Do you suffer from health anxiety?
Do these worries take up a lot of your mental time and energy each day?
Do they affect your work and concentration?
Are you constantly checking your health and cross referencing symptoms on the internet? (Often the more we look the more likely we are to find something that to a non medical professional will appear to match our symptoms. This may then verify in our mind that we definitely must be suffering from this particular illness. In fact people with a health anxiety problem may well imagine that the very anxieties they are experiencing are proof that they have some form of serious illness!
Most of us will naturally worry about our health from time to time and having an awareness and interest in one’s health is a good habit. Unfortunately some people have an over exaggerated tendency worry about their health and once fixated on this ican become all consuming. If one has a tendency to worry a lot then health issues may well be an area that the mind fixates on. Persistent health anxieties can often be linked to OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and obsessional thinking may well be part of the overall picture.
Getting a check-up from a medical practitioner is never something to avoid if we have genuine concern for our health but finding that your life is being taken over with constant unsubstantiated health worries is another issue. Some people with health anxiety will find themselves looking constantly for reassurance from their doctor or talking it through with friends. Others will actually avoid going to see a medical professional for fear of getting their “illness” ratified and so will spend their time in constant fear, worry and pursuing their own “medical research”. Thus, what may have started as a minor worry can soon escalate into paranoia taking over one’s life often to the detriment of personal relationships and career.
A health anxiety issue may come from such sources such as illness as a child, a family member suffering from a serious illness or a family member who has constant anxiety around their health.
I regularly work with clients who are struggling with this issue which may also be linked to depression or an anxiety disorder. I use hypnosis and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) as the main strategies for healthy change when working with clients with health anxieties. In my practice I find them to be excellent tools to help alleviate the stress and anxieties that go along with this issue helping to bring about a more measured and rational approach to day to day health.
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To discuss my services in the first instance, please call 07970218451 and I will be happy to discuss how I could help you.
Always seek advice from a qualified medical practitioner first.
