What is health anxiety?

Nearly three quarters¹ of Brits regularly feel anxious, and for a quarter of us that anxiety can affect our everyday lives. One-in-5 people feel anxious all or most of the time.

Anxiety can manifest itself in lots of different ways, but in the wake of covid and in the midst of an NHS crisis, professionals report that health anxiety is on the rise².

Health anxiety, or hypochondria, is where someone gets excessively worried about having or developing a serious illness. It can become such a burden it starts to interfere with people’s daily lives.

Somewhere between 5% and 10% ³ of the population are thought to be affected by the disorder, which is linked to other mental health issues like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

What does health anxiety look like?

Being concerned about your health and the health of your family is normal, and it’s important to be vigilant. But if you’ve got health anxiety that concern can become all consuming.

You become convinced that every little symptom or change to your body could be a serious disease. So every headache is a brain tumour, every loose stool is bowel cancer, every muscle spasm is Multiple Sclerosis.

For many people these fears are exacerbated by looking at symptoms on the internet. Even talking to a doctor doesn’t always help, because your anxiety tells you they’re wrong, or the tests and checks you’ve had are incorrect.

It doesn’t help that anxiety itself can have physical symptoms, from heart palpitations to headaches and digestive issues.

Could I have health anxiety?

If you recognise any of the symptoms below, you could have health anxiety, and it could be time to get some help.

• Often worrying about your health, or about having or getting a serious illness
• Constantly checking your body for possible symptoms like lumps or rashes
• Feeling easily alarmed by changes to your body – or assuming every symptom is a worst-case scenario
• Obsessively googling or looking up your symptoms online
• Feeling so distressed about your health it stops you from going about or enjoying your everyday life
• Constantly seeking reassurance about your health from friends, family or medical professionals
• Making lots of medical appointments
• Feeling unconvinced by test results, not believing doctors if they tell you you’re okay, or fearing something has been missed
• Often talking about your health or wider health issues that are on your mind
• Obsessively avoiding or watching medical programmes or videos
• Avoiding activities or places you think you might cause or transmit diseases
• Worrying about germs, or obsessively washing your hands.

What can I do about health anxiety?

With health anxiety it feels like you’re in real danger - and it can be very difficult to control the thoughts that are telling you you’re in danger. But there are things that you can do to help get them under control.

1. Keep a diary

The NHS suggests[4] keeping a diary about your health anxiety, recording your symptoms and thoughts each time you have them. Putting it all down on paper can stop it playing on your mind, and you can start to try and reduce the number of times you think about your health per day or week. You can also see if there are any patterns, for instance if things get worse in certain situations or circumstances.

2. Challenge your bad thoughts

Once you’ve got a record of your thoughts, you can start to challenge them. You can write down the more rational explanations for your fears, and look at things in black and white.

3. Keep active

It’s very difficult to follow the advice of ‘just think about something else’, but it really can help. Going about your normal activities or throwing yourself into other projects can help distract you from checking your body or the internet - and help put anxious thoughts into more perspective.

4. Ask for help

If your health anxiety is still causing you problems, it’s time to get more help.

• You can talk to your GP⁵ about your health anxiety. They’ll be able to signpost you to the right kind of support in your area, including talking therapies.
• You can also self-refer to local NHS mental health services⁶, too.
• If you can’t get hold of your GP and you really need to talk to someone, you can always call our 24/7 Health Support Line. Find out more about the Health Support Line

• If your company has added Equipsme’s Stress Support/EAP helpline to your plan, you can call up for confidential advice and guidance. Find out more about the Stress Support/EAP line
• Log in to the members portal or App and click stress support to access your code.
• Our partners who provide stress support/EAP, Health Assured, also have lots of information and advice on their website⁷, and advice and guidance on their Wisdom App. Equipsme members with stress support as part of their plan can download the Wisdom app free on App Store or Google Play.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy⁸ can be particularly helpful in dealing with health anxiety. CBT aims to help you understand how your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are connected, and learn how to retrain your brain and reframe them to avoid negative cycles.

You can access CBT therapy and resources through the NHS, through the Wellbeing Support Line, or find and pay for your own CBT accredited therapist.⁹

 

Sources

¹  www.mentalhealth.org.uk/
²  The rising tide of health anxiety - Counselling Directory
³  www.healthassured.org
⁴ www.nhs.uk
⁵ www.nhs.uk
⁶ www.nhs.uk
⁷ www.healthassured.org
⁸ www.nhs.uk
⁹ //babcp.com