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“Hypochondriac” discourse in the modern society: a way to self-care about health or health anxiety?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

A. Tkhostov ,
E. Rasskazova  and
V. Emelin
A. Tkhostov*
Affiliation:
Moscow State University, Clinical Psychology, Mokhovaja, Russian Federation
E. Rasskazova
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Center, Medical Psychology, Moscow, Russian Federation Moscow State University, Clinical Psychology, Moscow, Russian Federation
V. Emelin
Affiliation:
Moscow State University, Clinical Psychology, Mokhovaja, Russian Federation
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Modern social discourse emphasizes an importance of health either as a limiting resource that needs to be “saved” and “restored”, or as a vulnerability that should be protected, or as a “natural gift” that needs support and recovery by natural methods including alternative medicine. Advertisement adds to the social discourse a meaning of health as a sign of success. Research demonstrated that beliefs in any of these meanings is associated with higher adherence to medical recommendations but also higher catastrophizing of bodily sensations, somatosensory amplification and belief in bodily weakness (Rasskazova et al., 2017).

Objectives

To reveal relationships of beliefs and thoughts in “hypochondriac discourse” with subjective importance of health self-care and health-oriented behavior.

Methods

340 participants 17-77 years old filled “Hypochondriac” Discourse Questionnaire (Rasskazova et al., 2016) that includes four scales measuring beliefs and four scales measuring frequency of thoughts about each health meaning, and Health Self-Care Scale (Rasskazova et al., 2021) that differentiates subjective importance of different ways of self-care and activities (Cronbach’s alphas .66-.80).

Results

All beliefs in “hypochondriac discourse” except importance of alternative medicine are related to medical health monitoring and active styles of life (r=.23-.43) but unrelated to reported activities. Frequency of thoughts about “hypochondriac discourse” are related to adherence to health behavior (r=.31-.49).

Conclusions

Frequent thoughts about “hypochondriac discourse” could be protective factor helping to support active life styles but also could lead to over-protection in healthy people. Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 22-28-01643

Disclosure

Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 22-28-01643

Keywords

“Hypochondriac”discourseself-carehealth behavior
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S176
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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