Many people who struggle with anxiety can experience frequent fears about their health with a tendency to amplify a sensation and then catastrophize the sensation; in other words, it’s a “health anxiety.” Some anxiety sufferers may only worry about their health but more often this is but one type of anxious fear they will experience. When someone’s primary preoccupation is their health they are clearly struggling with hypochondriasis – the persistent fear of a serious medical condition as explained in the Harvard health publication.  In sessions I have clients go through the process of identifying and writing down their fears and the steps to take that will help them master their fear. I will first have them write down the sensation(s) that triggered their fear and what they feared could be the worst thing wrong with them. I have them write down whether they have ever experienced the sensation before, and if so, what it turned out to be, what was the cause and what made it go away. I have them take the paper with them when they leave and read it out loud. Often they use it as a script to follow with the next sensation they may experience to learn how to prevent obsessing, amplifying and catastrophizing. 

Anybody can do this on their own and should the next time they find them self going on again about another health worry. This is a recommended script to follow but the script can vary based on the situation – it’s not rigid. 

Here’s an example from a client that had a health anxiety:

Tips to reduce your health anxiety sensations

In your script be sure to identify: health anxiety