Hypochondriasis: conceptualization, treatment, and relationship to obsessive compulsive disorder

Hypochondriasis (HC) involves preoccupation with fears of having a serious illness. The preoccupation is persistent and based on misinterpretation of benign bodily sensations. In response, patients often resort to frequent checks with doctors, of their own body, and of medical references, to reassure themselves of their health status. Some authors have likened HC to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on the basis of similarities between obsessions and illness preoccupation and the ritualistic checking behavior observed in each condition.

In this article, the phenomenology of HC is discussed in terms of factors that account for the development and persistence of this disorder. Treatment that is derived from this conceptual model is also described.

HC is best considered as an anxiety problem in which pathological fear is focused on innocuous bodily sensations and other health-relevant cues.

Many of the psychological mechanisms of HC are similar to those present in OCD.