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Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Severe Health Anxiety or Hypochondriasis

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Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Abstract

Severe health anxiety (HA), or hypochondriasis, afflicts up to 5 % of the general population, and is associated with high levels of distress, disability, and health care utilization. While cognitive behavioral therapy has been found to be an effective treatment, the results of studies are often mixed, and many patients choose not to participate, or do not recover. There is a strong theoretical basis supporting the use of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) based on its putative effects on many of the core mechanisms of HA. MBCT has been modified to address these maintaining mechanisms. Evidence from qualitative and quantitative research, including an open-label trial and a randomized control trial, suggests that the approach is acceptable and effective, and this appears to be mediated by theory-consistent mechanisms. There is still a relative paucity of research in this area, but the existing data supports the consideration of MBCT as an alternative to CBT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, IWK Children’s Hospital, Dalhousie University, 5850 University Avenue, 9700, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3K 6R8

    David Adam Lovas M.D.

  2. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    David Adam Lovas M.D.

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  1. David Adam Lovas M.D.
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Correspondence to David Adam Lovas M.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The UCSF Dep.Cent.,Langley Porter Psy.In, University of California, San Franc, San Francisco, California, USA

    Stuart J. Eisendrath

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Lovas, D.A. (2016). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Severe Health Anxiety or Hypochondriasis. In: Eisendrath, S. (eds) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29866-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29866-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29864-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29866-5

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