Health Anxiety - Part One: What It Is and How to Overcome It

Do you or a loved one worry that you may have or could acquire a serious medical illness and constantly research disease symptoms on line? Do illnesses like cancer, heart attack, and multiple sclerosis scare you? ADAA board member Ken Goodman, LCSW, explains what health anxiety is and how you can overcome it. This webinar includes a former health anxiety sufferer and offered a Q&A opportunity.

ADAA is proud to offer resources on mental health. Find additional tools and information:

- The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), a non-profit organization, leads in education, training, and research for anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, OCD, and co-occurring disorders. ADAA also provides free evidence-based mental health information and resources to the public.

[FigureOnAStick]

According to my amygdala, I've had ulcerative colitis, gastroenteritis, diabetes, kidney stones, HIV, syphilis, cardiac arrest, COVID-19 and, most recently, melanoma. According to reality, I've only ever had health anxiety.

[cesarruiz]

To anyone that is going through a mental health episode, keep telling yourself about the many other diseases we have convinced ourselves that we must certainly have and we came out just fine.

[danielfoerste]

Having health anxiety while also having actual health issues has been a huge struggle to find balance between advocating for myself and not letting myself spiral. It's hard to parse out.

[EricG]

To everyone here. You are NOT alone! There are millions just like you! If you ever need to reach out I’m here and I’m listening!! You are stronger than you know!!!

[gfdthree]

I have the unenviable skill of manifesting the precise symptoms I don't want to have.

[CuriosityChronicles]

I am constantly worried that I have cancer. I am slim and always check my weight to make sure I dont have any weight loss, everytime i feel weak or tired i think it is a terminal illness but I am also afraid to visit the doctor incase they confirm my fears. I was diagnosed with GAD around 6 months ago but worry my anxiety symptoms are serious

Just a quick update everyone 7 months have gone by and I am still here and slowly getting better every day. I have stopped googling things and I have stopped over thinking any body sensations. It's not been easy but I am slowly learning to live with health anxiety. Wishing you all the best and we can fight past it.


1 year has gone by now and still here and still keeping healthy. Mediation has been a really big help for me to fight my thoughts 😊

"Hard times come and they pass and they come to pass" 🙏

Update:
Feb 2022
I am so glad I uploaded this post. Having a place for everyone to comment and not feel alone has really meant a lot to me. You are all blessed and loved and no matter how hard things are now they do and will get better ❤

[ReallyKarel]

This video made me cry so much because IT’S ME. I ‘m calling this doctor. I can’t live this way any more

[niko]

My heart has been hurting a lot lately, but I know that I'm okay. Instead of giving into it and freaking out, I've decided to start doing jumpjacks instead to prove to myself that my heart is just fine!! It's very helpful

[JenniferPost]

Best advice to stop scanning my body? That is my biggest issue...it's the first thing I think of when I wake up. Even when I have a good day, it's like my brain says wait, you have anxiety remember?....it's so discouraging.

[bwilliams]

For someone who has suffered from health anxiety for This is invaluable information. Thank you! ❤️

[drheadbanger]

As soon as I get chest aches everything goes down the drain from there. Even when my day has been going great I zoom into my chest and what if’s is heart attack etc will occur suddenly. 😪

[Keirnoth]

Everyone should have this bookmarked and have this playing passively on loop over and over again - it'll help you keep it in the back of your mind so you can use it as a "shield" when the monster of health anxiety rears its head.

[ruchirrawat]

i hate it when i find random normal changes in my body or feel a lump anywhere and diagnose myself with anything and get scared

[lisas.]

