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Original Article

Anxiety Sensitivity or Interoceptive Sensitivity

An Analysis of Feared Bodily Sensations

Published Online:June 26, 2015https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000269

Abstract

Abstract. The construct of anxiety sensitivity (AS) – the fear of anxiety-related symptoms – has been highly influential in current conceptualizations of anxiety disorders in general, and panic disorder specifically. However, given documented associations between AS and both non-anxiety psychological disorders as well as medical/health conditions, the extent to which measures of AS are assessing a specific fear or anxiety symptoms versus a broader fear of interoceptive or bodily sensations is unclear. Confirmatory factor analysis of data from 373 participants failed to suggest whether fears of anxiety-related symptoms were factorially distinct from fears of non-anxiety-related bodily sensations, although analyses indicated that while fears of anxiety-related symptoms were more closely associated with panic disorder severity than were fears of non-anxiety-related symptoms, both were similarly and strongly associated with hypochondriacal fears. Implications for the construct of AS, and the broader construct of somatic fears, are discussed.

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