Health Anxiety: Simple Ways to Feel Better
Have you ever noticed a new ache, and your mind races to figure out what's wrong? You grab your phone and start searching symptoms online. One page says heart attack. Another suggests cancer. Panic sets in. You feel certain that something is seriously wrong or that something could be seriously wrong. Or does waiting for medical test results cause sleepless nights?
If this sounds familiar, you might be experiencing health anxiety. This happens when worry about illness takes over daily life, even when doctors say you're fine. Some worry about health is normal, but health anxiety can feel like it's stuck on high.
You are not alone. Many people experience these fears. Feeling anxious about your health does not mean you are weak or imagining things. This post is for people who want to learn more about health anxiety and how to deal with it.
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is an intense, ongoing fear of having or getting a serious illness. Often, tests are normal, or symptoms are mild, yet the fear continues.
People experience health anxiety on a spectrum. Almost everyone worries sometimes, but it becomes a problem when fear takes up time, energy, and joy. You might feel stuck in cycles of checking your body, searching online, or asking for reassurance.
In the past, health anxiety was often called "hypochondria." That term can feel shaming. Today, we know this is a real, treatable condition. Massachusetts online therapy programs and local therapists can guide you with practical strategies to regain control over your thoughts and feelings.
Common Signs and Everyday Examples
Here are some signs you may be experiencing health anxiety:
Constantly checking your body for lumps, tingling, or changes.
Spending hours online looking up symptoms or worst-case stories.
Not believing doctors and tests, worried that something was missed.
Avoiding exercise, certain foods, or medical shows because they trigger fear.
Health worries are making it hard to focus at school, work, or with loved ones.
These behaviors feed an "anxiety loop": you feel a sensation → think "What if this is serious?" → check or Google → feel short relief → anxiety returns later. This loop can trap your mind and body in fear. Online therapy in Massachusetts can help break this loop safely.
What causes Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety often starts when the brain misreads normal body sensations as danger. A small ache or change in heartbeat can feel life-threatening. This can happen after illness, stress, or seeing others get sick. Anxiety tries to keep us safe by checking and worrying, but that habit strengthens fear, keeping us in a place of dread.
Trauma can also play a significant role in health anxiety. When dealing with trauma, the body can stay tense and alert, scanning for threats. That same alert system often turns inward and can begin to focus on signs of illness. The fear feels real because the brain links the unknown with danger. Healing begins by teaching the body that safety is possible again.
Health Anxiety Self-Help Strategies You Can Start Today
Step back from "Dr. Google”
Looking for answers is appealing and can seem like a way to calm anxiety. Unfortunately, spending lots of time online will most likely increase anxiety as you learn way too much about health conditions you do not have. Constant searching makes fear louder. Set a daily limit: one short time slot for trusted sites only, or a health search ban for specific hours ( before bed).
Notice, name, and reframe thoughts.
Notice the worry. For example, if your anxiety says, “My heart is racing, so I must be having a heart attack.” Ask a few questions-
“What else could explain this?” (caffeine, stress, exercise)
“Have I felt this before and been okay?”
Shift from checking to caring.
Start paying attention to how often you check your body for signs of feeling unwell, and how frequently you seek reassurance by googling symptoms or talking to family and friends about your worries. When the urge to check or seek reassurance comes up, try diverting your attention to gentle movement, hydration, meals, sleep, or relaxation once or twice a day.
Ground and calm your body
Begin to practice relaxation techniques. Try square breathing, naming five things you see/hear/feel, or noticing your feet on the floor. These exercises will help calm your nervous system, allowing you to think clearly and question the scary thoughts- our thoughts are real, but that does not mean they are true.
How Therapy Helps with Health Anxiety
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people examine thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You learn about what causes the anxiety (a pain or ache in the body, hearing about someone with an illness), the emotion (fear), and the related behavior (searching Google). This increased awareness allows you to manage unhelpful thoughts and live a life with less anxiety.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP)
ERP is the practice of facing one's fear and not engaging in reassurance-seeking behaviors. For instance, you might feel a mild symptom and choose not to search online, waiting for it to pass. Over time, the anxiety will begin to lessen. ERP is done with support, not pressure. The client will choose each step with their therapist, and the work aligns with the client's level of readiness.
Working with shame and self-judgment
Feeling ashamed of health anxiety is extremely common. Many people worry they’re “overreacting,” wasting doctors’ time, or being dramatic, so they hide how scared they really feel instead of reaching out for help. That silence can feed more self‑criticism: “Everyone else handles this stuff better than I do," or " People won't believe me."
It is important to remember that health anxiety is not a personal flaw; it is a treatable mental health condition. Past experiences like medical scares, sudden illness in loved ones, or other traumas can teach the brain to stay on high alert for danger in the body, even long after the crisis has passed. The nervous system is conditioned to react quickly, which we feel- our hearts race, our chest tightens, our thoughts spiral.
When a symptom appears, anxiety registers it as a threat. We have fear-based responses. thoughts and our body responds. Over time, this creates a pattern of anxious and unhelpful thoughts. Understanding health anxiety as something shaped by history, biology, and learned fear, not as a character defect, opens the door to self-compassion, support, and effective treatment instead of shame and blame.
Health Anxiety: Signs You Might Benefit From Support
Many people with health anxiety wonder if their fear is “bad enough” for therapy. These yes-or-no questions can help you determine whether extra support might be helpful. Health anxiety can interfere with daily life and relationships, and treatment can help reduce distress and improve how you function day to day.
Do worries about your health take up a lot of your day, such as more than an hour most days?
Do you search for symptoms online or check your body in ways that leave you more anxious instead of calm?
Do you struggle to trust medical reassurance and worry that something serious was missed?
Have health fears led you to avoid things you used to enjoy, like exercise, travel, social plans, or work tasks?
Do people close to you say you ask for repeated reassurance or that your health worries often take over conversations?
Do you feel embarrassed or ashamed about how strong your fears get, yet find you cannot “just stop worrying”?
Have you tried handling this on your own by checking, researching, or avoiding triggers, only to find it helps only for a short time or not at all?
Do health worries make it hard to focus, sleep, or stay present with people you care about?
If you answer YES to three or more of these questions, therapy may help you lower fear, build coping skills, and improve your quality of life. A YES on questions 1, 3, or 8 can mean that health anxiety is affecting daily life and may be worth discussing with your health care provider or your therapist.
Ready to Feel Calmer? Support Is Available.
If health anxiety is taking over your days, you don’t have to navigate it alone. PaxThera offers online therapy for individuals across Massachusetts, providing evidence-based support for anxiety, trauma, and stress-related concerns. Together, we can help you break the cycle of fear, understand your symptoms with more clarity, and build steady confidence in your body again.
Take the next step toward feeling better.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see whether working together feels like the right fit.
Anne McGuire, LMHC, is a trauma therapist and EMDR owner of PaxThera, where she helps clients navigate the impact of trauma, anxiety, and life transitions with compassion and evidence-based care. Using EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and a values-centered approach, Anne supports individuals who want to heal, move forward, and thrive in ways that feel aligned with who they are. Her work centers on helping clients reconnect with resilience, build meaningful change, and cultivate a life that truly supports their well-being.
