Dina Aly El-Gabry, Karim Abdel Aziz, Maitha Hasan Al-Hosani, Maryam Khaled Aljneibi, Amany Shouma, Dina Abu Zeid, Emmanuel Stip, Hussien Elkholy
{"title":"Frequency of illness anxiety (hypochondriasis) by proxy encountered by doctors in parents towards their children.","authors":"Dina Aly El-Gabry, Karim Abdel Aziz, Maitha Hasan Al-Hosani, Maryam Khaled Aljneibi, Amany Shouma, Dina Abu Zeid, Emmanuel Stip, Hussien Elkholy","doi":"10.12788/acp.0083","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Illness anxiety disorder is a condition of having a persistent fear of having a serious or life-threatening illness despite few or no symptoms. Current classification systems assume that illness anxiety is experienced relative to one's own health, and not towards others (\"by proxy\"), yet it has been observed to occur in parents towards their children. This study was designed to survey doctors about how commonly they encounter illness anxiety by proxy (IAP).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a qualitative survey of 149 physicians who work with children (pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. The survey was administered via email and a paper-based form. In the UAE, 108 physicians were emailed the survey; 55 (50.1%) responded. For the email survey we used items from the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). An additional 100 physicians were surveyed in person; 94 (94%) responded.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Nearly all respondents (98.7%) reported having encountered IAP in parents. Of these, 51 (34.2%) reported frequently encountering these types of health anxieties, and 50 (33.6%) reported that the parents' concern that their child had a serious disease persisted despite reassurance and appropriate medical evaluation. Seventy-eight (52.3%) respondents reported that exaggeration of actual existing symptoms was the most common reason for parents' fears; 72 (48.3%) reported that the concerned parent was more likely to be the mother; and 36 (24.2%) reported that most parents were not 100% certain of their own beliefs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>IAP is frequently encountered by pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners. Practitioners who work with children and their parents need to be aware of this phenomenon to provide appropriate support and treatment. More research is needed to screen for the extent and severity of this phenomenon.</p>","PeriodicalId":50770,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Clinical Psychiatry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annals of Clinical Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12788/acp.0083","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Background: Illness anxiety disorder is a condition of having a persistent fear of having a serious or life-threatening illness despite few or no symptoms. Current classification systems assume that illness anxiety is experienced relative to one's own health, and not towards others ("by proxy"), yet it has been observed to occur in parents towards their children. This study was designed to survey doctors about how commonly they encounter illness anxiety by proxy (IAP).
Methods: We conducted a qualitative survey of 149 physicians who work with children (pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. The survey was administered via email and a paper-based form. In the UAE, 108 physicians were emailed the survey; 55 (50.1%) responded. For the email survey we used items from the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). An additional 100 physicians were surveyed in person; 94 (94%) responded.
Results: Nearly all respondents (98.7%) reported having encountered IAP in parents. Of these, 51 (34.2%) reported frequently encountering these types of health anxieties, and 50 (33.6%) reported that the parents' concern that their child had a serious disease persisted despite reassurance and appropriate medical evaluation. Seventy-eight (52.3%) respondents reported that exaggeration of actual existing symptoms was the most common reason for parents' fears; 72 (48.3%) reported that the concerned parent was more likely to be the mother; and 36 (24.2%) reported that most parents were not 100% certain of their own beliefs.
Conclusions: IAP is frequently encountered by pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners. Practitioners who work with children and their parents need to be aware of this phenomenon to provide appropriate support and treatment. More research is needed to screen for the extent and severity of this phenomenon.
期刊介绍：
The ANNALS publishes up-to-date information regarding the diagnosis and /or treatment of persons with mental disorders. Preferred manuscripts are those that report the results of controlled clinical trials, timely and thorough evidence-based reviews, letters to the editor, and case reports that present new appraisals of pertinent clinical topics.
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