Are dysfunctional beliefs about illness unique to hypochondriasis?

OBJECTIVE There is evidence that individuals high in hypochondriasis overestimate the likelihood of ambiguous symptoms being indicative of serious illness. However, it is not known whether this tendency is unique to hypochondriasis or whether it can be attributed to high negative affectivity or other anxiety symptoms often found to be comorbid with hypochondriasis. METHOD College students (N=133) completed measures of hypochondriasis, depression, anxiety, worry, avoidance and estimated the likelihood of various symptoms indicating catastrophic and minor illnesses. RESULTS Even after entering the other self-report variables, hypochondriasis was the only variable to predict estimates of the likelihood of serious illness. Conversely, being female, high levels of negative affect, agoraphobic avoidance when accompanied by others and higher estimates about the likelihood of symptoms leading to catastrophic illnesses best predicted hypochondriasis scores. CONCLUSION Dysfunctional beliefs about illness appear to be unique to hypochondriasis and to uniquely contribute to the prediction of hypochondriasis.