In this highly practical and accessible book, Jonathan Abramowitz and Autumn Braddock present a model of health anxiety and hypochondriasis grounded in the most up-to-date clinical science and that incorporates physiological, cognitive, and behavioral processes. This book is an essential resource for practitioners, students, and researchers in behavioral medicine and health psychology, and for anyone working with patients in hospitals, primary care settings, academic medical centers, and freestanding mental health clinics.
From the Reviews
"For the novice CBT therapist or neophyte clinical psychologist this book has much to recommend it. [...] Notes on where to find the screening tools are a nice touch and typical of the user friendly format and style of the book. [...] To sum up, this is a compact accessible book that does what it sets out to do; offer a conventional CBT treatment approach for hypochondriasis. [...] there is plenry of useful material that should benefit many clients with hypochondriasis symptoms. I imagine my copy will be well thumbed over the next few years."
Charlie Wykes, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University College London, London, UK, in Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 21, 2011
“Abramowitz and Braddock’s text will be welcomed at a prime location on my desk and recommended as a must read for my students. The reason is simple enough: It provides a clearly written, broad, and detailed view of a domain of human behavior that complements our work on self-management of diagnosed chronic illnesses. It also raises a set of critical questions as to what differentiates and sustains the anxiety and behavior surrounding symptoms of medically unexplained conditions, that is, symptoms that do not fit the medical practitioners’ schemata and merit a diagnosis versus the worries and behaviors engaged in by individuals who are managing symptoms that have been medically diagnosed.”
Howard Leventhal, PhD, in PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 54, 2009
"The book is divided into 2 parts with the first part discussing the theoretical framework for understanding anxiety and related phenomena while the second deals with the assessment and treatment of health-related anxiety... This should be of great assistance to all those who are interested in treating patients with health anxiety, especially those wishing to use CBT. Psychiatric trainees who are interested in using CBT to treat patients with similar problems would also benefit greatly from this book... The authors are very tactful and skilful and sensitive to patients’ needs... This 331-page book is basically a manual dealing with how to manage patients with health anxiety. It is nicely written, with many ‘real life’ examples and tables. I consider it a useful companion for all colleagues treating patients with health anxiety."
W Lin, MBChB, MRCPsych(UK), FHKCPsych, FHKAM (Psychiatry) in the Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 19, 2009
“In this creative and enlightening treatise the authors expand the concept of hypochondriasis (literally the region below the ribs from whence many unexplained physical symptoms emerge) to a comprehensive exposition of health anxiety. Here, new conceptualizations of somatic concerns in patients with persistent medically unexplained (or undiagnosed) physical symptoms are presented, and the authors outline state of the art procedures for assessing, formulating, and treating individuals with disabling health anxiety. Every clinician who confronts health related fears and worries should be aware of the latest information in this book.”
David H. Barlow, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Founder, and Director Emeritus, Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University
“This book is both scholarly and highly practical in its approach to the management of health anxiety. I highly recommend it to any clinician, student, or researchers with an interest in health anxiety. It is the most comprehensive book I have seen on this topic.”
Martin M. Antony, PhD, ABPP, Professor and Director of Graduate Training, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
