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 1190 reviews and the average rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"Seems to be a good program. I appreciate the down-to-earth approach."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Attentive and personalized help."

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"The best part is the daily communication. Love the all around approach to well being through Journaling, yoga, along with the worksheets and live sessions."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I have worked with a few therapist and have always found them unstructured conversations that have left me more frustrated. I prefer structure and evidence-based approaches and in my first session with Lance, I felt my brain physically shift into a balanced way of operating. Lance has a way of mobilising the English language that motivates me to be intentional with embedding the everyday small changes in my life for long-term success."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Between meetings with my therapist and the modules containing all the different worksheets, this has been a great resource thus far."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"My therapist Chelsea has been so supportive and I am seeing great progress. She always checks in on me if I haven't messaged for a few days to see how things are going. I enjoyed completing the worksheets, it helped me think of things I hadn't thought of before. I've finished them now but still have the support of my therapist which is really great when I need someone to rant to or just talk things through with."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Chelsea has been amazing. She has created a safe place for me to talk and has helped guide me through the issues in my life."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Working well for me, a safe place to have some honest discussions and reflections."

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"I've been considering a therapy program for a while and this platform made it affordable and accessible."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Working through this program has showed me a new perspective where I should not be too hard on myself but also evaluate from an outside perspective. It allowed me to work with my therapist at a rate that gave me time to think and reflect and give the best answers I could through the worksheets.

Thank you!"

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