Elsevier

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Volume 12, Issue 3, May–June 1998, Pages 225-232
Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Additional Findings on the Association Between Anxiety Sensitivity and Hypochondriacal Concerns: Examination of Patients with Major Depression

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00011-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Hypochondriacal concerns ranging from disease phobias to bodily preoccupations are common among patients with panic disorder. In a previous study of patients with panic disorder, we found that, of a number of symptom dimensions examined, anxiety sensitivity was the strongest predictor of hypochondriacal concerns. This finding has been the topic of subsequent debate in the anxiety literature, with concerns raised whether true hypochondriacal concerns were confounded with typical panic-related concerns. To clarify this issue, we now report on the association between anxiety sensitivity and hypochondriacal concerns in 100 patients with major depression and no history of panic disorder. Consistent with our previous study, we found that of the symptoms examined—anxiety sensitivity, depressed mood, anxious mood, somatic symptoms, and anger/hostility—anxiety sensitivity was the strongest predictor of hypochondriacal concerns. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of catastrophic interpretations of somatic symptoms in depression, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis.

Section snippets

Subjects and Procedures

Subjects were 100 patients (57 women and 43 men) with a primary diagnosis of major depression who had volunteered for treatment in controlled, randomized trials of antidepressant medications. All subjects provided informed consent. Diagnoses were determined by experienced clinicians using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, patient edition (SCID-P; Spitzer, Williams, Gibbon, & First, 1989). Subjects with a past or current diagnosis of panic disorder were excluded from this study.

Results

Scores on each of the predictor and outcome variables are presented in Table 1, along with published means for control samples. Consistent with previous reports Otto et al. 1995, Taylor et al. 1996, moderate elevations on the ASI (a mean of 25.7) were evident in our sample of depressed patients without a history of panic disorder. Scores on many of the illness attitude scales were also elevated moderately, relative to norms for nonpatient subjects (Kellner, Abbott, et al., 1987), and tended to

Discussion

Using simple and multiple regression techniques we examined the association between elevations on the ASI and hypochondriacal concerns. We found that of the symptoms examined in patients with major depression—anxiety sensitivity, depressed mood, anxious mood, somatic sensations, and anger/hostility—anxiety sensitivity was the strongest predictor of hypochondriacal concerns.

These results closely parallel and lend confidence to our findings for patients with panic disorder (Otto et al., 1992).

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