The paper has analysed hypochondriasis in terms of defence behaviour. The study sample consisted of 39 treated neurotics who felt themselves menaced by a serious disease which was not confirmed by appropriate medical examination and who came to the therapist with anxious states. Specific defence acts induced by hypochondriacal threat, stimuli inducing the states of threat and mechanisms responsible for formation and maintenance of their capability for inducing emotion were found in every patient. The results demonstrated that many manifestations of hypochondriasis considered generally as psychopathological symptoms were in fact meaningful defence responses against a threat which the patient believed existed.

Department of Physiology Medical Faculty Masaryk University Brno