I Really Believe I Suffer From a Health Problem: Examining an Association Between Cognitive Fusion and Healthy Anxiety

OBJECTIVE: This 2-part study provided the first known examination of an association between cognitive fusion and health anxiety. METHOD: This association was examined using 2 samples of community adults recruited through the Internet (Study 1: N = 252, mean [M] age = 31.2 years, 65.5% male; Study 2: N = 371, M(age) = 33.1 years, 56.9% male). RESULTS: In Study 1, cognitive fusion shared a moderate association with health anxiety that was not attributable to negative affect. Along with replicating Study 1 findings using an alternative measure of health anxiety, the association between cognitive fusion and health anxiety was found to be independent of experiential avoidance and anxiety sensitivity in Study 2. Cognitive fusion was most relevant to the affective and cognitive dimensions of health anxiety. CONCLUSION: The present findings are consistent with the possibility that cognitive fusion contributes to health anxiety. Future multivariate experimental and longitudinal studies are required to establish causality.