Health Anxiety

I understand how frightening health anxiety can feel and how difficult it can be to simply “stop worrying” when the sensations in your body feel very real. I recognise how easily you can become caught in a cycle of noticing a symptom, fearing what it might mean, seeking reassurance and then finding the worry returns. I offer a space where those fears are taken seriously without reinforcing them, helping you understand what is happening and gradually feel more confident in managing the uncertainty.

What is Health Anxiety?

Health anxiety can look different for everyone, but you may recognise some of these experiences:

  • Constantly worrying that something may be wrong with your health
  • Frequently checking your body for changes or symptoms
  • Searching symptoms online for reassurance
  • Finding it difficult to trust medical reassurance
  • Fearing that something serious has been missed
  • Becoming very aware of normal bodily sensations
  • Avoiding certain places, activities or information because of health fears
  • Feeling temporarily reassured, only for the worry to return
  • Feeling that worries about your health are taking over your everyday life

Is Health Anxiety different to Generalised Anxiety (GAD)?

Yes, although they can overlap. Health anxiety is mainly focused on worries about your health, physical symptoms or the fear that something serious may be wrong. Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) tends to involve excessive worry across several areas of life, such as work, relationships, family, finances or the future.

You don’t need to have a diagnosis to seek counselling. What matters is how anxiety is affecting you and your everyday life. Together, we can explore your individual experience rather than trying to fit you into a particular label.

Can counselling help with Health Anxiety?

Counselling can give you the space to explore your health worries without feeling dismissed or judged. Together, we can look at what triggers your anxiety, how it affects your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and the patterns that may be keeping the worry going.

Over time, counselling can help you develop a different relationship with those anxious thoughts, feel more able to cope with uncertainty and regain a sense of control, so that worries about your health take up less space in your life.