Illness Anxiety Disorder: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies Related to Common Therapeutic Interventions in Iran

Illness Anxiety (IA) is a common, debilitating, and costly disorder. Various treatments aiming at decreasing IA have been subjected to scientific studies in the Western societies. However, due to possible impact of cultural factors, the present review and meta-analysis tested the effectiveness of common treatments for IA disorder in Iran. Dissertations and articles published in Persian and English languages in Iranian samples published by March 2022 were searched in Noormags, SID, Magiran, Irandoc, Pubmed, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases. Next, 12 articles and 2 dissertations were selected for review. Of these, 12 articles were eligible for meta-analysis. Comprehensive meta-analysis software (CMA) was used to calculated the meta-analysis. Data from 14 selected studies for systematic review showed that various types of psychotherapy were effective for people with illness anxiety. The commonly used interventions were cognitive-behavioral therapies, schema therapy, logotherapy, reminiscence, acceptance and commitment therapy and education. The results of the meta-analysis showed a large effect size (0.94). The effectiveness of pharmacotherapy and neuro/cognitive interventions were not examined in any of the articles. The results support the effectiveness of a limited number of existing interventions in reducing illness anxiety. The most effective treatments based on meta-analysis results were schema therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapies. According to the findings of the present study, the use of these two therapies as the first line of treatment in people with illness anxiety were recommended. However, due to the prevalence, high individual and social costs of this disorder, and the scarcity of published studies on the treatment of illness anxiety disorder in Iran, more research is needed, especially with a focus on neuro/cognitive interventions.