Personality Pathology and Functional Impairment in Patients With Hypochondriasis.

Background: Research indicates substantial co-occurance of personality pathology and hypochondriasis, which both involve significant psychosocial impairment.

Objective: This study sought to investigate the role of personality pathology for explaining functional impairment in patients with hypochondriasis, while accounting for the influence of health anxiety severity.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with hypochondriasis (N = 84; 60% women) were administered interview- and self-report instruments for personality pathology, health anxiety severity, and functional impairment (general, social, and physical): The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II), the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), the 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36), and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF).

[Facts and myths about chronic fatigue syndrome].

Contrary to its precursor, the new NICE guidelines for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) caution against graded exercise therapy for the severely ill, and cognitive behavioural therapy is only recommended for treating consequence of ME/CFS and not the condition itself. Instead, energy management is recommended. The recommendations are based on dismissing most current evidence from studies not using new diagnostic criteria introduced by NICE or not including patient viewpoints.

DSM-5 Personality Disorders and Traits in Patients With Severe Health Anxiety.

Severe health anxiety (SHA)/hypochondriasis (HY) is often associated with personality pathology; however, studies report inconsistent results. In general populations, 12% have a personality disorder (PD). We assessed physician-referred psychiatric outpatients with SHA enrolled for a treatment study (n = 84) with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) axis II (SCID-II), Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), Whiteley Index 7, and Short Health Anxiety Inventory, and the healthy controls (n = 84) with PID-5 only.

Feasibility Study of Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Severe Health Anxiety.

Severe health anxiety (SHA) is prevalent, often undiagnosed, persistent untreated, and costly. Meta-analyses have shown effectiveness of mostly individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), whereas Group-CBT has only been studied and shown feasibility in one uncontrolled study of psychiatric outpatients also including self-referrals. We aimed to examine feasibility of Group-CBT for physician-referred psychiatric outpatients with SHA and a future randomized controlled trial (RCT).

ICD-11 and DSM-5 personality trait domains capture categorical personality disorders: Finding a common ground.

Objective: The five personality disorder trait domains in the proposed International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition are comparable in terms of Negative Affectivity, Detachment, Antagonism/Dissociality and Disinhibition. However, the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition model includes a separate domain of Anankastia, whereas the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition model includes an additional domain of Psychoticism. This study examined associations of International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition trait domains, simultaneously, with categorical personality disorders.