The role of private body consciousness and anxiety in the report of somatic symptoms during magnetic resonance imaging.

The present study examined an information processing model of symptom reporting (Ahles, Cassens, & Stallings, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18, 215-222, 1987) in a medical sample during an anxiety-arousing diagnostic medical evaluation. The predisposition to attend to physical sensations (private body consciousness), state anxiety, and symptom reporting were assessed in 47 patients undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure. The results of this study provide further support for the information processing model; the interaction between private body consciousness and state anxiety significantly predicted symptom reporting during the MRI. The pattern of results points to attention to physical sensations and anxiety as important mediators of symptom reporting.