Psychiatric descriptions of bodily symptoms have usually been derived from narrowly restricted clinical experience. It is argued that it is more useful to review evidence from all medical settings and occurrence, nature, disability and presentation are here discussed. Syndromes of hypochondriacal reactions appear to be extreme and uncommon manifestations of a universal potential.

The Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (later known as The Crown Crisp Experiential Index) was used on medical students of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. It was found that Year II medical students scored the highest; the female students scored higher than male students in all classes. The female students were more anxious, phobic, obsessional, hypochondriacal and depressive tha...

To the Editor: Frontotemporal dementia is a clinicopathological entity characterized by prominent changes in behavior and personality resulting from frontal and temporal lobe degeneration. Neuropsychiatric features can be so conspicuous as to completely overshadow cognitive dysfunction, usually leading to diagnostic flaw or delay. Among these, hypochondriacal symptoms can be found, but usually ...

OBJECTIVE To illustrate common psychogenic factors involved in undereating and undernutrition in the elderly. METHOD Two cases are described. RESULTS In the context of age-related physical and social factors, obsessional, phobic, and hypochondriacal anxieties can lead to significant food restrictions and undernutrition. DISCUSSION Psychogenic factors need to be considered in undernutritio...

The definition and exact nosological status of hypochondriasis have for long been a subject of debate. Jelliffe (1931) referred to it as "a strange child in the psycho-pathological family" and Macalpine (1953) used the phrase "a step child in psychiatry proper". It has been described in terms of the disturbed attitudes to doctors as well as health as a concept and also in terms of the symptoms ...

Hypochondriasis and panic disorder are both characterized by prevalent health anxieties and illness beliefs. Therefore, the question as to whether they represent distinct nosological entities has been raised. This study examines how clinical characteristics can be used to differentiate both disorders, taking the possibility of mixed symptomatologies (comorbidity) into account. We compared 46 pa...