PSYC 235 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Social Anxiety Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Hypochondriasis
15 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
People who are preoccupied with their health or have anxiety with their health; threats to health, body figure ect. Severe anxiety focussed on the possibility of having a serious disease. Strong disease conviction (that what they are thinking and feeling is true) Medical reassurance does not seem to help. Steven taylor, clinical psychologist at the university of b. c is well known for work in this area. Onset at any age (but clustering) -- not often in children but can happen), and runs a chronic course. Random notes: being exposed to real illness makes people more vigilant and can lead to a severe social anxiety disorder. Little is known about the prevalence of hypochondriasis in the general population. Approximately 3% of medical patients may meet criteria for hypochondriasis and the sex ratio is 50:50. Hypochondriasis may emerge at any time, with peak periods in adolescence, middle age (40s and 50s) and after age 60.
