What is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety, also known as illness anxiety disorder (or hypochondria, historically), is an excessive preoccupation with having or developing a serious medical condition.
Individuals with health anxiety often misinterpret normal bodily sensations or minor symptoms as signs of severe illness, leading to significant distress and repetitive health-related behaviours.
Despite medical reassurance, worries about health persist, impacting daily life and well-being.
What are the Symptoms of Health Anxiety?
Excessive Health-Related Worry: Persistent fear of serious illness despite medical reassurance.
Frequent Body Checking: Constantly scanning the body for symptoms or abnormalities.
Reassurance Seeking: Repeatedly visiting doctors, researching symptoms, or seeking reassurance from loved ones.
Avoidance Behaviours: Avoiding medical settings, health-related information, or activities due to fear of illness.
Physical Symptoms of Anxiety: Muscle tension, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, or digestive issues triggered by anxiety.
Intrusive Health-Related Thoughts: Obsessive concerns about disease, misinterpreting minor symptoms as life-threatening.
Causes of Health Anxiety
Past Illness Experiences: Personal or family history of serious illness may heighten sensitivity to health concerns.
Early Life Experiences: Childhood exposure to illness or overprotective caregiving can contribute to excessive health-related fears.
Cognitive Patterns: Tendency to catastrophise or focus excessively on bodily sensations.
Access to Online Health Information: Constant internet searches for symptoms can reinforce health anxieties.
Underlying Anxiety or OCD: Health anxiety is often linked to generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) or obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
What is the Best Treatment for Health Anxiety?
Effective treatment focuses on breaking the cycle of excessive worry and reassurance-seeking while developing healthier coping strategies:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Helps challenge catastrophic thinking patterns and reduce compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking behaviours.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): Encourages gradual exposure to health-related fears while preventing avoidance or compulsive behaviours.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy: Supports awareness of anxious thoughts without reacting to them.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Helps individuals accept uncertainty about health while focusing on meaningful life activities.
Psychoeducation: Understanding the nature of anxiety and its impact on health perceptions.
If your worries about your health are overwhelming, we’re here to help you break free from the cycle of anxiety.
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