The theory of somatosensory amplification, cognitive-behavioral models, and empirical research underline the importance of selective attention to bodily sensations for the maintenance of hypochondriasis. Thirty-six patients with the diagnosis of DSM-IV hypochondriasis were randomly assigned to Cognitive Therapy (CT) or Exposure Therapy (ET). In the current study, the first three sessions of CT served as an attention modification group (AMG), including attention training, and the first three sessions of ET served as an active control group (ACG), which did not include any attention-related interventions. After AMG and ACG, both patients and therapists reported a significant reduction of health-related anxieties, which did not differ significantly between the two groups. However, only in the AMG was a significant reduction of body-focused attention (d = 0.36) found. Attention-focused interventions were effective in reducing attention to bodily sensations, but the reduction of body-focused attention was not a necessary condition for the change in health anxiety.
