Health Anxiety: How to find peace of mind

4 ways to reduce your health anxiety

Tip 1 ) Avoid turning to doctor Google- just put your device down!

Search any symptom and there will be results that suggest surgery or connect the symptom with some type of cancer. Such extreme ideas can trigger elevated levels of anxiety immediately, especially for those who are already afraid of health problems. Some people can become obsessed with researching online convincing themselves of the worst possible scenario. Furthermore, anyone can publish online, and some sources may be entirely inaccurate.

Tip 2) Keep a record of your thoughts

This method has provided instant relief to many clients as it fosters different ways of looking at your thoughts rather than buying into them. Make a list of all your recurrent body related thoughts and give them a label ie, ‘I have a thought that I might have Aids’ or ‘ I have a thought that I would like to seek reassurance that I am healthy from my partner’. Put a tick in the relevant box every time they occur.

It may be useful to notice which thoughts turn up in particular situations. One of my clients noticed that whenever she had a routine doctor’s appointment, she would start to think about additional issues she might seek reassurance on or tests she could request. Once she recognised this pattern, she was able to break the cycle and drastically reduce her anxiety.

Tip 3) Set small goals around safety behaviours

Safety behaviours can provide you with relief in the short term however according to research by Bunmi (2011) they actually maintain and reinforce anxiety conditions. Examples include physical checks of your body or seeking reassurance from others or online about your health.

Create a plan to reduce counterproductive safety behaviours. Write down you targets. You may feel an impulse to seek reassurance from a loved one but before acting on this impulse, ask yourself is this actually helping in the long term? Cutting down and finally eradicating safety behaviours may be hard at first however will drastically improve your anxiety condition.

Tip 4) Practice watching your thoughts pass by

As you may have gathered from my tip number 2, a key aspect of recovering from health anxiety is distancing yourself from thoughts. This means not being swept away by your thoughts but instead being aware of them as a passive observer. It may seem difficult at first but is worth persisting. The goal is to develop the skill of observing mind- made activity and the result is that you learn over time to interrupt the process that leads to conditioned behaviour and habitual actions and reactions. Eventually you understand that thoughts do not matter, its how they affect you that counts. Being able to accept the thoughts and not buying into them is a major part of getting over health anxiety.

To help practice distancing yourself from your thoughts you might like to try a simple visualisation exercise below.

Want a free health anxiety hypnosis recordings?  Here are some on my YouTube channel,

How hypnotherapy helps to overcome Health Anxiety

Hypnosis often creates very deep levels of relaxation for the client which reduces stress and anxiety. Depending on the needs of the client, I often use tailored hypnosis alongside behavioural therapy such as CBT. Research has shown that talking therapies can be highly effective in treating health anxiety by breaking the vicious cycle of altered thinking, feelings and behaviour. Hypnotherapy can also help you recognise and ‘let go’ of safety behaviours such as seeking reassurance and repeated physical checks.

Whatever your history may be, your mind is trying its hardest to keep you safe, however this might be reinforcing the anxiety cycle. Hypnotherapy can help calm your mind and re-program unhelpful thought patterns so that you can get back to a fulfilling life.  You can find out more about about my approach to treating health anxiety and other anxieties or click the link below to book a free consultation call with me.