Health anxiety, also known as illness anxiety disorder or hypochondria, is anxiety that is specifically about one’s health. Someone with health anxiety may find they struggle with moderate to severe anxiety that something is or will be wrong with their health. For example:
- They may worry that they have an undiagnosed cancer.
- They may worry that a mild illness is really a more serious illness.
- They may worry that that a “normal” sensation is a sign of a larger problem.
People with panic attacks often struggle with this type of thinking. They may have chest pain caused by their panic attacks, but worry that their chest pain (and panic attacks!) are actually caused by a heart issue – either one that hasn’t been diagnosed or one that is likely to cause them a major medical event.
Many, many people struggle with illness anxiety disorder. Some people put the exact percentage at anywhere from 5% to 15%, and even that may be an undercount if we include people that have more mild health anxiety issues.
We can – and will! – continue to talk about health anxiety at length, but one interesting thing to think about is the way that health anxiety may have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic first started.
Currently, there is no science about this, so this is solely a thought exercise.
Health anxiety covers any anxiety over one’s health. It doesn’t if the person fears the idea of illness or fears they already have one – all of these can be found under the umbrella of Health Anxiety.
Health anxiety also likely increased in frequency given the availability of information online on websites like WebMD. People were taking symptoms they were experiencing, such as knee pain, and self-diagnosing a more serious condition rather than the simpler, less dangerous explanation. Many doctors have reported that patients come in asking about rare conditions only to find out that either nothing is wrong, or that they have a much more mild and more common issue instead.
Since the pandemic, many people worry that more mild, more common colds and flus could actually be COVID-19, which overall is a much more dangerous condition. It’s difficult to truly fault this fear since COVID-19 has similar symptoms in its mild form and is common, but it can cause anxiety nonetheless.
However, one thing that does appear to be an interesting change since COVID-19 is the fear of catching illness from others. Typically, those that were afraid of “Contamination” were more likely to be struggling from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and their fear of contamination was considered irrational.
Now, there are many people that live in fear of catching COVID to a degree where they fear coughing, fear the sounds of sniffling, and fear any news that someone at an event they went to found out they were sick.
In some ways, this fear can be considered justifiable given the dangers of catching COVID-19. But still, living in fear of others spreading disease to us is certainly a different presentation of health anxiety. It’s also one that is partially rational, which can make it harder to overcome.
If you struggle with health anxiety, no matter how it manifests, reach out to Flourish Psychology, today. We are here to talk to you about your illness anxiety challenges, and determine the best way to reduce your fears.