The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 194: 481-482. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.061085
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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EDITORIALS

Is hypochondriasis an anxiety disorder?

Bunmi O. Olatunji, PhD

Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

Brett J. Deacon, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming

Jonathan S. Abramowitz, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Correspondence: Bunmi O. Olatunji, PhD, Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. Email: olubunmi.o.olatunji{at}vanderbilt.edu

Declaration of interest

None.

Bunmi O. Olatunji (pictured) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. His research interests include affective vulnerabilities for anxiety disorders. Brett J. Deacon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wyoming. His interests include cognitive and behavioural processes in the development, maintenance and successful treatment of anxiety disorders. Jonathan S. Abramowitz is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. His interests include conceptualisation and treatment of obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Although hypochondriasis is currently classified as a somatoform disorder, the underlying cognitive processes may be more consistent with an anxiety disorder. This observation has important implications for treatment and subsequent revisions of the diagnostic classification of hypochondriasis.


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