Overcome Health Anxiety with Online Therapy

Category: Health Anxiety Online Therapy | Last updated: February 1st, 2022 | Reviewed and approved by:
Dr. Steven Gans, MD
Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD

Are You Health Conscious or Health Anxious?

Almost every one of us gets concerned about our health and well-being. And that concern can motivate us to try to optimize our eating, sleep and to lead a healthy lifestyle. Being health conscious can be great. It helps a lot in leading a healthy, happy, successful and meaningful life.

However, problems arise when this health consciousness gets transformed into “health anxiousness”. If you become too obsessed about your health and if you get too apprehensive that you are suffering from a severe illness (without the presence of such medical symptoms), then you may be experiencing health anxiety. In the past, psychologists referred to this as “hypochondria”. However, it is now called Illness Anxiety Disorder.

Illness Anxiety Disorder is a somatic symptom disorder in which the person suffering from it gets overly anxious or obsessed over his/her physical conditions. They see even a minor problem as an exaggerated severe illness. People suffering from Illness Anxiety Disorder often require continuous care, support and assurance from health service providers, family and acquaintances.

See if you recognize yourself in the symptoms of health anxiety:

Being preoccupied with having or developing a serious disease or health condition
Worrying that minor symptoms or body sensations mean you have a serious illness
Being easily alarmed about your health status
Finding little or no reassurance from doctor visits or negative test results
Worrying excessively about a specific medical condition or your risk of developing a medical condition because it runs in your family
Having so much distress about possible illnesses that it's hard for you to function
Repeatedly checking your body for signs of illness or disease
Frequently making medical appointments for reassurance — or avoiding medical care for fear of being diagnosed with a serious illness
Avoiding people, places or activities for fear of health risks
Constantly talking about your health and possible illnesses
Frequently searching the internet for causes of symptoms or possible illnesses

What’s more, people with Illness Anxiety Disorder can also experience additional mental health issues, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Clinical Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Treatment Procedures

The good news is that Illness Anxiety Disorder can be treated. Effective methods of treatment include Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy and support. You can receive these types of treatment here at Online Therapy.

Reviews

Our online therapy services have received 3298 reviews and the average rating is 4.8 out of 5 stars.

Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I am amazed at the quickness and sharpness of my therapist. She gets back to me quickly and always with insights and guidance and observations. It is a bit labor intensive with the worksheets and planning, but worth it!!!!!"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Beth is fantastic at counseling. She truly cares and will be there for you. She makes me feel comfortable to tell her anything. I have gone to a lot of counselors and she is head and shoulders above most of them. Her experience shows. She will hold you accountable but in a kind way. Overall great experience and I look forward to continuing to grow as a person with her help."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"This program has helped me look alot into myself, made me ask myself questions normally I'd never even think about. Allowed me to accept how some parts of me are while allowing me to change other parts. I can confidently say I'm doing much better than when I entered the program and am doing well."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Very easy to sign up and navigate. Messaging with therapists has been convenient with fast response times."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I have had a very positive experience so far. Thank you!"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Using online therapy, reading the questions and talking to my therapist every week has helped me be aware that I have problems, and that I constantly can be trying to deal with all my frustrations before the develop into a big problem and mess things up in my life."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I would highly recommend this online therapy program. I found the worksheets very useful, in the way that I saw myself where I was making mistakes, and that there is a alternative, more often than not, more realistic point of view of my problems. The therapist is clearly highly experienced and professional, very helpful with his knowledge and insights. He would respond very often, making sure that I am staying on the right track. I feel free to discus my issues, without the feeling of being judged."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"This was a fantastic program that helped me learn a lot of things about myself and why I was neglecting issues that were causing problems in my life. My therapist Steffani was absolutely awesome. She worked with me to help ME work out the issues with a really amazing combination of insight, empathy and the right dose of firmness. The content and exercises were almost all valuable to me. Even though I had a very specific issue going on, which made some of the content not applicable to me, just seeing it helped me challenge myself on many different areas I had not even considered. I highly recommend this service for a concentrated 4-week program to get the train back on track. I feel like I have the tools now to keep it there."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I have truly appreciated the support that has been offered throughout this program. i have been a part of this online-therapy program for about six months now and can honestly say it was the best decision I could have made. It has been a pillar of support as I navigate through some tougher parts of my past year."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Convenient, holistic and reliable, online therapy has saved me hours of travel to see a therapist at a fraction of the cost"

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