bindings between feelings of arousal and health-threatening information in working memory might be crucial for the higher salience of health-threatening contents in pathological health anxiety.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Clinical Psychology

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