Cognitive dehaviour therapy for health anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cooper, Kate, Gregory, James D., Walker, Ian, Lambe, Sinead and Salkovskis, Paul M. 2017. Cognitive dehaviour therapy for health anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 45 (2) , pp. 110-123. 10.1017/s1352465816000527

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Abstract

Background: Health anxiety (HA), or hypochondriasis, is a psychological problem characterized by a preoccupation with the belief that one is physically unwell. A 2007 Cochrane review (Thomson and Page, 2007) found cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to be an effective intervention for individuals with HA. Similar findings were reported in a recent meta-analysis (Olatunji et al., 2014), which did not employ a systematic search strategy. The current review aimed to investigate the efficacy of CBT for HA, and to update the existing reviews. Method: A systematic search was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidance, including randomized controlled trials that compared CBT with a control condition for people with HA. Five hundred and sixty-seven studies were found in the original search, of which 14 were included in the meta-analysis. Results: Meta-analysis was conducted on 21 comparisons and a large effect size for CBT compared with a control condition was found at post therapy d = 1.01 (95% confidence interval 0.77–1.25), as well as at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis provides support for the hypothesis that CBT is an effective intervention for HA when compared with a variety of control conditions, e.g. treatment-as-usual, waiting list, medication, and other psychological therapies.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN:	1352-4658
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 May 2021
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2024 20:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/140942

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