There’s a natural human response to feel a twinge of worry when you notice an unusual symptom, such as a headache that causes an unusual type of pain, a mole that looks slightly different from before, or pain that lasts longer than it should. For most people, these worries fade once the symptom passes or you find professional reassurance.
For someone with illness anxiety disorder, the worry does not simply go away. Any reassurance is only a temporary fix, a bandage on a problem, before the cycle starts up again.
Illness anxiety disorder is a condition in which you become excessively preoccupied with being seriously ill or becoming ill. It’s much more than an imagined fear or dramatic feelings. This type of distress is real and often disproportionate to any evidence of illness.
What It Looks Like
People with illness anxiety disorder spend more time than the average person monitoring their body for signs that something is wrong. Small symptoms can trigger big reactions:
- A twinge in your chest causes panic over an oncoming heart attack
- A headache leads to thoughts of having a brain tumor
- Feeling fatigued brings on worry of more serious complications
When symptoms arise, it becomes second nature to run them through an online search, which often makes things far worse than it ever helps. Google searches are a great way to dive headfirst down a frightening rabbit hole.
Seeking professional reassurance is common for some who frequently go in for appointments to discuss their situation. For others, avoiding any type of medical setting is the solution, dictated by fear of what might be uncovered. Both routes help fuel anxiety without actually fixing it.
Illness anxiety can also impact your daily functioning. When your worry about health becomes the central focus of your thoughts, it makes it harder to be present at work, at home, with your partner/family, or during social activities. Conversations drift. Plans get canceled. Eventually, the anxiety shrinks your world.
Why It Happens
This anxiety disorder is the result of your brain’s threat-detection system being overly sensitive. Past experiences with illness can make you more vulnerable to developing health-related anxiety. Maybe you were severely ill as a child or lost a loved one to a chronic disease. Even periods of higher-than-usual stress can be triggering.
It can also be self-reinforcing. Checking into your symptoms helps ease your mind, but it also validates that your brain was right to perceive danger and that checking is necessary. The longer this cycle continues, the harder it is to break the pattern. Your brain gets better and better at sounding the alarm, but your body gets more exhausted trying to turn it off.
How to Treat It
If you’re dealing with illness anxiety, know that this particular disorder responds well to treatment interventions. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is often a good starting point for treatment. With CBT, you learn to examine unhealthy thought patterns that are driving your fears and start replacing them with more accurate, balanced thinking. It also helps reduce checking and reassurance-seeking behaviors.
Gradual exposure techniques can also be a helpful part of your process. Instead of avoiding feared situations, you face them in a structured way that minimizes their power.
Where to Go from Here
Living with illness anxiety disorder can take you down an exhausting and isolating path. Many try to manage it on their own before finally acknowledging that professional support may be necessary.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. If health-related worry is interfering with your quality of life, treatment for anxiety can help you find a way through it. Schedule a consultation to take the first step in healing.