5 tips for managing health anxiety

Health anxiety is more common than you might think.

About 5–10% of people experience clinical health anxiety (also called illness anxiety disorder or hypochondriasis).

Up to 25% of people experience mild to moderate health anxiety at some point — especially during stressful life events, health scares, or after seeing illness in loved ones.

It’s even more common after pandemics, major illnesses, or trauma (e.g. after COVID-19, many developed new or worsened health anxiety).

People with health anxiety find themselves worrying a lot about getting ill, or that they might already be ill. In particular, they often have concerns about any physical symptoms they have and what they might mean. Anxiety is a natural response to a threat, or to something we believe is a threat – so it’s no surprise that the coronavirus outbreak has led some people’s health anxiety to get worse. It’s also caused others who’ve never had it before to start experiencing problems.

Why It Happens

Health anxiety can develop from:

• A personal or family health scare

• Loss of a loved one to illness

• Anxiety or panic disorder

• Growing up with an anxious or health-focused caregiver

• Social media and medical content overload

• A need to control the uncontrollable

If you have health anxiety, you could be having a lot of negative or scary thoughts at the moment – for example, ‘everyone I care about is going to get ill’. You might notice that you’re constantly searching online for more information about the illness and the latest statistics. Anxiety can also have physical effects, such as a racing heart or nausea.

Common Misunderstanding

Many people with health anxiety don’t even realize it’s anxiety. They truly believe:

“I’m just being careful. I know my body. Something is wrong.”

But the cycle of worry, checking, and reassurance keeps the anxiety alive, even if there’s no illness present.

The good news is that health anxiety is very common, very treatable and nothing to be ashamed of.  

If you’ve been stuck in the loop of fear, checking, momentary relief, fear again, you are absolutely not alone.

‍Our clinical team has shared five tips to help you manage your health anxiety symptoms:

1) Acknowledge how you’re feeling.

There’s no right or wrong way to feel at the moment. The simple act of naming the emotions and feelings you’re experiencing is a really effective first step to reducing their intensity.

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2) Avoid health-related news.

This might seem ‘easier said than done’! But constantly searching news websites and social media, trying to soak up every bit of information you can about the coronavirus, is probably an unhelpful behaviour, and is likely to fuel your anxiety rather than reassuring you. Limit the number of times you look at the news to perhaps once a day, and make sure you’re only checking news from trusted sites and sources.

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3) Stop Googling your symptoms.

If you have health anxiety, Google is not your friend! An anxious mind will scan for worst case-scenarios, so you’re probably only taking on board all the scary stuff that’s out there. This means you’re not getting a balanced perspective on things.

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4) Manage unhelpful thoughts.

A common thought we’re currently seeing among people with health anxiety is ‘everyone I love will die from the coronavirus’. Thoughts like these can be really disturbing and distressing, but there’s a really good cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) technique that can help.

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It’s really easy to believe that our thoughts are real, but they’re not facts – they’re just a way of looking at things. Coming up with a counter-thought can help us to get some perspective back. Write your unhelpful thought down. Are there any facts or evidence that support that statement? Next, is there a more rational statement that counters the thought? This might be ‘there’s no reason to assume my loved ones will catch the virus’, or ‘the facts say that most people who do catch the virus recover’.

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5) Maintain as normal a routine as you can.

Make sure you go to sleep and wake up at a regular time – and do get out of your pyjamas! Have something to look forward to in the day; find a way to treat yourself. Contact friends and family. Social distancing doesn’t mean emotional distancing – we’re social creatures, so find creative ways to keep in touch.

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Getting support

If you’re struggling to manage your mental health, make an appointment with your GP or a mental health service to get some support. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective, evidence-based treatment for mental health issues like health anxiety and can teach you to understand and interpret your symptoms in more manageable and less frightening ways. You will be able to identify the things that trigger your worries and anxieties.

At ieso, we offer typed CBT with online appointments that you can join from the comfort of your home. Our appointments are confidential and flexible with times that fit around your life. We also offer video calls in some areas. Find out more about CBT with ieso.