The role of inflated responsibility in health anxiety
Gabriele Melli, Sara Rustici, Elena Micheli, Eleonora Stopani, Claudia Carraresi, Francesco Bulli
A small number of studies have explored the role of the cognitive elements involved in health anxiety
(or hypochondriasis). Nevertheless, it is well known that there is some conceptual and empirical
overlap between hypochondriasis and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Given the importance of
cognitive beliefs connected to responsibility in obsessive-compulsive disorder, the aim of this study
was to explore whether inflated responsibility might also have a predictive role in health anxiety.
The sample involved 363 non-clinical participants who were asked to fill out five self-report
questionnaires to explore the association between inflated responsibility, obsessive-compulsive disorder
and health anxiety symptoms, while controlling for general anxiety and depression. As expected, the
results of correlation and hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that cognitive beliefs related
to responsibility for omission were as significant as predictors for health anxiety as they were for
obsessive-compulsive disorder. Despite the limitations of this study, the results confirmed that
inflated responsibility might be considered an important cognitive factor for both hypochondriasis and
obsessive-compulsive disorder patients, even if the specific cognitive beliefs that characterise each
disorder are different.
Keywords
Hypochondriasis, Health anxiety, Inflated responsibility, Cognitive beliefs.
