What best distinguishes Illness Anxiety Disorder from Somatic Symptom Disorder?

• A. Illness Anxiety Disorder features preoccupation with disease with minimal somatic symptoms; Somatic Symptom Disorder features significant somatic symptoms with health anxiety
• B. Illness Anxiety Disorder involves psychosis; Somatic Symptom Disorder does not
• C. Illness Anxiety Disorder is only in children; Somatic Symptom Disorder only in adults
• D. Illness Anxiety Disorder coexists with mood disorder

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that the distinction hinges on where the distress is centered: health anxiety versus prominent somatic symptoms.

In Illness Anxiety Disorder, the person is preoccupied with the belief of having a serious illness, with little or no bodily symptoms to explain the worry. The anxiety is about being sick itself, not about a specific, real symptom.

In Somatic Symptom Disorder, there are one or more actual somatic symptoms that are distressing or disruptive, and the individual has excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to those symptoms. The focus is on the symptoms and their seriousness rather than solely on the fear of disease.

So the best answer states that Illness Anxiety Disorder features preoccupation with disease with minimal somatic symptoms, while Somatic Symptom Disorder involves significant somatic symptoms with health-related anxiety.