Hypochondriespezifische Wahrnehmungsverzerrung

Introduction: Cognitive-behavioural theories assume that people suffering from hypochon-driasis exhibit heightened attention towards health related information. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis using a modified Stroop test. Methods: We tested 81 inpatients and 19 healthy controls. Twenty-five of the patients were diagnosed with hypochondriasis, another 20 patients displayed increased health anxiety on a subclinical level, and 39 patients were comparable with regard to comorbidity but not health anxiety. All study participants were presented with illness related and neutral words during the modified Stroop test. Results: Reaction times in the emotional Stroop task were correlated with the age of our study participants but there were no specific effects, i.e. no group differences and no differ-ences between word types. Moreover, we found correlations between psychopathology and reaction times for both word types in the group that was presented with neutral words on the first trial. Discussion: Despite of methodological problems the results of this study suggest that atten-tional processes might be less important in acquiring or maintaining increased health anxiety than previously postulated.