Interoception in Pathological Health Anxiety

Autoren

Susann Krautwurst
Alexander L Gerlach
Michael Witthöft

DOI

10.1037/abn0000210

eISSN

1939-1846

ISSN

0021-843X

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

8

Zeitschrift

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Sprache

en

Online publication date

2016

Paginierung

1179 - 1184

Status

Published online

Herausgeber

American Psychological Association (APA)

Herausgeber URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000210

Datum der Datenerfassung

2024

Titel

Interoception in pathological health anxiety.

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

125

Data source: Crossref

Abstract

According to cognitive-behavioral models, pathological health anxiety is triggered and maintained by the perception of mostly mild and benign bodily sensations that are misinterpreted as signs of illness. Arguably, abnormalities in interoception may account for this misguided preoccupation with somatic sensations. Using a multimethod approach, the current study investigated possible abnormalities in interoception in patients with pathological health anxiety (PHA; n = 51) and healthy participants (n = 56). Different types of interoception were assessed with a heartbeat-tracking task and a signal-detection task for nonspecific skin conductance fluctuations (NSCFs task). Patients compared with healthy participants showed a more liberal interoceptive response bias for NSCFs, t(79) = 2.32, p = .02, d = 0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.30, 0.68). Specifically, patients with a comorbid anxiety disorder compared with healthy participants exhibited a significantly higher interoceptive sensitivity for NSCFs, t(57) = 3.12, p < .01, d = 0.89, 95% CI (0.54, 1.12). No evidence for higher interoceptive sensitivity in PHA (neither in the heartbeat mental tracking task nor in the NSCF task) was observed after accounting for comorbid anxiety disorders. The findings suggest that higher interoceptive sensitivity might not be specific to health anxiety, but rather associated with factors shared with the anxiety disorders. Biased (i.e., more liberal) interoceptive processing appears more specific to health anxiety, but further studies using larger sample sizes and a multimethod approach for the assessment of interoception are needed to more completely unravel the role of interoception in health anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record

Addresses

Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz.

Autoren

Susann Krautwurst
Alexander L Gerlach
Michael Witthöft

DOI

10.1037/abn0000210

eISSN

1939-1846

Externe Identifier

PubMed Identifier: 27819476

Funding acknowledgements

German Research Foundation: WI 3666/2-1

Open access

false

ISSN

0021-843X

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

8

Zeitschrift

Journal of abnormal psychology

Schlüsselwörter

Humans
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Galvanic Skin Response
Anxiety Disorders
Hypochondriasis
Heart Rate
Female
Male
Interoception

Sprache

eng

Medium

Print

Paginierung

1179 - 1184

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2016

Status

Published

Datum der Datenerfassung

2016

Titel

Interoception in pathological health anxiety.

Sub types

Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

125

Data source: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

According to cognitive-behavioral models, pathological health anxiety is triggered and maintained by the perception of mostly mild and benign bodily sensations that are misinterpreted as signs of illness. Arguably, abnormalities in interoception may account for this misguided preoccupation with somatic sensations. Using a multimethod approach, the current study investigated possible abnormalities in interoception in patients with pathological health anxiety (PHA; n = 51) and healthy participants (n = 56). Different types of interoception were assessed with a heartbeat-tracking task and a signal-detection task for nonspecific skin conductance fluctuations (NSCFs task). Patients compared with healthy participants showed a more liberal interoceptive response bias for NSCFs, t(79) = 2.32, p = .02, d = 0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.30, 0.68). Specifically, patients with a comorbid anxiety disorder compared with healthy participants exhibited a significantly higher interoceptive sensitivity for NSCFs, t(57) = 3.12, p < .01, d = 0.89, 95% CI (0.54, 1.12). No evidence for higher interoceptive sensitivity in PHA (neither in the heartbeat mental tracking task nor in the NSCF task) was observed after accounting for comorbid anxiety disorders. The findings suggest that higher interoceptive sensitivity might not be specific to health anxiety, but rather associated with factors shared with the anxiety disorders. Biased (i.e., more liberal) interoceptive processing appears more specific to health anxiety, but further studies using larger sample sizes and a multimethod approach for the assessment of interoception are needed to more completely unravel the role of interoception in health anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record

Autoren

Susann Krautwurst
Alexander L Gerlach
Michael Witthöft

Autoren-URL

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27819476

DOI

10.1037/abn0000210

eISSN

1939-1846

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

8

Zeitschrift

J Abnorm Psychol

Schlüsselwörter

Anxiety Disorders
Female
Galvanic Skin Response
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Heart Rate
Humans
Hypochondriasis
Interoception
Male

Sprache

eng

Country

United States

Paginierung

1179 - 1184

PII

2016-52992-013

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2016

Status

Published

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2018

Titel

Interoception in pathological health anxiety.

Sub types

Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

125

Data source: PubMed

Interoception in Pathological Health Anxiety

Tools