Overcome Health Anxiety with Online Therapy

Category: Health anxiety | Last updated: October 18th, 2018 | 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 1461 reviews and the average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I cherish my meetings with my therapist! I feel like I can breathe easier knowing that I have a constructive space to work through my personal struggles. I can't believe how much it's helped me with how affordable it is."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Learning to control my anger and my other feelings. I have a very good therapist who is helping me find my way Home. I am very happy with this program I realize I need to take it slow in order to gain the most out of the course and in order to only need to take the course once I need to work the program not just read the stuff and move on but work the program everyday. And that’s the hard part nobody said change was easy."

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"I’ve been using the services for about 2 weeks now and find it very flexible and convenient."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Great"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I’ve really enjoyed working with Julie and feel that I am making progress"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Looking forward to a new healthy lifestyle."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Jenn is wonderful to work with and has been a great support through my therapy process! I would definitely recommend her!"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"My therapist is working hard to help me"

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"It's been very helpful so far...I think I will get out of it as much as I put in, but my therapist has been responsive and I feel like we are touching upon some key issues that I am already seeing improvement in."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Awesome service!"

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