Main description:

In the recently updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the diagnostic concept of hypochondriasis was eliminated and replaced by somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. Hypochondriasis and Health Anxiety: A Guide for Clinicians, edited by Vladan Starcevic and Russell Noyes and written by prominent clinicians and researchers in the field, addresses current issues in recognizing, understanding, and treating
hypochondriasis. Using a pragmatic approach, it offers a wealth of clinically useful information. The book also provides a critical review of the underlying conceptual and treatment issues, addressing varying perspectives and synthesizing the current research.

Specific topics the text covers include: clinical manifestations, diagnostic and conceptual issues, classification, relationships with other disorders, assessment, epidemiology, economic aspects, course, outcome and treatment. Additionally, the book discusses patient-physician relationship in the context of hypochondriasis and health anxiety and presents cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal and psychodynamic models and treatments. The authors also address the neurobiological underpinnings of
hypochondriasis and health anxiety and pharmacological treatment approaches.

Based on the extensive clinical experience of its authors, there are numerous case illustrations and practical examples of how to assess, understand and manage individuals presenting with disease preoccupations, health anxiety and/or beliefs that they are seriously ill. It approaches its subject from various perspectives and is a work of integration and critical thinking about an area often shrouded in controversy.

Contents:

Chapter 1 ; Introduction and key issues ; Vladan Starcevic and Russell Noyes Jr. ; Chapter 2 ; Clinical manifestations of hypochondriasis and related conditions ; Laura Sirri and Giovanni A. Fava ; Chapter 3 ; Diagnosis and classification of hypochondriasis ; Justine N. Pannekoek and Dan J. Stein ; Chapter 4 ; Relationships with other psychopathology and differential diagnosis of hypochondriasis ; Vladan Starcevic ; Chapter 5 ; Assessment of hypochondriasis and health anxiety ; Susan Longley, Katherine Meyers, Rachel Maxwell and Letizia Boin ; Chapter 6 ; Epidemiological and economic aspects of hypochondriasis and health anxiety ; Karl Looper and Philip Dickinson ; Chapter 7 ; Course and outcome of hypochondriasis and health anxiety ; Russell Noyes Jr. ; Chapter 8 ; Management and physician-patient relationship in hypochondriasis ; Russell Noyes Jr. ; Chapter 9 ; Cognitive and behavioral models and cognitive-behavioral and related therapies for health anxiety and hypochondriasis ; Theo K. Bouman ; Chapter 10 ; Interpersonal psychotherapy for hypochondriasis and related disorders: an attachment-based approach ; Scott Stuart ; Chapter 11 ; Psychodynamic models and therapeutic approaches to hypochondriasis ; Don R. Lipsitt ; Chapter 12 ; Pharmacological treatment and neurobiology of hypochondriasis, illness anxiety and somatic symptoms ; Kelli J. K. Harding and Brian A. Fallon