If you have health anxiety, you know how exhausting it can be to live with constant worry about your health. Every new ache, sensation, or symptom can send you into a spiral of anxiety, leaving you feeling overwhelmed and scared. Health anxiety (a subtype of OCD), makes it feel like you’re always on edge, waiting for the next sign that something might be seriously wrong. The good news is that you’re not alone, and there are effective ways to manage this anxiety and regain a sense of peace.

What Is Health Anxiety?

Health anxiety involves an intense fear of having or developing a serious illness. It goes beyond normal health concerns and can dominate your thoughts and behaviors. Even when medical tests come back normal or doctors reassure you that you’re healthy, the worry persists. Many people with health anxiety find themselves questioning test results or fearing that something has been overlooked. For many, this can be a deeper rooted fear of death, being in perpetual pain, having something out of their control happening to their body or unknowingly spreading a deadly illness and thus, harming others. It is a relentless cycle of fear, worry and compulsions. It can also be very isolating, as sufferers express a lot of shame for how illogical their fixation seems to others.

How Health Anxiety Feels

Health anxiety can manifest in several ways:

• Constant Worry About Health: Every bodily sensation or change becomes a source of fear.
• Body Scanning and Checking: Frequently checking for lumps, rashes, or other signs of illness.
• Seeking Reassurance: Repeatedly visiting doctors or asking loved ones for confirmation that you’re healthy.
• Avoidance: Steering clear of medical appointments, health-related news, or anything that could trigger anxiety.
• Intrusive Thoughts: Persistent fears about illness and death that interfere with daily life.
• Physical Symptoms: Anxiety itself can create physical symptoms like muscle tension and stomach issues, which can then fuel more worry.

Common Compulsions in Health Anxiety

Health anxiety often leads to compulsive behaviors aimed at reducing fear but ultimately reinforcing it. These may include:

• Googling symptoms excessively
• Frequent doctor visits or seeking multiple medical opinions
• Avoiding medical settings or health-related topics
• Over-monitoring vital signs
• Repeated self-examinations or checking medical records

Effective Treatment Approaches for Health Anxiety

Overcoming health anxiety involves changing the way you respond to distressing thoughts and sensations. Here are some evidence-based treatments that can help- and that my team is equipped to support you in!

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps individuals recognize and challenge the thought patterns fueling their anxiety. This includes learning to reframe catastrophic thinking about bodily sensations and resisting compulsive reassurance-seeking behaviors.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

ERP involves gradually facing health-related fears without engaging in compulsions. This process builds confidence in tolerating uncertainty and reduces the power of anxiety-driven behaviors.

Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT)

I-CBT takes a unique approach by addressing the obsessional reasoning that leads to health-related fears. Instead of relying on compulsions like body checking or reassurance-seeking, I-CBT helps individuals recognize how they arrive at feared conclusions based on obsessional reasoning, imagined possibilities and irrelevant associations rather than here and now sense data. By strengthening trust in your senses and distinguishing between normal reasoning and obsessional reasoning, individuals can break free from the cycle of excessive health preoccupation.

Mindfulness and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Mindfulness helps individuals stay present and observe thoughts without judgment, reducing the tendency to catastrophize bodily sensations. ACT focuses on changing one’s relationship with anxious thoughts, encouraging acceptance rather than avoidance while fostering engagement in meaningful life activities.

Medication

In some cases, medications such as SSRIs can be helpful in managing severe health anxiety. Consulting with a healthcare provider can help determine if medication is an appropriate option.

Core Concepts for Health Anxiety Recovery

• Our thoughts, feelings, and sensations are NOT the problem. The problem is how we respond to them. If you assign meaning to them and react to them as if they are important and require your attention, they will likely continue to bother you. 
• Thoughts about illness are not facts about illness. Just because you think something, it does not mean it is an imminent threat and does not need to be solved right away. 
• The goal of treatment is not to banish all anxiety & uncertainty but instead to be able to effectively manage your anxiety and uncertainty and learn how to resist compulsions (response prevention). This is a skill you will learn with time, practice & consistency. 
• Your Symptoms may change. This is normal.  It is also common for health anxiety fears to change, like a game of whack-a-mole.  Use this as an opportunity to practice your skills and gain confidence in your ability to tolerate distress and reduce compulsions. 
• Resist Reassurance-Seeking:  Seeking reassurance from doctors, loved ones, or the internet can provide temporary relief but ultimately reinforces health anxiety. Practice gradually reducing these reassurance-seeking behaviors to build confidence in your ability to cope with uncertainty on your own.
• Reduce Body Checking: Excessive body checking, such as frequently checking for lumps, monitoring vital signs, or inspecting for changes, can keep you trapped in the cycle of anxiety. Set limits on how often you check and practice redirecting your attention.
• Limit Health Information Consumption: Avoid excessive Googling of symptoms or consuming health-related information that fuels your anxiety.  Limit the time spent on these activities or set limits with certain websites. No more WebMD! 
• Remember this: “sensations are not symptoms”—while the mind can create physical sensations through obsessional focus and anxiety, these are fundamentally different from genuine illness-related symptoms, which follow a medical pattern and persist over time.
• Cultivate Self-Compassion: Health anxiety can lead to harsh self-criticism—practice self-compassion by being kind and understanding toward yourself. Treat yourself with the same compassion you would offer a friend in a similar situation.
• Remember That Setbacks Are Normal: Recovery is not always a linear process, and setbacks can happen. Remember that experiencing anxiety or a flare-up of health fears is a normal part of recovery. Use setbacks as an opportunity to practice the skills you’ve learned and to recommit to your recovery journey.

Practical Steps for Managing Health Anxiety

• Resist reassurance-seeking. Reducing compulsions like excessive doctor visits or Googling symptoms will help you regain confidence in your ability to tolerate uncertainty.
• Limit body checking. Set boundaries on how often you check for symptoms and redirect your focus to other activities.
• Reduce health information consumption. Avoid excessive Googling or reading about diseases that trigger anxiety.
• Practice self-compassion. Remind yourself that health anxiety is a common struggle and that you are not alone.
• Expect setbacks. Recovery isn’t always linear. When fears resurface, use it as an opportunity to practice the skills you’ve learned.

Mindfulness Strategies for Health Anxiety

• Make space for discomfort. Ask yourself, “How willing am I to sit with uncertainty?”
• Practice being non-judgmental. Notice how you judge yourself and your experiences without attaching meaning to them.
• Observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations objectively. Imagine them as passing clouds rather than absolute truths.
• Engage your five senses. Focus on what you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell to stay grounded in the present moment.
• Radically accept uncertainty. Allow yourself to experience discomfort without trying to immediately resolve it.

Final Thoughts

Health anxiety can feel overwhelming, and quite frankly- terrifying. With the right tools and strategies, you can break free from the cycle of fear and regain a sense of control. By challenging obsessional reasoning, resisting compulsions, and cultivating self-compassion, you can move toward a more peaceful and fulfilling life. Remember, recovery takes time and practice, but you can do this! Please reach out to schedule a free consultation call with me or a member of my team to see if we would be a good fit for therapy. We serve therapy seekers in CA, WA, Utah and Florida.