Health anxiety can feel overwhelming, but there is hope. In this article, I'm going to dive in depth about health anxiety, from an health anxiety specialists perspective. If you’re constantly worrying about your health, searching for answers to your anxiety, or struggling with intrusive thoughts about illness, you’re not alone—and you don’t have to face it without equipping yourself with the knowledge on how to deal with it - which I'll cover below. Although Hypnotherapy isn't the only tool you can use to resolve Health Anxiety.. it is a powerful tool for eliminating health anxiety quickly, our hypnosis service does offer a proven path to relief and peace of mind.
But enough of that for now, in this article we'll explore..
What health anxiety is.
What hypnotherapy and hypnosis are.
How hypnotherapy works to help you regain control from health anxiety and your sense of calm.
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety, sometimes referred to as hypochondria or illness anxiety disorder, is a condition where individuals excessively worry about their health.
This worry often stems from a fear of having or developing a serious illness, from getting trapped into a health anxiety cycle, or even when medical professionals provide reassurance that everything is fine and this not being believed by the individual.
Common Symptoms of Health Anxiety Include:
Constantly checking for physical symptoms or changes in your body.
Frequently Googling symptoms and imagining worst-case scenarios.
Seeking reassurance from doctors or loved ones but finding little lasting relief.
Avoiding certain situations or information for fear of triggering anxiety.
Experiencing physical symptoms like a racing heart, dizziness, or stomach upset caused by anxiety itself.
Mistaking normal bodily sensations for serious illness.
Creating psychosomatic symptoms through stress and fear.
Health anxiety can be exhausting, affecting your quality of life, relationships, and just about every area of your life.
How Is Health Anxiety Made & How Does Hypnotherapy Help?
To understand how you might relieve Health anxiety, it helps to understand how one might create health anxiety.
I coin it like this - If it's the bodily sensation, for example, thats the problem, then everyone who gets that bodily sensation, would get health anxiety - but the thing is not everyone does.
Therefore, it must something that the individual is doing, that makes the health anxiety.
This is an empowering perspective to take, because if its something the individual is doing thats making the anxiety, there is something the individual can stop doing, to stop making the anxiety.
It must be something to do with how the individual relates to that bodily sensation, or relates to their health, or relates to those thoughts, and that is what is making the health anxiety.
It's impossible to say for sure how health anxiety is created, as everyone 'creates' health anxiety differently. However I'll share some of the causes below.
1. The Role of Thoughts and Beliefs
At the core of health anxiety are distorted thoughts and beliefs about health. For example:
Believing normal bodily sensations are signs of serious illness.
Believing that your health is fragile and any symptom could be life-threatening.
Thinking that uncertainty about health is intolerable, leading to constant checking, seeking reassurance or Googling symptoms. These are just a couple of thought patterns or beliefs which may create health anxiety, eventually becoming thought about automatically and difficult to challenge without support. 2. Triggers and Reinforcement Loops
Health anxiety often starts with a trigger—such as a personal health scare, a loved one’s illness, or exposure to alarming medical information. These events can create a heightened sense of attention towards health and cause stress in your body.
The cycle is then reinforced by behaviors like:
Checking: Frequently monitoring symptoms or seeking reassurance from doctors or loved ones.
Avoidance: Staying away from health-related news or situations that could trigger anxiety.
Googling Symptoms: Searching for answers online, which often leads to worst-case scenarios and amplifies fear.
Thinking things over again and again for any kind of reassurance or need to know.
These actions might provide temporary relief but ultimately strengthen the anxiety by keeping you hyper-focused on your health. 3. Underlying Emotional Factors
Health anxiety often has deeper emotional roots, such as:
Fear of Loss: Worrying about losing control, loved ones, or your life.
Need for Certainty: Struggling to tolerate uncertainty about health or the future.
Past Experiences: Traumatic health events or a history of anxiety can make you more susceptible. Now we know what Health Anxiety is and how its created, it's time to discuss..
Is Health Anxiety Real? There is an argument to be made with Health Anxiety and psychosomatics - meaning that the mind-body connection and the stress of anxiety may create the feelings of health anxiety. There is only one thing to say here, Health Anxiety is VERY real. The feelings are real, the thoughts are real, the worry and struggles are real. What's also real, is the possibility that those physical symptoms are being created in a lot of cases psychosomatically.
Psychosomatic symptoms occur when there is excessive stress in the mind and body. This may or may not be related to genuine physical ailments, however very often plays a big part in health anxiety symptoms.
You can read more about psychosomatics here.
