Malaya, Vince Joseph P.

Psych 4-L

Abnormal Psychology

TTh 1:30p-3:00p

Name: Andrea Hilgard

Age: 37
Gender: Female

Diagnosis: [300.7 (F45.21)] Illness Anxiety Disorder

Reason for clients Visit:

Andrea has had an over concern about her health for the past 3 years, she feels that this is
affecting her husband and she was very unhappy when she gets preoccupied with her health
concerns.

Problem/ Symptoms:

(Give a brief overview of the problem and the symptoms based on the case.

Psychosocial and Environmental Problem Areas:

When Andrea began to worry about her health, she was about 10 years old, playing with some
kickball with her friends after school. In that moment she began to hyper focus about her “own
mortality.” Andrea could not focus on having fun in the game due lingering thought of her “finite
existence” grabbed her attention for the rest of the game, while her friends were busy having fun.
Since that instance Andrea never felt the same in terms of her emotional life, regardless she led a
happy, well-adjusted life, having loving parents, excelled in school and even graduated in an
exclusive Ivy League college and then law school.

Andrea dated a lot in her 20’s, she eventually settled down to a guy who was a self-described
musician who obtained occasional gigs with his rock band at underground clubs and had a
cocaine habit, which seemed like a fun lifestyle for Andrea at the time, but in retrospect was just
a bad life choice

I. CASE OVERVIEW

Latisha has been having attacks that she could not explain. She reports shortness of
breath, frequent palpitations, feelings of choking, and chest discomfort. She also
endorses a fear of dying and losing control.

II. DSM-5 DIAGNOSIS

The diagnostic criteria of Illness Anxiety Disorder (300.7 (F45.21)) as applied to

Latisha’s case is reflective of “is preoccupation with and fear of having or acquiring a
serious disorder.” (APA, p. 315) have been met.

A. Preoccupation with having or acquiring a serious illness.(APA p. 315)

Andrea always goes to doctors’ appointments if she feels that she isn’t healthy
enough, it got to a point the doctors got annoyed at her

B. Somatic symptoms are not present or, if present, are only mild in
intensity. If another medical condition is present or there is a high risk
for developing a medical condition (e.g., strong family history is present),
the preoccupation is clearly excessive or disproportionate
 Andrea got really preoccupied with the fact that she might have multiple
sclerosis because she had numbness in her arm, so much she had to make an
appointment with a doctor and a neurologist to make sure, this instance
happened again when she had numbness in her eyes, she had to consult and
optometrist in order to feel assured.

C. There is a high level of anxiety about health, and the individual is easily alarmed
about personal health status.
Andrea would constantly worry about her son Jimmy and her husband’s health, and she
would worry for her own health as well
D. The individual performs excessive health-related behaviors (e.g., repeatedly
checks his or her body for signs of illness) or exhibits maladaptive avoidance (e.g.,
avoids doctor appointments and hospitals).
Andrea always wants to make appointments with her doctors to check if she’s
E. Illness preoccupation has been present for at least 6 months, but the specific
illness that is feared may change over that period of time.
F. The illness-related preoccupation is not better explained by another mental
disorder, such as somatic symptom disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety
disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or delusional
disorder, somatic type.
None, because Andrea has never had any physical symptoms that were particularly hard
III. DSM-5 DESCRIPTION OF THE DISORDER

(Just choose the highlights relevant to your case and if you cite directly from the
DSM-5, just put quotation marks and cite the page number.)

A. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For Illness Anxiety Disorder the prevalence is about 1-2 years (APA, p. 316) for
Andrea she has experienced the symptoms for about 3 years
 Andrea’s prognostic factor would most likely be environmental, this is the case
because her symptoms started when she was giving birth to Jimmy.

B. FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISORDER

This disorder has affected Andrea’s quality of life, this is the case because doctors’
appointments are both expensive and time consuming, her husband is also
exacerbated with her concerns with her health

C. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS

Anxiety disorder may be another diagnosis for Andrea at first glance as she worries
about events, situations, or activities, but upon closer inspection all of these involve
health.

I.THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CASE

In Andrea’s case, looking through the lens that is widely used is the Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy which is a form of psychotherapy. The approach shows significantly greater
improvements of patients with psychosomatic complaints compared to patients who received
normal medical treatments.

V. EVIDENCE BASED TREATMENTS FOR THIS DISORDER

In Andrea’s case,an effective approach would be Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) due

to its practical and applicability especially towards the patients’ later life. Furthermore, CBT
 was found to be more effective among older patients diagnosed with Illness anxiety disorder
disorder.

References:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th

ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Self Help - Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2019, from
https://anxietycanada.com/articles/self-help-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/

Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2019, from
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/therapy-for-anxiety-disorders.ht