My 16 year old daughter and myself both suffer from HA. I have started therapy and my daughter is starting therapy tomorrow. She’s at a very high level of anxiety for the past two weeks and the current fear is esophagus cancer because of heartburn/gerd symptoms. In the past it has been cramps that turn into ovarian cancer (in her mind), a lymph node on her neck that she thought was cancer and dug at it for a month til it was sore and we had to go to the doctor, leg/arm tingling.. etc. Every single ache or pain signals cancer to her and that’s all she will focus on until the pain disappears. A family member recently tried to reassure her telling her she is not sick and doesn’t have symptoms of weight loss, vomiting, fevers etc. and now she wants to weigh herself to see if she’s losing weight or she will get chills because of panic attacks and think it’s a fever. She said breathing techniques/meditation don’t work for her because once she is in the full panic zone all she thinks about is that she’s terminal. I haven’t watched this video yet but does anyone know if I should have her watch it with me or should I just watch it myself .I’m praying that therapy will help us both because it’s like the blind leading the blind as I can only calm her so much because then my mind starts wandering like hers and I start having the same fears for her. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m so sad to constantly see the panicked look of fear in her eyes and face. The pandemic has made it worse since she can’t see friends and be social so she has been clinging to me even more. I just want us both to get better.

[manjurrajbasnet]

Corona has my hypochondria reach the summits now. I cannot take it anymore. With the ongoing lockdown, I have nothing to do except for googling and the health anxiety over the years have sky-rocketed. This video is so so so perfect demonstration of my life. I wanna cry, take my life without pain but then I do not want to give into something that's not even tangible. I will get through all this one day. I

[eugenvataman]

39:20 for strategies & how to manage it. I try to revisit this section frequently as a "prophylaxis"
Thanks for the webinar. Incredibly, incredibly helpful.

[evelynbecker]

Psychedelics are just an amazing discovery, it's quite fascinating how effective they're for depression and stress disorders. Saved my life

[Kamdooper]

I cannot explain how much comfort I got in this video, especially when he goes over how our bodies are naturally noisy but with health anxiety, we will notice it more than the average person.

[vincentdolido]

Before you doubt your health. Doubt your ill feeling. I was reminded that before i doubt God, doubt your fear.

Thanks for this talk. I was reminded.

[Total_Body_Fitness_USA]

My health anxiety started when a physician read my EKG improperly and told me I had an electrical problem with my heart and that it could stop at any moment. Prior to that FALSE diagnoses I practically lived in the gym training very hard and was built like superman. Lol. That was 20 years ago now and I still can't shake that FALSE diagnoses even though I have been to the ER countless times over the years consulting with several cardiologists doing every test in the book when it comes to testing heart function - everything is perfect.

I have been in the health industry myself for the last 28 years as a personal trainer and have studied exercise physiology and functional medicine the last 7 years so I could learn a lot more about the human body. I know how to interpret ultrasounds (Sonography), EKG's, echocardiograms, and have studied hematology to the point I believe I know as much if not more than most physicians when it comes to interpreting blood test results. I can even see things in test results before the body shows symptoms.

So, after diagnosing myself I have concluded I am healthy as a 20 year old healthy male and I am 56 years of age. So, why is it I still have in the back of my head what that MD told me about my heart 20 years ago now. It was super bad to where I'd check my blood pressure a few times per day and every 30 minutes I'd catch myself checking my pulse rate. UNREAL is all I can say! PLEASE people, don't let ANYONE plant something in your head because it can be very difficult to pull that weed out! I guess it is a form of brainwashing. Maybe I need to study psychiatry next so I can diagnose myself a little more. Lol.

In any case I have used what I have learned over the years to help people get and stay well with a primary focus on preventing disease before it even starts. Best of all I consult with people for FREE! While I am not a licensed MD, I have taken thousands of hours of courses over the last 7 years and could pursue a medical degree, but after learning what I have learned, I want NO part of the BIG pharma because they are all about masking symptoms with TOXIC prescription drugs instead of curing the problem - or better yet, preventing the problem. Not to mention it's ALL about the MONEY! So, at least all my health anxiety wasn't bad because it caused me to want to help people which led me to learning more about the human body. Because of my issues I now have more compassion toward anyone with any medical issue because I can understand to a certain degree what people are going through and I don't want to see anyone suffer! Blessings to ALL!