CBT for health anxiety
When uncertainty about your health is hard to leave alone.
What you might notice
Health anxiety involves persistent fear about having or developing a serious illness. Body checking, searching symptoms or asking for reassurance may briefly settle the worry, only for it to return. Some people instead avoid medical information or appointments because of the fear.
How CBT can help
We explore how you interpret sensations and health information, and how checking, reassurance and avoidance affect the worry. CBT can help you test alternative explanations and build a more balanced response to uncertainty. This work sits alongside appropriate medical care; it does not ask you to ignore new symptoms or medical advice.
General information, not a diagnosis. Your experience and goals guide our assessment and the plan we agree together.
Further reading and sourcesHow the cycle can keep going
This example shows one way the pattern can be maintained. Your own triggers and responses may look different.
Read the cycle step by step
- Trigger: Noticing an unfamiliar ache
- Meaning: This could be a serious illness that was missed.
- Feelings and attention: Anxiety and attention narrow onto the body.
- Response: Repeated symptom searches, checking or reassurance.
- What keeps it going: Relief fades; small changes feel more threatening.
The short-term response can make the pattern more likely to repeat. This is an illustration, not a diagnosis or an individual formulation.
How much time is health-related worry taking away from the rest of your life?
A free 5–10 minute consultation is a chance to talk about what you need and whether we could work well together.
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