HEALTH ANXIETY PROGRAM

Our Health Anxiety Program is a six-week program, consisting
of weekly group meetings and five weekly work sessions with
a counselor. The Program, developed by Dr. Fred Neuman, is led by Dr. Martin Diner.

The exaggerated fear of physical illness is very common. Although not ordinarily listed among the anxiety disorders, such as agoraphobia or obsessive-compulsive disorder, the fear of serious physical illness, sometimes called hypochondriasis, can be just as troubling and debilitating.

The principal feature of this condition is the tendency to attribute ordinary physical symptoms to some obscure but serious illness. Reassurance by doctors provides no comfort, but rather serves paradoxically to maintain, even worsen, those fears.

When someone is seriously affected, he or she may go from doctor to doctor, distrusting what they say, yet demanding more and more attention and laboratory examination. They distrust their physicians' advice. They are fearful of medication. They are resistant especially to a psychological explanation of their symptoms. Their behavior may seem ridiculous to others, even to themselves, but their distress is considerable. Their preoccupation with their physical condition often worsens to such a degree that their social and marital lives suffer and their ability to work is impaired.

Those with health anxiety share certain misconceptions about health. These fallacious ideas are what cause them to worry pointlessly and painfully about dangers that do not exist.

The Health Anxiety Program, developed by Fredric Neuman, M.D., has two components:

• Didactic material which will provide some relief even when the affected person is still convinced he or she has some as yet undiagnosed illness.
• Psychological exercises which are designed to demonstrate how physical symptoms can be elicited and also lessened by changes of focus or attention.

A program of exposure and response-prevention is developed for each patient. Medication is offered when it is thought to be helpful, as it is especially with those individuals who are experiencing a concurrent depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Essential to this program are those methods of Cognitive-Behavioral Theory including the use of certified Phobia Counselors, which the Anxiety and Phobia Treatment Center pioneered beginning in 1971.

Workshop starting dates:
Health Anxiety Program: September 2