Synonyms
Health anxiety; Hypochondriasis
Definition
Illness anxiety disorder (IAD) is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Ed. (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association 2013) as a mental disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with having or acquiring a serious medical illness despite the presence of no or only mild symptoms. Illness preoccupation is accompanied by elevated anxiety and excessive health-related behaviors. IAD may be specified as care-seeking subtype or care-avoidant subtype.
Categorization
IAD is a new diagnostic label and is classified in the Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders chapter. IAD may apply to conditions previously diagnosed as hypochondriasis or somatoform disorder.
Current Knowledge
Clinical Presentation
IAD is thought to develop from the misattribution of normal bodily sensations (e.g., flatulence) or minor symptoms (e.g., mild headache). The medical significance of benign or minor discomforts are exaggerated...
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References and Readings
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington: American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Axelsson, E., Andersson, E., Ljótsson, B., Wallhed Finn, D., & Hedman, E. (2016). The health preoccupation diagnostic interview: Inter-rater reliability of a structured interview for diagnostic assessment of DSM-5 somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 45(4), 259–269.
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Phillips, K., & Stein, D. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook on obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing.
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Mills, A. (2018). Illness Anxiety Disorder. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9185
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9185
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