Health anxiety, rumination, and negative affect: a mediational analysis.

Objective: A ruminative cognitive style has been associated with a variety of mood and anxiety disorders. This study examined whether a ruminative cognitive style is associated with health anxiety, even when controlling for negative affect.

Method: College students (N=198) completed measures of health anxiety, rumination, and negative affect and estimated the likelihood that ambiguous symptoms were indicative of catastrophic illnesses.