Health anxiety: when reassurance doesn’t last
By Ben Woodward, BABCP-accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist
You’ve spoken to your GP, had your symptoms assessed and felt reassured. Then, later that evening, a thought appears: ‘But what if something was missed?’
You reach for your phone. One search becomes several. By bedtime, you’ve read about conditions you hadn’t even heard of that morning, and feeling reassured seems further away than ever.
If this sounds familiar, health anxiety may be taking up more space in your life than you would like. Many people I work with describe feeling trapped in a cycle of searching for reassurance, only to find the relief fades surprisingly quickly.
When concern becomes consuming
Looking after your health and seeking medical advice are sensible things to do. Health anxiety describes a pattern in which fears about illness become persistent, distressing and difficult to step away from.
You might repeatedly check your body, ask loved ones whether you seem well, or struggle to trust reassuring test results. Some people respond differently - avoiding appointments or health information because they’re frightened of what they might discover.
Anxiety can also produce physical sensations, including headaches and a racing heart, which may become another source of worry.
Why reassurance can wear off
Imagine noticing a sensation and interpreting it as a sign of serious illness. Anxiety rises, and you begin checking or searching for an explanation.
Finding a reassuring answer may help briefly. But then another question arrives: ‘Does that still apply to me?’
Checking again can teach you that every doubt needs to be resolved before you can carry on. Meanwhile, paying close attention to your body makes further sensations easier to notice. Before long, it's easy to find yourself monitoring your health far more closely than you ever intended, which often creates even more opportunities for worry.
Reassurance absolutely has a place in medical care. However, the difficulty comes when repeatedly seeking certainty becomes your main way of managing fear. Yet the relief never lasts.
Your symptoms still deserve to be taken seriously
Health anxiety can occur alongside a diagnosed physical condition or symptoms that remain unexplained. Experiencing it doesn’t mean your symptoms are imaginary.
Medical assessment and support for anxiety can sit alongside each other. Discuss new, persistent or changing symptoms with your GP and follow their advice about investigations, monitoring and when to seek further help. Reducing anxiety-driven checking should not mean stopping medically recommended checks.
What can help?
Start by noticing the pattern. How often are you checking, searching or asking for reassurance? What happens to your anxiety immediately afterwards, and how long does the relief last?
One thing people often notice when they start tracking the pattern is how short-lived reassurance can be. The urge to check feels important in the moment, but the relief may last only minutes or hours before a new doubt appears.
For checking that isn’t medically required, try reducing it gradually. You could pause before repeating an internet search and return your attention to the conversation, task or activity you were doing.
Gradually returning to activities you’ve avoided can also help, within any medical advice you’ve received. The aim is to spend less time caught up in worry and more time engaged in the activities and relationships that matter to you.
How CBT can help
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy explores the links between your interpretations, anxiety, attention and coping habits. Many people come to therapy hoping to eliminate all uncertainty about their health. Often, an important part of recovery is learning that uncertainty is something we can tolerate without constantly trying to resolve it.
This might involve reconsidering frightening interpretations, reducing repeated reassurance-seeking and gradually approaching situations you have avoided. The work is tailored to you and your medical circumstances.
If worry is disrupting sleep, relationships or everyday activities, speak to your GP about support. With the right help, it is possible to break out of the cycle of checking and reassurance-seeking and reclaim time and energy for the things that matter to you.
About the author
Ben Woodward is a BABCP-accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist and founder of Woodward Therapies. He provides online CBT for adults, including support for health anxiety.
If you’re considering private CBT for health anxiety, Ben offers a free 15-minute introductory consultation. Find out more at woodwardtherapies.co.uk.