Opening Pandora's box: the unpredictability of reassurance by a normal test result

Abstract

Reassurance of the "worried well"-anxious patients with symptoms or patients concerned by a health query resulting from a routine medical examination or from screening-constitutes a large part of medical practice. It seems to be widely assumed that explaining that tests have shown no abnormality is enough to reassure. The results of this study refute this and emphasise the importance of personal and social factors as obstacles to reassurance.