Anxiety about health will affect most people at some point in their lives. It is a common reaction to new or unexplained bodily symptoms, to physical illness or medical tests, or to media coverage of a specific disease. It is usually transient, subsiding spontaneously as symptoms are resolved or dealt with by appropriate medical reassurance. In contrast, severe health anxiety persists, is rarely allayed for long by medical reassurance, and tends to shift from one symptom to another, becoming a clinically significant problem for sufferers, their families and the health professionals involved in their care. This study examines how effective Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is in helping people with anxiety about their health.
Aims of the project:
The primary aim of the project is to determine if MBCT is an effective treatment for health anxiety. This will be achieved by carrying out a randomised controlled trial of MBCT vs treatment-as-usual (TAU) for 60 people meeting criteria for the diagnosis of health anxiety (hypochondriasis). The health and well-being of both those who received the MBCT and those who did not will be compared over the course of the treatment and for one year following. At the end of the one year follow-up, those who have not yet received the MBCT intervention will be offered the full course of classes.
A second aim of the project is to determine if MBCT can be an effective treatment for health anxiety in routine clinical settings, particularly in primary care. Once we have established that MBCT is an effective treatment for health anxiety, we will recruit clinicians to train as MBCT therapists. We will train these clinicians to carry out MBCT interventions and to train others in carrying out MBCT interventions.
What we learn from this study will, where appropriate, be used to improve the care of other people suffering from health anxiety.
This study is funded by a Canadian charity, the Lupina Foundation, who fund research which is aimed at reducing the adverse effects of health anxiety and increasing access to healthcare services.
Principal Investigators: Dr Freda McManus, Professor Mark Williams.
Recruitment for this study is now closed, and the results should be available after autumn 2011.
