Breaking the Cycle of Health Anxiety: Understanding and Managing Intrusive Health Fears
Experiencing health anxiety can be difficult and isolating. Here, we will provide a more detailed explanation of what exactly health anxiety entails and how it becomes a pattern. We will also share tips on how to manage and challenge health anxiety.
What is Health Anxiety?
At some point, we may all experience worry about our health. This isn’t always a bad thing. The concern we feel can allow us to be proactive about the decisions we make and encourage us to seek medical advice when necessary. But health anxiety is more than just an occasional worry.
Health anxiety is this constant, deep fear that there is something severely medically wrong with you, despite not having any evidence that there is. The anxiety is loud, hard to ignore, and can impact your daily functioning and quality of life. Other symptoms of health anxiety include repeatedly scanning your body for signs of illness, constantly googling different health conditions, seeking reassurance from loved ones, avoiding medical appointments out of fear, and having difficulty concentrating on anything else.
The Cycle of Health Anxiety
You notice a symptom: This could be a real or perceived sensation. It could be a tingling, an ache, or something that just feels “off.”
You start to worry: It may feel really hard to think about anything else. Your mind may go straight to worst-case scenarios about what the symptom represents. You may feel anxious, teary, and unable to focus on anything else, except for what you believe is wrong.
You seek reassurance: The worry may lead you to engage in different types of “reassurance behaviors.” This can include overgoogling symptoms to seek out an explanation. You may turn to family and friends to reassure you that you are okay. You may overbook medical appointments. Alternatively, you may avoid medical appointments due to fear of the results.
You feel temporary relief: Eventually, the reassurance you received may be enough to convince yourself that you’re okay… for now. The feeling of relief you experience can become addictive.
The cycle starts again: You may notice another symptom, and your brain remembers the fear you experienced. The cycle may start again due to the conditioning that has occurred.
Learning to Deal with Health Anxiety
Notice when it shows up.
Reflect on the first time you remember experiencing health anxiety. Do you remember what was happening at that moment? Was there anything that triggered the worry?
Health anxiety can be your mind’s way of creating some element of control. There may be something else happening that feels overwhelming, and focusing on your health might feel like a more manageable place to direct your energy.
After noticing when the anxiety first showed up, notice what caused it to happen again. Are there triggers beforehand? Sometimes, health anxiety can show up when there are other forms of stress. When there are other things in life you can’t control, you may look inward. You may believe that worrying about your health is preventing something bad from happening.
Name and understand your experience.
The next time you’re experiencing health anxiety, try to be mindful about what exactly is happening. Notice your thoughts and your thought patterns. Notice exactly what story you’re telling yourself. It could be helpful to write down the thoughts you’re experiencing.
By acknowledging your thoughts, you can start to notice thought patterns. You can notice when you’re catastrophizing, and you can notice the worst-case scenarios your mind is creating.
By naming your experience, you can start to learn more about how your anxiety is showing up. You can start to learn the patterns in which your anxiety manifests. Naming your experience can help you become more aware of when it is your health anxiety talking; it can help you separate your actual thoughts from the health anxiety thoughts.
Challenge your usual behaviors.
Health anxiety exists through this cycle. For the cycle to change, you need to change your usual behaviours. So gradually, try to challenge the behaviors that may be worsening your health anxiety.
For example, if you feel like you’re constantly seeking reassurance from your loved ones, try to delay the urge to ask. If you feel like you’re over-attending medical appointments, try to reduce this as well.
The goal of doing this is to reduce your fear levels. When you have health anxiety, the “reassurance behaviors” you perform alter your brain’s fear structure. By challenging yourself not to do these behaviors, your fear levels can eventually start to decrease.
Add self-care behaviors to your routine.
Health anxiety can lead to a dysregulated nervous system. You may feel like you’re constantly in “fight or flight” mode and that you’re unable to relax or be present. Stress may feel like your natural state. As you challenge your anxiety and challenge your behaviors, adding self-care can allow you to move forward.
Self-care may involve different relaxation techniques or incorporating various breathing practices into your routine. It may look like spending more time with your friends or figuring out what genuinely brings you comfort and joy outside of your health worries.
Experiencing health anxiety can feel really lonely. You may feel like no one understands and that you are burdening your loved ones. You are not alone. And healing is possible. At MSC Therapy, we’re here to support you and help you in taking the necessary steps to break the cycle.
Ready to prioritize your mental health and well-being? MSC Therapy offers specialized psychotherapy services for young adult women in New York and Florida. Mollie provides compassionate, client-centered, and supportive therapy to help clients navigate anxiety, low self-esteem, disordered eating, body image concerns, OCD, relationship issues, dating, school or career stress, perfectionism, and life transitions. Services are available virtually, allowing for convenient and accessible support. Reach out now to take the first steps toward a more balanced life.