Health anxiety is extensive worry or preoccupation with being or becoming ill.
Health anxiety is now known as somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder. Both are defined as excessive concern with potential illness. However, somatic symptom disorder is different in that there are physical symptoms present.
Individuals who struggle with either of these concerns may perseverate on any physical discomfort that arises. This could be something like a headache, stomach pain, dizziness, or general pain that feels “out of the blue” or “intense.” It isn’t uncommon for people to also get stuck on the idea that they can become ill with a terminal illness or an illness that will leave them in discomfort for the remainder of their lives. Each person is different, and therefore their health anxiety attaches to different concerns. However, those are common themes that come up.
Questions that Health Anxiety Help in Chicago, IL, can Address
It’s possible if you are struggling with health anxiety, you may be experiencing or have experienced the following distressing thoughts and questions:
- My cousin went to the doctor for that, and it turns out they DID have __(feared illness) ____. So, it is more likely than people think.
- I know multiple people who didn’t think anything was wrong, and then they suddenly died or something really serious was going on.
- This feeling isn’t normal, is it? It feels really severe. What if I have __(i.e. tumor, cancer, etc)_____?
- My doctors keep telling me to wait and see if things worsen, but what if it’s too late by then? Could they be missing something?
- What if this is a true emergency?
- How will I know the difference between anxiety and an actual problem?
- I need to know right now if something is really wrong.
- It could be something irreversible if I don’t get help for it now or soon. I could really regret not getting treatment or checkout out right away.
Why don’t consistent doctor visits address Health Anxiety Help in Chicago, IL? Isn’t it better to get checked out just in case something is wrong?
It is a temporary fix for any anxiety concern to get reassurance.
For example, if you are experiencing migraine headaches you may have seen a specialist for it or your primary care doctor. If their medical tests and/or images are inconclusive or show up completely normal, most likely, anxiety will come right back.
This is the vicious cycle that occurs when we message care providers or extensively research different symptoms. It leads to more and more possibilities and more and more uncertainty about what is going on. So, while it isn’t harmful to see your doctor or message them, it rarely feels satisfying for a long period of time before anxiety increases once again.
Health Anxiety Help in Chicago, IL: The Typical Anxiety Cycle
- Notice symptoms
- Anxiety and fear sets in
- Continue to feel hypervigilant about symptoms and check symptoms often
- Anxiety gets higher
- (seek reassurance in some way) Go to the doctor, message the doctor, or google symptoms
- Possible temporary relief
- Notice the symptoms or experience anxiety about contracting an illness again
- Cycle repeats
This isn’t to say that it is wrong to go see or message your doctor one time, but if they assess that nothing is urgent or an emergency the goal would be to trust their input. Googling and reaching out regularly to our providers tends to lead us down a worst-case scenario rabbit hole and then makes us feel more anxious as a result.
So, what am I supposed to do? How do I get through the moments I am really anxious about?
In short, the goal is to practice resisting the urges you have to reach out to providers, check symptoms repeatedly, research your concerns online, and any other behaviors that tend to feel tempting in moments of anxiety. Sitting with uncertainty and building tolerance of it over time is the end goal.
While this is a difficult task, often people find it is already difficult to live the way they are living and that this treatment is at least more helpful than continuing on as they are.
Exposure therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are helpful approaches to reducing anxiety, including health anxiety, over time. With these approaches, your provider would have you identify your triggers and common responses to your triggers, to begin with. From there, you would create an exposure hierarchy where you gradually approach your fears while resisting the unhelpful behaviors that keep your anxiety strong. For more information on ERP and CBT check out our service pages.
Over time, when clients practice resisting their urges to engage in health anxiety urges, they feel more able to stay present in their lives. Therapists who specialize in treating Anxiety with CBT and ERP can help you work toward simply noticing your experience rather than acting on the alarm bells your anxiety sets off when things feel uncomfortable.
Are there other Health Anxiety Help resources I can check out to better understand what I am experiencing?
Absolutely! Below is a list of articles and reading materials with more information on this topic.
Please contact us if you would like health anxiety help in Chicago, IL. We are currently accepting new clients and would love to help.
Get Health Anxiety Help in Chicago, IL
We are accepting clients who meet the following criteria: they are 18 years or older, experience severe difficulty in managing their anxiety, exhibit general dysfunction due to compulsive reactions to worry and have worries that persist for at least an hour or even the entire day despite efforts to alleviate their discomfort.
1. Read more about us to discover if we are the best fit for your Health Anxiety Help.
2. Schedule an appointment.
3. Start living your best life free from health anxiety!
Other Services:
Limitless Counseling Center has a variety of specialty services catered to your needs. In addition to our online OCD therapy in Chicago, IL, we also provide online therapy for panic disorder, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, or phobias, as well as perinatal and postpartum OCD and anxiety.