What is Health Anxiety?

Health anxiety, in a fundamental sense, is something all of us can relate to. Feeling increased worry over your physical health is an experience that can manifest for many reasons. Whether brought on by a health event or as part of psychological distress, health anxiety can affect you and your ability to find joy in everyday life.

While we can all understand the propensity to have physical health concerns, health anxiety is marked by a persistent and excessive preoccupation with one’s health, sometimes when there is not a medical concern present.

Those living with health anxiety may experience stress about their physical health even in the face of reassurance from health professionals. Health anxiety can even present as sensations in the body for which the brain may misinterpret these typical bodily sensations. Those experiencing health anxiety may seek reassurance from medical professionals as well as their friends and family, though may not realize the benefits of approaching symptoms from a mind-body perspective.

Schedule a Free Consultation

Continuum of Health Anxiety

When health anxiety disrupts one’s functioning and well-being, it may be diagnosed as Illness Anxiety Disorder, a condition where someone experiences an excessive preoccupation with their health, characterized by having unwarranted fears about possible conditions. Illness Anxiety Disorder is a real and pervasive condition, and health anxiety can exist on a spectrum of impact on well-being and functioning.

For some, the catalyst of their health anxiety might be a result of a diagnosis or health event. Even in these cases, the preoccupation with diagnosis, treatments, testing, and the potential for future illnesses creates challenges and anxieties that may be disruptive when navigating the reality of their health situation.

In addition to having a variety of causes, health anxiety exists as a continuum with varying levels of symptoms and impairments. Anxiety levels are typically classified into mild, moderate, and severe. Health anxiety can even induce extreme levels of panic and/or panic attacks.

Therapy helps develop ways to reframe negative thoughts and belief patterns to allow for a more realistic and compassionate perspective.

Working with a therapist will help identify triggers and unhelpful thought patterns in order to find ways to challenge and respond with new behaviors.

Talking to a professional can help identify tools to manage stress and practice using tools to support oneself when anxiety arises.

Psychotherapy helps provide perspective that reduces the need for seeking reassurance from medical professionals or friends and family.

How Psychotherapy for Health Anxiety Helps

For many living with the challenges of health anxiety, it might be harder to focus on the mental health aspects of the condition, especially when it seems there are so many more immediate threats to their health in play. However, treatment for their mental health can help identify where the persistent worry is coming from and provide relief for someone who is suffering from pervasive anxiety about their health.

Therapy for health anxiety can help individuals with:

Ready to Talk?

Therapy Approaches for Health Anxiety

There are a variety of approaches for helping you manage the challenges of health anxiety. At Shift Health Psychology, our experienced and educated psychologists provide the following treatments:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a form of behavioral treatment that helps people understand the interactions between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and sensations and respond to unhelpful patterns or behaviors in new ways.

For individuals experiencing health anxiety, CBT can help define the line between reality and the thoughts that can sometimes override someone’s thinking. CBT does not discount the anxiety, but rather helps develop ways to respond to anxiety in a more grounded and helpful approach.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, begins with accepting the difficult thoughts that may exist while also committing to moving in a direction that aligns with your personal goals. ACT focuses on understanding that challenges and distress will happen in your life, but you are capable of developing the tools that help you commit to the choices that bring you personal fulfillment. For those dealing with health anxiety, accepting the negative thoughts as just that, negative thoughts, can be an important first step to learning how to commit to a life you want despite the challenges that come.

Exposure and Response Prevention

Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP, is a form of therapy used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders. ERP introduces the negative stimulus or thinking in a gradual way to increase exposure and encourage individuals to tolerate their anxiety without developing greater fears.

With those experiencing health anxiety, consistent exposure to their fears in a controlled way can help acclimate them to existing anxiety and fears and develop tools to overcome their anxiety.

Psychotherapy for Health Anxiety

People who are experiencing health anxiety often display common behaviors or thought patterns. In addition to experiencing unhelpful preoccupations about their health condition, those with health anxiety may display:

Fixation on Potential Symptoms

For individuals experiencing health anxiety, even minor or what would be considered typical bodily sensations can be interpreted as being connected to a more serious illness or condition. Individuals with health anxiety may study potential symptoms and automatically attribute the smallest sensation to a more severe cause.

Focus on Health Research

It is common for individuals to display a constant need to consume research on potential diseases and conditions. With the internet easily accessible and full of information, some good, some bad, the ability to turn research into an obsession is very real and another concern for those living with health anxiety issues.

Decrease in Cognitive Function

Health anxiety can cause a variety of physiological symptoms, from sweating and fatigue to dizziness or shortness of breath. Combined with the mental stress that worry causes, it’s easy to see why someone may struggle to concentrate or even think clearly when living with health anxiety.

Fear of Death

For most with health anxiety, there will be a consistent fear of serious illness; however, for some, this can evolve into a very real fear of death. These emotions can be overwhelming and create extreme distress and panic for those who are struggling with health anxiety.

Seeking Reassurance

Whether by seeking medical advice or by bringing up concerns to friends and family, many experiencing health anxiety will seek reassurance. They may overshare about health concerns or seem generally preoccupied with health issues in conversation.

Avoidance

In contrast, rather than seeking reassurance, some practice avoidance. They may refuse medical care and avoid medical facilities that might be triggers for their anxiety.

Contact

Therapy in the Denver Area

No matter the cause or the severity level, when your health anxiety is persistent, even if it is connected to a previous or current health condition, you can benefit from building tools to help you manage and discover ways to thrive without your anxiety placing limitations on your ability to live your life to the fullest.

The psychologists at Shift Healing Health Psychology have the expertise and tools to provide support that will help you learn how to thrive in the face of challenges that come your way. At Shift Healing, we want to help you live your best life; if you are in Colorado, reach out today for a free consultation.

What is Health Anxiety?

Continuum of Health Anxiety

Responding to Negative Thought Patterns

Identifying Specific Triggers

Managing Anxiety

Reducing Reassurance-Seeking Behavior