Some worry too little about their health, and others worry too much. Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD) behaviors are typically care-seeking—the condition formerly known as hypochondriasis—or care-avoidant. When diagnosed, IAD is currently standardly treated with cognitive behavior therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Even if not diagnosed, the very existence of IAD as a diagnosis prompts us to consider the nature and scope of worry as a part of patients’ experiences. Members of well-resourced societies, for example—even when neither ill nor injured—are persistently expected to comply with health surveillance and screening recommendations. What some might call “normal” anxieties of patienthood—about false positives, false negatives, follow-up demands and their expenses, and whether our needs will be met if we become ill, for example—are likely viewed by many as acceptable risks of reaping the numerous benefits of health screening. But worry as an iatrogenic experience also deserves attention. This theme issue canvasses some of the interesting, important, and neglected ways in which the commonness, duration, intensity, and regularity of patients’ worries about wellness and illness are rooted in our cultural and normative patterns of health vigilance.
Manuscripts submitted for peer review consideration and inclusion in this issue must follow Instructions for Authors and be submitted by 30 October 2025.
The AMA Journal of Ethics® invites original, English-language contributions for peer review consideration on the upcoming themes.