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

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

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subscale reveals that, at the end <strong>of</strong> treatment, participants cont<strong>in</strong>ued to feel alienated from<br />

others because <strong>of</strong> their health anxiety.<br />

Scores on the CES-D revealed a significant decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> depression symptoms after<br />

treatment. Health anxiety is <strong>of</strong>ten associated with depression (Barsky et al, 1993; Looper<br />

& Kirmayer, 2001; Noyes et al., 1994; Robb<strong>in</strong>s & Kiramayer, 1996; Sarnie, & Klerman,<br />

1993; Simon et al., 2001) <strong>and</strong> depression can <strong>in</strong>crease one‘s preoccupation with illness,<br />

death, <strong>and</strong> hypervigillance to bodily sensations. At the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> treatment, all<br />

participants were experienc<strong>in</strong>g cl<strong>in</strong>ically significant levels <strong>of</strong> depression symptoms<br />

(Radl<strong>of</strong>f, 1997) but treatment appeared to alleviate some <strong>of</strong> those symptoms for the SHB<br />

group. In previous studies, CBT for health anxiety was associated with significant<br />

decreases <strong>in</strong> depressive symptoms (Bouman, 2002; Buwalda et al., 2008; Clark et al.,<br />

1998; Hiller et al., 2003; Martínez & Botella, 2005; Sorensen et al., 2010; Speckens et al.,<br />

1995; Stern & Fern<strong>and</strong>ez, 1991; Visser & Bouman, 2001; Warwick et al., 1996). The<br />

improvement <strong>in</strong> mood was likely caused <strong>by</strong> participants‘ reduction <strong>in</strong> health anxiety<br />

symptoms, confidence ga<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>by</strong> underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g their symptoms <strong>and</strong> complet<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

program, <strong>and</strong> some benefits <strong>of</strong> the therapeutic relationship. There was no significant<br />

difference on the CES-D when compar<strong>in</strong>g SHB <strong>and</strong> WLC at T3. This aga<strong>in</strong> may be due<br />

to the small sample size.<br />

The lack <strong>of</strong> improvement <strong>in</strong> the PCS score suggests that at the end <strong>of</strong> treatment<br />

participants still experienced limitations <strong>in</strong> self-care, physical, social, <strong>and</strong> role activities,<br />

79

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