Health anxiety, often misunderstood and overlooked, is a condition marked by an individual’s excessive and persistent worry about having a serious medical condition, despite medical evidence to the contrary. This anxiety can manifest even in the absence of any physical symptoms or following the experience of minor symptoms, which are then interpreted as signs of serious illness. It’s a struggle that can significantly impair daily functioning, leading to constant doctor visits, numerous medical tests, and an overwhelming preoccupation with one’s health.

Health anxiety is more than just a fleeting concern about one’s health; it’s an ongoing fear that consumes thoughts and actions. People with health anxiety might find themselves in a relentless loop of symptom checking, researching diseases online, and seeking reassurance from health professionals, friends, or family. A common symptom as well may be turning to Dr. Google to search their symptoms. However, these reassurance-seeking behaviors often provide only temporary relief, or worse they give us new things to catastrophize and then cycle of anxiety soon resumes.

This form of anxiety was previously known under various terms such as hypochondriasis. Formally the sufferer with health anxiety was called a hypochondriac. However, modern psychological understanding has evolved, recognizing it more as a manifestation of anxiety rather than a standalone disorder. It’s now categorized within the spectrum of general anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder in some diagnostic manuals, acknowledging the obsessive nature of the worry and the compulsive seeking of reassurance.

When a problem with anxiety develops it takes our perfectly natural evolutionary defence system and hijacks it so that we become generally anxious, socially anxious, phobic, obsessive compulsive, traumatised after an event (PTSD) or suffer from sudden panic attacks.

Check out our blog posts how CBT helps Health Anxiety. Our therapists who work with health anxiety are Michael Ledden, Tara Morrissey, Aoife Doyle, Sean Thunder, Stephen Keogh, Elaine Garrigan and Sinead O’Hare.

Thousands of people in Ireland suffer in silence with many kinds of difficulties yet general anxiety is probably one of the most widespread issues. General anxiety doesn’t become a huge debilitating problem overnight but over time it digs itself into us so that we’re paralysed. Often when we really notice it, it has really set in and we can feel like we’ve gone crazy.

Early intervention or even crisis intervention counselling/psychotherapy is way of giving sufferers back control over their thoughts and ultimately how they feel. Anxiety Ireland has fully trained counselors nationwide on standby to assist you in taking back control of these problems. Our network of counselors are working online and over the phone so they can be free to reach you where you are located.