Overcome Health Anxiety with Online Therapy

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.

RIGHT NOW: Free therapy due to the coronavirus pandemic

We want to help as many people as possible during these extraordinary times.
Therefore we are offering parts of our online therapy platform for free.

The free access includes our online therapy program with 8 easy-to-follow sections and 25 worksheets, yoga and meditation videos, activity plan, journal, and tests (communicating with a personal therapist is not included).

GET HELP NOW

Reviews

Our online therapy services have received 909 reviews and the average rating is 4.6 out of 5 stars.

Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"The courses really are helping me with anger management. And my therapist has given me great advice that I wouldn’t have thought of trying, and is working. It’s definitely worth putting the work into and is improving my life and attitude."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"I am happy with this online program, As for me it very very useful and practical."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"So far, I am enjoying this service! The worksheets are a helpful way for me to think about the way I am feeling and sorting through these negative emotions in a productive manner. I also love being able to hear from a licensed therapist who can assist me through my journey of self-improvement."

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"Just starting out can be a bit overwhelming but I do believe that it is working."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"My therapist has been very helpful. I have made a lot of progress very quickly."

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"This therapy program definitely helped me in my day to day interactions and greatly lessened my anxiety. As with any online program, the logging in and doing it can sometimes be difficult. I’m not sure if I had notifications turned off, but emails or text reminders would greatly help on the weeks where it would sometimes slip my mind. Definitely stick through the program. The end is the best part, takes more thought but it’s where you will start to feel change. I cried from relief as I completed the last worksheets and felt genuinely happy. I do very much hope that all my worksheets can be saved so I can go back and see my progress months from now. Special thanks to Lisa who was very patient and thorough in our interactions :)"

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Rating: [4 out of 5 stars!]

"A few technical issues to start but seems good now."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Easy to navigate. I like the fact that I have assignments to choose from rather than just talking for an hour and receiving no tools to apply. Very flexible in terms of resources that fit my needs and budget."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"This is a great online-therapy program. I wasn't doing well at all, with the things going on around me. It made me feel better."

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Rating: [5 out of 5 stars!]

"Best therapy I’ve tried"

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