PSYC 307 Week 5b - Somatization & Health Anxiety (Vocabulary)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture on somatization and health anxiety, including Bayes, interoception, illness representations, coping, social influences, and CBT.

Interoception

The sense of knowing what is going on inside the body; awareness of internal body states and feelings.

Bayes’ Theorem

A method to analyze conditional probabilities and update the probability of an outcome after considering new evidence.

Prior probability

The initial estimate of how likely an outcome is before new evidence is considered.

Posterior probability

The updated probability of an outcome after incorporating new evidence (the likelihood of the outcome given the evidence).

Likelihood (in Bayes’ context)

The probability of the observed evidence assuming a particular outcome is true.

Frequentist thinking

A probabilistic approach relying on long-run frequencies and objective data without prior beliefs.

Bayesian thinking

A probabilistic approach that updates beliefs by combining prior information with new evidence.

New Body (Somatic Nervous System)

The body system associated with skin and skeletal muscles, myelinated fibers, and conscious sensation mapped to the somatosensory cortex.

Old, Inner Body (Autonomic Nervous System)

The system regulating visceral organs with unmyelinated fibers and less conscious viscerosensory input.

Viscerosensory input

Sensation coming from internal organs to the brain.

Somatosensory cortex

Brain region that maps bodily sensations from the skin and muscles.

Interoceptive skills for self-regulation

Abilities to monitor internal states to regulate emotions and behavior.

Interoception (definition from notes)

The sense of knowing what is going on inside your body.

Illness Perception Questionnaire – Revised (IPQ-R)

A measure of how people represent illness across several dimensions.

Common-Sense Model (CSM) of Illness Representation

An information-processing model describing how cognitive appraisals form illness representations and emotions.

Dimensions of Illness Representations

Identity, Cause, Consequences, Timeline, Controllability—the aspects used to describe illness.

Identity (CSM dimension)

How signs/symptoms are labeled or named.

Cause (CSM dimension)

Beliefs about what brought on signs/symptoms.

Consequences (CSM dimension)

Perceived impact of signs/symptoms on daily life.

Timeline (CSM dimension)

Beliefs about how long signs/symptoms will last.

Controllability (CSM dimension)

Beliefs about whether one has control over signs/symptoms.

Illness representations and coping

How a person’s beliefs about illness influence coping and health outcomes.

Three family/friend response approaches

Active engagement, Protective buffering, Overprotection.

Care navigation

Support to help patients move through complex healthcare systems.

Help-intended communication

Communication aimed at reducing emotional distress for patients.

Companionship

Social support and practical help from others.

Support groups

Groups where shared experiences provide empathy and knowledge.

Social comparison

Evaluating one’s health by comparing with others (upward or downward).

Posttraumatic growth

Positive psychological change following adversity, sometimes seen with illness experiences.

Neuroticism

A tendency to experience negative emotions and emotional instability; linked to somatic reporting.

Health anxiety

Excessive worry about present or future health; includes somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder in DSM-5.

Somatic symptom disorder

DSM-5 condition characterized by significant somatic symptoms and excessive thoughts about them.

Illness anxiety disorder (hypochondriasis)

DSM-5 condition characterized by excessive worry about having or acquiring serious illness despite few or no symptoms.

Cognitive Behavioral Model of Health Anxiety

Model where dysfunctional thoughts trigger health anxiety and misinterpretations of symptoms occur.

Cognitive biases (examples)

Patterns like confirmatory bias, thought–action fusion, and ex-consequentia reasoning that affect health beliefs.

Safety behaviours

Actions like information-seeking, reassurance-seeking, body monitoring, and avoidance aimed at reducing anxiety.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for health anxiety

Evidence-based treatment with psycho-education, thought monitoring, exposure with response prevention, and routine homework.