Unveiling the Maze: A Health Anxiety Coach's Guide to Breaking Free

As a health anxiety coach, I witness the silent struggles of many individuals trapped in a maze of worry. Their lives become consumed by illness, or the threat of possible illness, which in turn starts to take over their lives – making it very difficult to progress beyond it.

This pervasive anxiety, known as health anxiety or illness anxiety disorder (hypochondriasis), is much more than just a fleeting concern. It's a relentless anxiety that consumes our lives and fills us with dread and mistrust for our body’s capabilities.

Health anxiety goes beyond simply worrying about our health. It's characterised by excessive and persistent fears about having a serious illness, often despite medical reassurance.

Since our brains/minds naturally want to problem solve – they hate uncertainty – so what happens is that we look for the answers – for solutions.

I often refer to it being like when you cut your finger. The first thing you will do is question how you cut it. So, you may look for that piece of glass or sharp object. It is our instinct to problem solve – we then go on to try and help the problem, so in the case of the cut – we would naturally look to find a plaster or stem the bleeding in some way.

However, in the case of health anxiety, what happens is that because the symptoms are often created by our brains/minds as a result of feeling anxious, we can’t find that solution or that answer. There is no ‘tangible’ explanation. So, what happens then is that we worry that either something has been missed, or that we have XYZ disease or illness.

It then becomes a vicious cycle as our worry creates more anxiety that in turn creates more symptoms that we can’t explain.

In many of cases, a harmless tingling sensation in the arm becomes something much more serious such as signs of a stroke. A common cold morphs into a fear of pneumonia. These normal bodily experiences are misinterpreted as signs of a catastrophic illness.

I also often see it where our mind fixates on a particular disease. We can become obsessive and utterly convinced that we have a particular illness or disease and what will happen is we will try to help ourselves by problem-solving – so going back to that inherent need to diagnose or fix. Except, in the world that we live in today, it is so easy to Google or look up information at the touch of a button. When we do this, we open a whole can of worms as anxiety has a clever way of mimicking more serious illnesses.

It therefore becomes possible that we fixate on that illness, convinced that we have the very worst-case scenario - our brain's very clever (but not particularly helpful way) of allowing us to always look for the very worst outcome in order to ‘protect’ and ‘prepare’ us.

Sometimes our anxieties can also be fuelled by watching the news or chatting with a friend, seemingly harmless things can kick-start us off into a complete spiral. Perhaps a friend might comment ‘Did you know that such and such is poorly with XYZ’ and then it is natural for us to immediately want to research that particular illness, only to discover that we have had that very similar symptom in the past (caused by our anxiety).

It is truly exhausting.

What follows is a mistrust of the medical profession when endless tests and medical visits show that nothing is physically wrong. However, at this point, the physical symptoms that we are experiencing are very real – so we know that something is not right.

We become afraid that we are labeled to be a ‘hypochondriac’, and that our medical records reflect that. This will sometimes lead to avoidance whereby we refuse to seek medical help for fear of not being taken seriously! Again, another classic example of the spiral of health anxiety!

While health anxiety casts a long shadow, it doesn't have to define your life. With the right tools and support, you can reclaim control and navigate a path toward a calmer, more fulfilling existence.

Here are some key strategies I guide my clients through:

• Cognitive Reframing: We embark on a journey of challenging negative thought patterns. We learn to identify and question the validity of fear-driven thoughts, replacing them with more balanced and realistic interpretations. Instead of jumping to conclusions, we consider alternative explanations for sensations and symptoms.

• Exposure Therapy: Facing fears head-on, in a safe and controlled environment, can be surprisingly liberating. This approach involves gradually exposing yourself to situations or information that trigger anxiety, helping you learn to manage these triggers effectively and reduce their power over you.

• Relaxation Techniques: Learning techniques like mindfulness, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation equip you to manage anxiety in the moment. By calming the body and quieting the mind, these techniques empower you to break the grip of fear and regain a sense of control.

• Lifestyle Changes: Prioritising healthy sleep habits, regular exercise, and a balanced diet not only improves overall well-being but also strengthens the body's resilience against stress and anxiety. A healthy lifestyle provides a foundation from which to tackle the challenges of health anxiety.

Health anxiety doesn’t have to be something that you suffer in silence from. It is very much treatable but requires determination and perseverance. It also requires an open mind and for the sufferer to fully invest in the connection between their mind and body.

It is possible to move forward – just sometimes you need the light to be shone in the right direction!