Hypochondriasis and related health attitudes

Since hypochondriasis can be thought of as a complex of health attitudes, bodily concerns, and beliefs about disease, it is logical to ask what other attitudes, values, and beliefs might be related to it. By means of self-report questionnaires, the authors studied hypochondriasis, the tendency to amplify somatic sensations, and a series of health-related attitudes and concerns in a random sample of 177 outpatients at a general medicine clinic. Hypochondriasis was positively related to amplification, to fears of aging and death, to the importance placed on health, to a sense of bodily vulnerability to illness and injury, and to the importance placed on one's physical appearance. Cluster analysis disclosed three discrete clusters of patients with distinct profiles on these variables.