Which feature characterizes Illness Anxiety Disorder?

• A. Excessive worry about having a serious illness or acquiring one despite minimal symptoms.
• B. Somatic symptoms are present and distressing.
• C. Symptoms are intentionally produced for external rewards.
• D. Patient has a fixed delusion of being ill.

Answer: (A)

The main concept is preoccupation with illness without prominent symptoms. Illness Anxiety Disorder centers on excessive worry about having a serious illness or about potentially developing one, even when somatic symptoms are minimal or absent. The anxiety is health-related and persistent, and people may engage in excessive health checking or avoidance of medical care because they fear illness.

That’s why the statement describing excessive worry about a serious illness despite minimal symptoms best fits. The other options point to different conditions: somatic symptom disorder involves distressing somatic symptoms that are actually present, not just worry about illness; intentional production of symptoms for rewards points to factitious or malingering; a fixed delusion of being ill aligns with a somatic-type delusional disorder rather than illness anxiety.