What is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety or “illness anxiety” used to be known as “hypochondria”. It is a specific type of anxiety disorder characterised by spending a lot of time worrying about being or becoming ill. Illness anxiety is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental health condition in which an individual experiences obsessions and compulsions in their thoughts and behaviours.
With people suffering from health anxiety, those thoughts may involve interpreting small bodily behaviours as symptoms of a serious illness or reacting in disbelief when the doctor’s diagnosis turns out to be less serious than expected. As with all forms of anxiety, health or illness anxiety can seriously affect your ability to function normally in your everyday life.
Health anxiety is not the same as having concern for your health. Worrying and being cautious is normal if you don’t feel well or notice something new or symptoms that are out of the ordinary. However, for people with health anxiety, what is considered a “normal” concern for one’s health becomes exaggerated, resulting in debilitating worry affecting every area of their lives.
Symptoms of Health Anxiety
Below are some of the common signs of health anxiety:
- Interpreting minor, often normal, bodily functions as symptoms of illness
- Constantly worrying about one’s health
- Continuously checking one’s body for signs of illness, such as rashes,
lumps or unusual bodily sensations - Seeking reassurance from friends, family or medical professionals
- Obsessively searching for health-related topics online
- Avoiding normal activities or situations out of concern for one’s health
In addition to all these, anxiety itself can manifest in symptoms such as shortness of breath, stomach upsets or a racing heartbeat. The individual may even mistake the physical symptoms of their health anxiety for another illness.
Causes of Health Anxiety
A person can experience health anxiety without any apparent cause. It can also be due to a trigger event or condition. Some of the potential triggers for health anxiety include:
- Having a serious illness as a child
- A family member having a serious illness
- You or a family member being susceptible to anxiety or being a ‘worrier’
- Going through a stressful or traumatic event such as suffering a bereavement
Insufficient information or a lack of proper understanding of disease and illness can contribute to your health anxiety. You might search online for answers and assume you are experiencing the worst outcomes. You react similarly when experiencing a new bodily sensation by doing an internet search for something that validates your opinion. This may lead to information from an unreliable source, which might contradict the real nature of your symptoms, thus intensifying your health anxiety.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are
tiny matters compared to what lies within us
How to Deal with Health Anxiety
Health anxiety can have a crippling effect on your wellbeing and quality of life. Some people suffer from such a severe case that their fear of hurting themselves or falling ill keeps them from doing normal, everyday activities. If you are struggling with health anxiety, there are some anxiety coping strategies that you can use to manage your negative thoughts, allowing you to have a normal life.
Challenge your health anxiety thoughts
Draw a table with two columns. In the first column, make a list of everyday worries that you have about your health. Write down how a balanced friend might view the situation in the second column.
For example:
First column – “I’ve got a headache – I think it could be a brain tumour.”
Second column – “There are many reasons why people get headaches. It could be because I haven’t been drinking enough today. Maybe I should have some water.
Return to ‘normal’ gradually
If you are having a hard time, you can slow down and limit the things that might be aggravating your anxiety. Create a list of activities which might be triggering it, starting with the easiest and working your way up to the ones that might cause you the most amount of anxiety.
Over the course of time, re-introduce these activities, rewarding yourself each time you do, but don’t force yourself if some days are harder than others.
Focus your attention on the world around you
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, try using the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method. This exercise requires focusing your attention on the following:
- 5 things you can see
- 4 things you can hear
- 3 things you can feel
- 2 things you can smell or taste
- 1 thing which makes you feel grateful
Take long, slow, deep breaths as you do this. Inhale for four seconds, then exhale for four seconds. Imagine having a balloon in your stomach slowly inflating and deflating. This can be an effective way to manage physical symptoms such as chest pains or rapid heartbeat and will a bring about a sense of calmness.
Diagnosis and Treatment for Health Anxiety
Anxiety is widely prevalent, with approximately 20% of the population suffering from an anxiety disorder of clinical significance. If the following are happening to you, it might be time to seek professional help:
- The self-help tips above have not been effective
- Your anxiety about your health is so bad that you’re no longer living a normal life
If you need support, remember that your friends and family are certainly willing to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out to them. If you feel you need professional help for your health anxiety, a consultation with your GP is a good first step, or you can also visit one of our centres, where world-class mental health professionals diagnose and treat people suffering from anxiety.
The process starts with a physical and psychological evaluation, identifying your symptoms, life situation, family history, and other health issues that might also be affecting your anxiety. Effective treatments for conditions like anxiety are widely available. If you’re diagnosed with illness anxiety, your medical assessor can determine the most appropriate treatment for you.
The following are the most common treatments for anxiety:
Therapy
People struggling with anxiety typically go through therapy treatment. Cognitive behavioural therapy is especially effective because it teaches techniques and strategies to help you manage your disorder to be able to live a normal life.
Therapy sessions can be done in person one-on-one, or in a group with others suffering from the same condition and remotely via online sessions.
Medication
You might be given prescription medication as it can also be an effective way to treat anxiety. However, this is only done if it is deemed appropriate and therapy isn’t helping improve your anxiety levels.
The most commonly prescribed class of medication for sufferers of anxiety is antidepressants, specifically selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which help regulate mood. If you also have a mood or anxiety disorder aside from your anxiety, medications for those conditions may also help.
FREE Anxiety Assessment
If you or a loved one are struggling with anxiety, there is hope and a solution for you. You can receive treatment as an outpatient or inpatient and through one-on-one or support group therapy. We understand the challenges you’re facing and we’re here to offer compassionate help and support.
Our multidisciplinary team of experts have successfully treated thousands of people suffering from anxiety, helping them regain control of their lives.
We can present and explain the world-class treatment options we offer, discuss your problem with anxiety with you, assess your condition, and give you recommendations on the best and most appropriate next step you can take so you can regain control of your life.
Our highly trained advisers are available to speak to you right away, simply call 0808 252 3379 today.
We can discuss your concerns in complete confidence, explore the options for treatment, and help you to understand what will work best for you.
We’ll also help you to book your free anxiety assessment there and then, with appointments usually available within only a few days.
We understand that taking the first step can be the most difficult, but we’re here to offer support – with no pressure or judgement.
Professional and compassionate help is just a phone call or click away.
