Illness Anxiety Disorder

When Health Concerns Cause Mental Distress

About Illness Anxiety Disorder

Illness Anxiety Disorder is a psychiatric condition sometimes also called health anxiety. Illness Anxiety Disorder involves a preoccupation with fears of harboring a severe physical disease. People with Illness Anxiety Disorder persist in their preoccupation despite repeated medical evaluation and reassurance, personal distress, and interference with work or relationships. For a diagnosis, symptoms must last at least six months, but for most patients, symptoms last two years or more.

Although people with Illness Anxiety Disorder rarely have the condition they fear, it is not to be confused with disorders in which an individual intentionally fakes a physical illnesses for attention or to avoid punishment (malingering).

Common Symptoms of Illness Anxiety Disorder

People with Illness Anxiety Disorder may have the following symptoms:

• Excessive worry about having a severe physical disease.
• Preoccupation with bodily functions, sensations, or performance.
• Obsessive rumination with intrusive thoughts about condition.
• Ideas and fears of having an illness that cannot be easily stopped.
• Extreme suggestibility, for example a person may become alarmed at the slightest hint of illness, or even from reading about a disease, knowing someone who becomes sick, etc.
• Obsessions with medical information. For example, the person may read medical books or journals, watch television programs about health or medicine, be preoccupied in news about health, etc.
• Unrealistic fears of being infected or contaminated by something touched, something eaten, or contact with another person.
• Excessive health-preserving behavior, for example eating only certain health food (orthorexia), intensive exercise, or overdoing things to keep fit.
• Over-focus on the possible cause of symptoms. For example the patient needs an explanation for the symptoms and is more concerned about the meaning of the symptoms than the distress they cause.
• Fear of taking prescribed medication.

Illness Anxiety Disorder and Other Conditions

People with all types of anxiety disorders may suffer from medically unexplained bodily symptoms. People with anxiety are often preoccupied with how their body is functioning and may catastrophically misinterpret normal physical sensations. Anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and even depression, are often associated with anxious complaints. There is an overall agreement that Illness Anxiety Disorder and panic disorder are related, but the exact nature of the relationship remains unclear.

Illness Anxiety Disorder has some highly overlapping similarities to obsessive-compulsive disorder, most notably obsessive concerns about bodily harm and contamination. "Obsessive rumination" is a prominent symptom for many patients with Illness Anxiety Disorder, and fears of being infected or contaminated are also prominent with OCD. This raises the question of whether Illness Anxiety Disorder should be viewed as a form of OCD rather than a related disorder. The difference between Illness Anxiety Disorder and OCD, however, is that those with Illness Anxiety Disorders fear having a disease while people with OCD fear getting a disease. Even so, both groups have obsessions, compulsions to check, and are not convinced by repeated reassurance. Even so, many experts think Illness Anxiety Disorder and OCD are just different manifesations of the same thing.

Treatment for Illness Anxiety Disorder

Treatments OCD are also effective for Illness Anxiety Disorder, most notably cognitive-behavior therapy. Treatment typically includes psychoeducation to help the patient learn about the disorder, introduction of effective coping strategies, new ways of thinking, stress management, and gradual exposure to their fears. Research indicates Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (Ex/RP) can be used for treating illness anxiety disorder effectively, and is similar to its effectiveness in treating OCD. Research regarding medication for illness anxiety disorder suggests it can sometimes serve as a helpful supplement to therapy.

Contact an Illness Anxiety Expert