TY  - JOUR
A1  - Richtberg, Samantha
A1  - Jakob, Marion
A1  - Hoefling, Volkmar
A1  - Weck, Florian
T1  - Patient Characteristics and Patient Behavior as Predictors of Outcome in Cognitive Therapy and Exposure Therapy for Hypochondriasis
JF  - Journal of clinical psychology
N2  - ObjectivePsychotherapy for hypochondriasis has greatly improved over the last decades and cognitive-behavioral treatments are most promising. However, research on predictors of treatment outcome for hypochondriasis is rare. Possible predictors of treatment outcome in cognitive therapy (CT) and exposure therapy (ET) for hypochondriasis were investigated. MethodCharacteristics and behaviors of 75 patients were considered as possible predictors: sociodemographic variables (sex, age, and cohabitation); psychopathology (pretreatment hypochondriacal symptoms, comorbid mental disorders, and levels of depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms); and patient in-session interpersonal behavior. ResultsSeverity of pretreatment hypochondriacal symptoms, comorbid mental disorders, and patient in-session interpersonal behavior were significant predictors in multiple hierarchical regression analyses. Interactions between the predictors and the treatment (CT or ET) were not found. ConclusionsIn-session interpersonal behavior is an important predictor of outcome. Furthermore, there are no specific contraindications to treating hypochondriasis with CT or ET.
KW  - cognitive-behavioral therapy
KW  - hypochondriasis
KW  - illness anxiety disorder
KW  - interpersonal behavior
KW  - predictors of outcome
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22356
SN  - 0021-9762
SN  - 1097-4679
VL  - 73
IS  - 6
SP  - 612
EP  - 625
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weck, Florian
A1  - Nagel, Laura Carlotta
A1  - Richtberg, Samantha
A1  - Neng, Julia M. B.
T1  - Personality disorders in hypochondriasis
BT  - a comparison to panic disorder and healthy controls
JF  - Journal of personality disorders
N2  - Previous studies found high prevalence rates of personality disorders (PDs) in patients with hypochondriasis; however, assessment was often based only on questionnaires. In the current study, a sample of 68 patients with hypochondriasis was compared to 31 patients with panic disorder and to 94 healthy controls. Participants were investigated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders questionnaire (SCID-II questionnaire) and the SCID-II interview. Based on the cut-off scores of the SCID-II questionnaire, we found a prevalence rate of 45.6% for PD in patients with hypochondriasis. In comparison to healthy controls, patients with hypochondriasis showed characteristics of paranoid, borderline, avoid ant, and-dependent PDs in the dimensional assessment significantly more often. However, no significant differences were found between the clinical samples. Based on the SCID-II interview, only 2.9% of the patients with hypochondriasis fulfilled the criteria for a PD. These results suggest that PDs are not a specific characteristic of hypochondriasis.
Y1  - 2017
SN  - 0885-579X
SN  - 1943-2763
VL  - 31
SP  - 567
EP  - 576
PB  - Guilford Press
CY  - New York
ER  -