C Papageorgiou1, A Wells. 1. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence indicates that manipulations of attention may facilitate changes in cognition and stress symptoms in emotional disorder. METHODS: The present study reports the effects of Attention Training (ATT) in a brief case series of three patients with primary hypochondriasis using an A-B-A design. RESULTS: ATT produced clinically significant improvements in self-reported measures of affect, and illness-related behaviour and cognition. Treatment gains were maintained at 6 months follow-up assessments. Measures of body-focused attention indicated that the ATT procedure acted on attentional processes as intended. CONCLUSIONS: The present case series extends the effects of ATT to problems of hypochondriasis. A number of studies now suggest that ATT is associated with a reduction in anxiety and negative beliefs across disorders of panic, social phobia and hypochondriasis. Controlled clinical trials are now required to establish firmly the effects of ATT as a component of cognitive therapy.
BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence indicates that manipulations of attention may facilitate changes in cognition and stress symptoms in emotional disorder. METHODS: The present study reports the effects of Attention Training (ATT) in a brief case series of three patients with primary hypochondriasis using an A-B-A design. RESULTS: ATT produced clinically significant improvements in self-reported measures of affect, and illness-related behaviour and cognition. Treatment gains were maintained at 6 months follow-up assessments. Measures of body-focused attention indicated that the ATT procedure acted on attentional processes as intended. CONCLUSIONS: The present case series extends the effects of ATT to problems of hypochondriasis. A number of studies now suggest that ATT is associated with a reduction in anxiety and negative beliefs across disorders of panic, social phobia and hypochondriasis. Controlled clinical trials are now required to establish firmly the effects of ATT as a component of cognitive therapy.
Authors: Julie Loebach Wetherell; Catherine R Ayers; John T Sorrell; Steven R Thorp; Roberto Nuevo; Wendy Belding; Emily Gray; Melinda A Stanley; Patricia A Areán; Michael Donohue; Jurgen Unützer; Joe Ramsdell; Ronghui Xu; Thomas L Patterson Journal: Am J Geriatr Psychiatry Date: 2009-06 Impact factor: 4.105