You spend hours scouring the web for health information. So when you finally get a minor headache, you’re convinced that you have brain cancer. You go as far as undergoing a medical examination but the results turn out negative. Still, you can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong with you.
If you or a loved one has experienced such a scenario, you’re likely suffering from health anxiety disorder. As peculiar as it sounds, this is an actual psychological condition affecting 4% to 5% of adults. It typically starts at the age of 30 and is more prevalent in women than men. In this post, I’ll be highlighting everything you need to know about health anxiety disorder.
What Is Health Anxiety Disorder?
Health anxiety disorder is an overwhelming but unfounded worry of having or developing a particular illness. The fear of getting sick is usually so intense that it interferes with the individual’s daily life.
You can think of this condition as a car alarm. Ideally, this alarm goes off when a burglar attempts to break in or steal one of its parts. Now, imagine how annoying it would be if the alarm went off each time someone walked past the car. It would be misidentifying innocent passersby as intruders.
Health anxiety disorder follows a fairly similar concept. The individual perceives the body’s reactions as lethal, even when there’s no genuine cause for alarm. Here’s the deal, our bodies will always produce certain symptoms depending on the conditions they’re exposed to. Even though some of these signs might be unexpected and unpleasant, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re sick.
Now, initially, this disorder was known as hypochondria. However, this term was phased out in 2013 when experts decided to categorize into two:
- Somatic symptom disorder
- Illness anxiety disorder
With somatic symptom disorder, the fear of falling ill is so intense that you start developing symptoms, ranging from pain to weakness and difficulty breathing. Illness anxiety disorder, however, does not manifest in the form of any symptoms.
The Symptoms
Sometimes, you might not even know that you’re suffering from illness anxiety disorder. You might think that your health concerns are genuine. On that note, here are some telltale signs of this condition:
- Obsessed with performing self-health examinations
- Undergoes physical assessments frequently
- Go overboard with health routines like brushing your teeth every two hours
- Fixated on researching and reading about the suspected illnesses
- Constantly doubts the accuracy of medical test results
- Minor to zero physical symptoms
- Likes to associate normal body responses to illnesses (like sweating or a slight increase in heartbeat)
Treatment
If your doctor suspects that you have health anxiety disorder, the first thing they’ll do is order a full medical evaluation. This is to confirm that you aren’t suffering from any particular illnesses. Once they’ve verified this, they’ll likely recommend Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
As the name implies, this kind of therapy emphasizes on your cognition or your thinking patterns. The way you think or perceive a particular situation dictates how you feel and behave. When you’re suffering from health anxiety, you surrender a lot of power to your thoughts.
CBT aims to correct this by helping you think more logically and rationally. Doing so helps you adjust or eliminate troublesome behaviors. In addition to CBT, it’s good to lean onto your spirituality. God asks us not to be anxious. “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. “(Isaiah 41:10)
