Health Anxiety
Excessive and persistent fear of having a serious illness, despite no medical evidence.
Health anxiety (formerly hypochondria) is a disorder where a person constantly fears having or developing a serious illness. Normal body sensations are interpreted as signs of serious disease.
Symptoms
- Persistent worry about one's health
- Monitoring body sensations and interpreting them as serious
- Repeatedly seeking medical attention or searching for health information online
- Doctor's reassurances don't relieve worry for long
- Googling illnesses and symptoms ("cyberchondria")
- Avoiding doctor visits for fear of bad news
Treatment
- CBT has good research evidence: changing symptom interpretation, reducing health information seeking, exposure to feared thoughts
- Medication: a doctor assesses whether medication is needed
- Psychoeducation: Understanding how anxiety produces physical symptoms
Health anxiety or a real illness?
Health anxiety does not mean that the symptoms are "imagined". The body sensations are real, but they are interpreted with worry. New, worsening or unusual symptoms should always be shown to a doctor. If a doctor has examined you and finds no illness, but the worry does not ease, it may be anxiety that can be treated.
What keeps the worry going?
The worry is often kept going by repeated checking of the body, constant reassurance-seeking from doctors and loved ones, and searching for symptoms online. These bring relief for a moment, but in the longer term they strengthen the cycle of worry. In treatment you practise tolerating uncertainty and reducing reassurance-seeking.
When to seek help?
Seek treatment if worry about health takes a lot of time, interferes with work, studies or relationships, or leads to repeated doctor visits. The first place to go is the health centre or occupational health, where the situation can be assessed and you can be directed to treatment. In acute distress, call the emergency number 112.