This is good news for anyone struggling with Health Anxiety, because if its being made psychosomatically, then it is an easy fix using hypnotherapy.
What Is Hypnotherapy & How Can It Help Health Anxiety?
Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic technique that uses hypnosis to create a space where change happens within the mind very easily and effortlessly.
This state allows you to quieten your mind, access your subconscious mind, and change the way you think and feel about just about anything.
By working with the subconscious mind and creating hypnosis, health anxiety can quickly be alleviated or even eliminated by targeting the causes of it.
Whether that be a deeply rooted way of thinking, or an emotion that has been trapped into the body (emotions are stored within the body until they are dealt with, but this is another story)
How Hypnotherapy For Health Anxiety Works:
Creates Hypnosis: Hypnosis is a state where the brain is more susceptible to change.
Accessing the Subconscious: In this state, the mind is more receptive to positive suggestions and changes it's perspective.
Reframing Thoughts: Hypnotherapy helps replace unhelpful beliefs and fears with more constructive and empowering ones.
Resolves Emotions: Hypnotherapy is very effective at facilitating change on an emotional level.
Alleviates Physical Pain: Theres a whole branch of Hypnosis for anxiety in which it helps alleviate physical pain. I'll link a study done on this by the national library of medicine here
Hypnotherapy for health anxiety is particularly effective because a skilled anxiety hypnotherapist will help find the root cause of the problem, induce a state of calm perhaps long forgotten, and rebuild the trust between the mind-body relationship.
What Is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention and relaxation that many people experience in everyday life. A good example of hypnosis is when you go to sleep every night, you enter a state of relaxation.
Another example is being completely engrossed into a great book or film, you are very focused.
In a hypnotherapy service setting such as Healtherapy, hypnosis happens naturally during a session.
For individuals seeking health anxiety hypnotherapy, hypnosis can provide:
A safe space to explore, address and resolve fears.
Tools to manage intrusive thoughts and reduce overthinking.
A way to reprogram automatic anxiety responses and regain control.
Hypnosis is safe, relaxing, and entirely collaborative—you are always in control.
How Hypnotherapy Can Help Health Anxiety
Hypnotherapy for Health Anxiety works by addressing both the conscious and subconscious factors that contribute to worry and fear.
Through hypnotherapy, you can:
1. Break the Cycle of Intrusive Thoughts
Health anxiety often involves a cycle of worrying about symptoms, checking for reassurance, and spiralling into panic.
Hypnotherapy helps you reframe these thoughts, breaking the loop and reducing the panic and anxiety.
2. Reduce Panic and Physical Symptoms
Many people with health anxiety experience physical symptoms like a racing heart or tight chest.
Hypnosis and hypnotherapy techniques can calm your nervous system, reducing these symptoms and making them lose their intensity and power.
3. Rebuild Trust in Your Body
One of the core challenges of health anxiety, that no-one really talks about neither, is mistrusting your body.
Hypnotherapy helps you reconnect with your body so you can regain trust in your self judgement, resulting in you feeling safer and more confident in your health.
4. Improve Peace of Mind
Health anxiety hypnotherapy is designed to create lasting changes in how you think and feel.
By addressing the root causes of your anxiety, the health anxiety cycle, and the underlying fears, hypnotherapy offers a profound sense of relief, calm, and control over your thoughts and body.
Why Choose a Hypnotherapy Service for Health Anxiety?
The reason why hypnotherapy is so effective at relieving health anxiety is because it takes a holistic approach towards the issue. CBT for example, looks at only dealing with the thoughts themselves, not taking into consideration the feelings associated with those thoughts. I've spoken to people who have said I've helped them more in 1 session than in 4 CBT sessions. Not to brag, but to emphasise the holistic effectiveness at helping health anxiety with hypnosis. If you are looking for some extra support in overcoming health anxiety, then do book in a free call with me here where we can discuss how we can go about that.
Through a personalised approach, I can help you:
Feel calm and in control of your thoughts.
Stop intrusive worries and panic attacks.
Reclaim your life from health anxiety.
Conclusion:
Health anxiety doesn’t have to control your life. With the power of hypnotherapy for health anxiety, you can break free from worry, intrusive thoughts, and panic. Imagine a life where you feel calm, confident, and in control—this is possible with the right support. Don’t wait—book your free consultation today and take the first step toward lasting relief. I've facilitated 100's of successful sessions with clients - health anxiety & beyond. One of which I'll share their story below:
Have a question for me? Either ask me in the chat on your right, or click here.
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