Metacognitive beliefs as a predictor of health anxiety in a self-reporting Italian clinical sample.

Metacognitive beliefs as a predictor of health anxiety in a self-reporting Italian clinical sample. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2017 Dec 11;: Authors: Melli G, Bailey R, Carraresi C, Poli A Abstract Research has supported the specific role that anxiety sensitivity, health-related dysfunctional beliefs, and metacognitive beliefs may play in the development and maintenance of health anxiety symptoms. However, the role of metacognitive beliefs in health anxiety has only been explored in analogue samples. The aim of this study was to explore for the first time the association between metacognitive beliefs and health anxiety symptoms in a sample of participants who reported having received a diagnosis of severe health anxiety (hypochondriasis) or illness anxiety disorder and test whether these beliefs are significant predictors of health anxiety after controlling for anxiety, depression, anxiety sensitivity, and dysfunctional beliefs. A series of dimensional self-report measures were administered to a large Italian sample (N = 458). At a bivariate level, Beliefs that Thoughts are Uncontrollable had a stronger association with health anxiety than any of the dysfunctional beliefs and anxiety sensitivity subscales. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that Beliefs that Thoughts are Uncontrollable predicted health anxiety symptoms over-and-above depression, general anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and health-related dy...
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Clin Psychol Psychother Source Type: research