Health Anxiety in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Health anxiety is still a very new research area in young populations but also an emerging topic in the pediatric literature. This chapter outlines our current knowledge on the occurrence and clinical presentations of health anxiety in children and adolescents. A developmental approach, integrating potential early childhood and family risk factors, to understand health anxiety is provided. This approach can be useful in relation to both the assessment and the development of new treatment strategies of health anxiety in young persons.