Chronic pain syndrome associated with health anxiety: a qualitative thematic comparison between pain patients with high and low health anxiety.

Objectives: Based on the high prevalence of health anxiety among patients with chronic pain and the conceptual overlap between the diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis and pain disorder, it has been suggested that the cognitive-behavioural theory of severe and persistent health anxiety can be applied to understand the problems presented by a subgroup of chronic pain patients. This study aimed to provide qualitative data to complement the progress of the existing experimental research and theory development.

Design: A cross-sectional design with two groups was adopted.