Anxiety Disorder Patients Tend to Behave Hypochondriacally: Study

People having anxiety disorders believe that they have more physiological problems than they really have, says a new University of Granada study.

A recent study conducted at the University of Granada has revealed that patients suffering from anxiety disorders often believe they suffer from more physiological problems than they really do.

Some of the physiological symptoms that patients with anxiety disorders think they suffer include, Palpitations, sweating, irregular breathing, shaking of the hands and muscular tension.

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However, the implementation of physiological tests has such symptoms are less intense than what the patients subjectively feel.

The scientists conducted the study on 83 patients with anxiety disorders in the program of "Evaluation and Treatment of Anxiety Disorders" of the Clinical Psychology Unit of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Granada, Spain.

The lead researcher on the study was Professor Isabel Viedma del Jesus and the participants had been diagnosed any of the following anxiety disorders: panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, social anxiety, generalized anxiety and specific phobias.

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The study indicated that many patients with anxiety disorders have orally reported very intense physiological symptoms in surveys and questionnaires, they are hyporeactive when real measures of such symptoms are taken through physiological tests.

Based on the results, the scientists said they have proved that, in the clinical evaluation of pathological anxiety should not only undergo cognitive-behavioral tests (traditionally consisting of surveys and questionnaires), but also psycho-physiological tests.

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"Our research work has important clinical implications with regard to the diagnosis and prognosis of therapeutic success, as well as in the design of more effective intervention strategies in the field of anxiety disorders," said Isabel Viedma.

Part of the conclusions of this research work have been recently presented in national and international conferences such as those organized by the Spanish Society of Psychophysiology and the Society for Psychophysiological Research, among others.

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