Health anxiety

Health anxiety – often called illness anxiety or health concern – involves persistent worry about having or developing a serious illness. If health concerns are consuming your thoughts and affecting your wellbeing, counselling can help you find relief and balance.

What is Health Anxiety?

Health anxiety is the excessive worry that you have or might develop a serious illness, despite reassurance from doctors or medical tests. It’s not just being health-conscious; it’s when worry about health becomes persistent and distressing, often leading to frequent doctor visits, excessive health research online, or repeated health checks. Health anxiety can focus on a specific condition you’re worried about, or it might shift between different health concerns. You might notice physical sensations – a racing heart, aches, tiredness – and interpret them as signs of serious illness. The worry can feel very real and compelling, even when medical tests show you’re healthy. For many people, reassurance from doctors provides only temporary relief before the worry returns.

How It Might Affect You

Health anxiety can be incredibly consuming. You might spend significant time researching symptoms online, which often increases worry rather than relieving it. Doctor visits become frequent, and while tests might show you’re fine, the relief is short-lived. You might ask family members for reassurance repeatedly, which can strain relationships. Work and social activities might be affected if you’re preoccupied with health concerns. The anxiety itself can create physical symptoms – tension, sleep disruption, stomach upset – which then get misinterpreted as signs of illness, fueling more anxiety. This cycle can be exhausting. Many people feel frustrated or ashamed about their health anxiety, especially if doctors have reassured them they’re healthy. The good news is that evidence-based therapy helps people break this cycle and develop a healthier relationship with health concerns.

Our Approach to Health Anxiety

Working with a psychologist at Growth Psychology, you’ll receive evidence-based support that addresses the anxiety itself, rather than just seeking more reassurance about health. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is particularly effective for health anxiety. We help you understand the cycle of worry, checking, and reassurance that maintains the anxiety. We work on changing thought patterns and reducing health-related behaviours that fuel anxiety – like excessive research or reassurance-seeking. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches help you tolerate health concerns without needing to immediately escape or fix them. Your psychologist will work with you to develop a more balanced relationship with health and health concerns – neither dismissing legitimate concerns nor being consumed by excessive worry. Learn more about our therapeutic approaches.

When to Seek Help

If health anxiety is consuming your thoughts and affecting your wellbeing – or if you find yourself frequently seeking medical reassurance – therapy can help you break the cycle and find relief. The earlier you seek support, the sooner you can return to living without health concerns dominating your life.