I've noticed a lot of posts concerned with health anxiety. It left me wondering - what is it exactly. The following is from the website of the Centre of Clinical Interventions at the Western Australian Uni. Pls don't use it to diagnose yourself. Go to the drs for a proper diagnosis, treatment or the provision of advice.
Sometimes one may notice sensations or changes in their bodies and wonders if it's is a serious medical problem. One may take steps to relieve their worries & concerns. This concerns is normal. However, when health worry is continual or the answers to symptoms is impacting you negatively then it may be problematic.
Anxiety happens when we think something bad might or will happen. It's a normal survival instinct and helpful in real-life threatening events. However, sometimes an anxiety response maybe due to a perceived threat. E.g. one may experience anxiety walking down a poorly lit road because one thinks there is potential danger. The reality may be there is no danger, but one’s anxiety is triggered because one believes there is danger.
Health anxiety is the experience of believing one’s health is threatened, which consequently triggers an anxiety response.
Studies show some common health related fears include having or developing cancer, Alzheimer, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, a mental illness, or that you may have a heart attack. Not everyone thinks about specific problems though, your fears could be more general, in that you simply think that something is “not quite right”.
In other situations, health anxiety may be the fear for others. E.g. a parent may notice their child is frequently tired and becomes worried their child has leukaemia, or a person who notices their partner is coughing a lot may begin to worry they have lung cancer.
Mild forms of health anxiety can affect us all from time to time. Who hasn’t been concerned when waiting for some test results to come back, or had some worrisome thoughts about a new lump or bump that we have noticed?
Mild health anxiety become a problem when they become:
- excessive
- out of proportion to the likelihood of an actual and serious medical problem
- persistent despite negative test results and/or reassurance from your health practitioner
- lead to excessive checking, reassurance seeking (e.g., from doctors, family or friends), or avoidance (e.g., of check-ups, doctors, health-related information) cause significant distress, or impair your ability to go about your life.
