Are you always worried that you might be ill? If you’re constantly checking health-related websites and analysing symptoms, you may have health anxiety. Here are some clear signs that you could be dealing with this condition.
You spend hours browsing health websites
If you are constantly turning to health websites for your problems, you may have health anxiety. It’s normal to Google things once in a while, when you have an odd sensation or pain, to get some immediate answers. However, if you end up trawling different webpages, and are unable to accept simple solutions (e.g. a headache is stress-related) and are quick to jump to the worst conclusion, you may be suffering from health anxiety. If you find yourself obsessively reading these websites, you should try to stop as soon as you can. It’s not easy if you have formed a dependence on them, but it will help your health anxiety.
You overanalyse symptoms
The truth is, sometimes we all get weird twitches, pains and tingles in our bodies, and they mean nothing – it’s just how the body works. Anxious people are often hypersensitive, which means that they overanalyse every little symptom that they have in their body. Often, these symptoms are caused by anxiety itself (e.g. a rapid heart rate can be due to anxiety), or they are phantom symptoms, that are not really there but that the brain is tricking the body into feeling.
You either fear the doctor’s surgery or go there too much
Health anxiety can go one of two ways when it comes to the doctors. Some sufferers avoid seeing the doctor, for fear that they will tell them the news that they do not want to hear. Others visit the doctor for every single symptom, and cannot accept the doctor’s reassurances that they are fine.
The best thing to do is to go to the doctor and explain that you think you may be suffering from health anxiety. Health anxiety is a common, and valid, problem and the doctor will be able to help treat it, as well as explain why it may be causing other symptoms.
If you’re struggling with health anxiety, get in touch with me. I am a qualified health psychologist who has years of experience helping with a range of issues, from lifestyle changes to health psychology, and it is my personal mission to ensure my clients are in a happy and healthy mental space.
