Contents of It's not All in Your Head by Asmundson and Taylor

elatively brief, ranging from 8 to 16 sessions (Avia & Ruiz, 2005). Asmundson and
Taylor (2005) described CBT as a collection of techniques such as psychoeducation,
cognitive restructuring, relaxation exercises, and exposure with response prevention
(ERP). Each technique will be described below. All of the interventions are expected to
be influenced by nonspecific treatment factors such as the expectations of the client and
placebo effects, the therapeutic alliance, and the credibility of the treatment. It is also
expected that the interventions will be provided after thorough medical and psychological
assessments (Taylor et al., 2005). A thorough medical examination would be provided by
a general practitioner (GP) or specialist to rule out biological disease as a cause of health
anxiety symptoms (Bouman & Visser, 1998). A thorough psychological evaluation would
be provided by a clinical psychologist or psychology practitioner to screen participants
for mental conditions such as somatoform, anxiety, and mood disorders.
Cognitive therapy involves altering catastrophic interpretations of bodily
sensations and health information; it is a key beneficial component of CBT for health
anxiety (Furer & Walker, 2005). The cognitive components of CBT are effective because
they help individuals to identify catastrophic thoughts and to replace them with more
accurate appraisals (Furer & Walker, 2005). Cognitive therapy for health anxiety includes
assessment and engagement, problem formulation, self-monitoring, identification and
reattribution of negative automatic thoughts, modification of maintaining factors,
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