Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T05:22:28.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Behavioural Treatment of AIDS-Focused Illness Phobia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Stephen Logsdail ,
Karina Lovell ,
Hilary Warwick  and
Isaac Marks
Stephen Logsdail*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, currently Consultant Psychiatrist, St John's Hospital, Stone, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Karina Lovell
Affiliation:
Psychological Treatment Unit, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
Hilary Warwick
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, currently MRC Research Fellow, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
Isaac Marks
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Seven cases are described in which the central symptoms were fear of contracting AIDS, avoidance of related cues, rituals and reassurance-seeking, Associated features include previous illness phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Treatment with exposure and response prevention (plus a cognitive session in one case), led to improvement sustained up to three months after discharge, although one patient stopped treatment prematurely. Controlled trials of behavioural treatment in hypochondriasis are required.

Type
Brief Reports
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 422 - 425
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agras, W. S., Sylvester, D. & Oliveau, D. C. (1969) The epidemiology of common fears and phobias. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 10, 151—156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM—III—R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Bianchi, G. N. (1971) The origins of disease phobia. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 241—257.Google Scholar
Foa, E. B. (1979) Failures in treating obsessive-compulsives. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 169—176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellner, R. (1985) Functional somatic symptoms and hypochondriasis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 821—833.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1969) Fears and Phobias. London: Heinemann Medical and Academic Press.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1981) Cure and Care of Neurosis. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1987) Fears, Phobias and Rituals. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, D. (1986) AIDS, ARC and PGL. In The Management of AIDS Patients (eds Miller, D., Webber, J. & Green, J.), pp. 142–144. Basingstoke: McMillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, I. M., Acton, T. M. G. & Hedge, B. (1988) The worried well: their identification and management. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, 22, 158—165.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Green, J., Farmer, R., et al (1985) “Pseudo-AIDS” syndrome following from fear of AIDS. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 550—551.Google Scholar
Pilowsky, I. (1967) Dimensions of hypochondriasis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 88—93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. & Warwick, H. M. C. (1985) Cognitive therapy of obsessive—compulsive disorder — treating treatment failures. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 13, 243—255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, H. M. C. (1989) AIDS hypochondriasis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 125—126.Google Scholar
Warwick, H. M. C. & Marks, I. M. (1988) Behavioural treatment of illness phobia and hypochondriasis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 239—241.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.