Social fears in hypochondriasis

152 students and inpatients of a psychosomatic clinic were divided into a hypochondriacal and a normal group with scores on the Hypochondriacal Beliefs and Disease Phobia scales from the Illness Attitude Scales. Social phobic characteristics were assessed by a clinical questionnaire. Significantly more subjects belonging to the hypochondriacal group scored above clinical cut-offs on measures of fear of criticism and fear of intimacy than subjects belonging to the normal group. Theoretical implications are discussed.