It has been said that “health is wealth.” But what if the fear of poor health becomes so overwhelming that you can’t present with a healthy body? Health anxiety can lead to high levels of distress that can result in physical symptoms related to anxiety. These include an increase in heart rate, gastrointestinal discomfort, muscle tension, sleep loss, and panic attacks. Additionally, all of these anxiety symptoms can lead to an increase in costly visits to the doctor as a means of reassurance, or an avoidance of medical professionals out of fear that an unwanted result may be discovered. All in all, health anxiety can have a debilitating effect on the person experiencing it.
What is Anxiety?
While health anxiety is a more specific form of anxiety that relates to a person’s health, it may be helpful first to understand how a more general form of anxiety affects the body and mind. Anxiety is excessive worry that is rooted in a fear of the prospect of impending danger that may be around the corner. It may lead to racing thoughts, increased heart rate, and feeling on edge or in a state of impending doom.
At the root, anxiety is an adaptive response that is meant to prepare us and protect us from perceived danger. This may be helpful in situations where true danger is looming. But it can have an adverse effect when your body is constantly preparing for danger that is not present. Anxiety symptoms can affect your mood, your sleep, your appetite, and your gastrointestinal health. All of these symptoms, along with psychological distress, can have a profound effect on your quality of life.
What is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety, otherwise known as illness anxiety disorder, is extreme anxiety related to the prospect of becoming sick without any medical indication that a physical illness exists. This deep-seated fear of becoming ill may lead one to misconstrue mild or natural bodily sensations as problematic. This may cause an amplification of anxiety. Since health anxiety is anxiety related to a deep fear of developing a health condition, even slight natural sensations in the body can lead to ruminating thoughts about health and the cause of the physical sensation.
For example, my heart is racing; therefore, I am having a heart attack. Or there is a lump on my skin, which could mean I have cancer. While a racing heart may be a symptom of a heart attack or an unusual lump may be a sign of cancer, there may be additional explanations for these symptoms that are not related to a life-threatening health condition.
But someone who is struggling with health anxiety may have a deep-rooted fear of becoming ill, which heightens their sensitivity to physical symptoms. This sensitivity may lead to constant checking for possible concerns related to their physical well-being. In other words, someone with health anxiety may have an alarm in their brain that is triggered by the slightest physical sensation. When this alarm is triggered, it amps up their anxiety, making physical symptoms more intense. This can lead to a heightening of anxiety symptoms. Since anxiety itself can lead to an increase in physical sensations, this cycle can be a tough one to break without the support of a professional and/or the tools to reframe and redirect the anxious ruminating thoughts.
How to Manage Health Anxiety
If you are experiencing the symptoms of health anxiety, you are not alone. Roughly 5% of the population struggles with health anxiety. In managing health anxiety symptoms, it is worth seeking a medical doctor to rule out a medical condition. Health anxiety is different from anxiety related to a diagnosed medical condition. It is tempting to Google symptoms and seek out illnesses that relate to your symptoms. However, this will likely only serve to increase your anxiety and add to your ruminating thoughts. Instead, find tools that redirect your attention from a hyperfocus on the body to things that are outside your body. Physical activity like yoga, running, cleaning, gardening, or arts and crafts can be helpful.
Various mindfulness tools like journaling, box breathing, and guided meditation can also be great skills to cultivate to combat your health anxiety. The 5,4,3,2,1 exercise redirects your attention from future-oriented stress into the present moment by focusing on the 5 senses. What are 5 things that I can see, 4 things that I can touch, 3 things I can hear, etc? Quick and effective tools for redirecting your attention when you feel overwhelmed by health anxiety include placing your hands in the freezer or running cold water over your hands in the sink. No two people are alike, and not every tool works for everyone, so you may need to experiment and see what works for you.
Learn more about cultivating mindfulness and self-care habits here.
Seeking Treatment
If your health anxiety is unmanageable, it may be time to get support from a psychotherapist and, possibly, a psychiatrist. Medication is one tool to help manage health anxiety. This can be a great place to start if things are feeling out of control. However, it will not solve the underlying issues that may be associated with or causing the health anxiety. This is where the help of a therapist is vital. Beyond various mindfulness interventions like the ones listed above, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions have also been proven to help reframe negative thoughts associated with health anxiety. Exposure therapy is another recommended route to treating and managing health anxiety.
Exposure therapy involves gentle, safe, and gradual exposure to situations that may evoke fear related to health anxiety. It is a means of turning down the fear response alarm in situations where fear is unwarranted and unhelpful. Regardless of the path of treatment, treating health anxiety may take time.
Do you want to explore health anxiety with a therapist? Reach out to myTherapyNYC to find out which of our therapists would be a good fit for you!
Are you battling health anxiety and looking for support? Join the conversation in the comments below!
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