From Certainty-Seeking to Health Preoccupation: The Mediating Role of Cognitive-Emotional Processes in Health Anxiety

Background: Health anxiety (HA) can cause significant distress in patients, leading to preoccupation with perceived illness and symptoms. Objective: This study examines the mediating roles of cognitive-emotional processes such as need for closure (NFC), negative interpretation bias (NIB), emotional schemas (ES), intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and somatic symptom severity (SSS), in linking NFC to HA. Method: The cross-sectional study sampled 276 participants from diverse backgrounds, with ages ranging from 18-80 years. Participants completed a 40-minute survey which consisted of standardized scales assessing these factors. Results: Results demonstrated that while NFC does not directly predict HA, it exerts its influence through cognitive and emotional mechanisms. IU and NIB emerged as key independent mediators, while NIB and ES were associated with HA through serial paths involving somatic symptom severity. Conclusions: Thus, our results suggest that interventions for HA may benefit from targeting constructs such as NFC, IU, NIB, and ES, which are associated with health anxiety, rather than focusing exclusively on health anxiety symptoms themselves.