Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 1992 Jul;30(4):329-45.
doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(92)90045-i.

Cardiophobia: a paradigmatic behavioural model of heart-focused anxiety and non-anginal chest pain

G H Eifert  1
Affiliations
Review

Cardiophobia: a paradigmatic behavioural model of heart-focused anxiety and non-anginal chest pain

G H Eifert. Behav Res Ther. 1992 Jul.

Erratum in

  • Behav Res Ther 1993 Sep;31(7):711

Abstract

Cardiophobia is defined as an anxiety disorder of persons characterized by repeated complaints of chest pain, heart palpitations, and other somatic sensations accompanied by fears of having a heart attack and of dying. Persons with cardiophobia focus attention on their heart when experiencing stress and arousal, perceive its function in a phobic manner, and continue to believe that they suffer from an organic heart problem despite repeated negative medical tests. In order to reduce anxiety, they seek continuous reassurance, make excessive use of medical facilities, and avoid activities believed to elicit symptoms. The relationship of cardiophobia to illness phobia, health anxiety, and panic disorder is discussed. An integrative psychobiological model of cardiophobia is presented which includes previous learning conditions relating to experiences of separation and cardiac disease; deficient and inappropriate behavioural repertoires which constitute a psychological vulnerability for cardiophobic problems; negative life events, stressors, and conflicts in the person's present situation that trigger and contribute to the symptoms; current affective, cognitive, and behavioural symptoms and their stimulus properties; and genetic and acquired biological vulnerability factors. Finally, recommendations for the treatment of cardiophobia are derived from the model and areas of future research are outlined.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources