15 Signs You May Be Suffering From Health Anxiety Or Hypochondria

It’s not unusual to be concerned about your health, but when it becomes an obsession, then it’s time to take action.

Sometimes known as either hypochondriasis or hypochondria, this can be just as debilitating as having any other illness.

One study, by the National Institute for Health Research, estimated that “at least one in five people attending hospital outpatient appointments suffers from health anxiety, although only one in ten are ever diagnosed.”

Other estimates suggest that about one in ten people have experienced symptoms of hypochondriasis at some stage.

Unlike other mental health problems such as depression, which affects women more than men, both genders appear to suffer from health anxiety about equally.

This guide lists some of the ways in which you can tell that your health anxiety is actually becoming unhealthy.

Avoidance Of Activities That May Cause Illness

People with health anxiety may:

• Avoid physical activities (e.g. sports or hobbies) because they think they may either be injured, or exacerbate an existing condition.
• Constantly disinfect their kitchen or bathroom, because of a fear of germs that could make them ill.
• Not eat or drink certain items because they think they may be intolerant to them.
• Wash their hands at every opportunity. (I knew a boy in junior school who washed his hands constantly. It turns out that when he was younger, he accidentally picked up a wild mushroom or toadstool and had been told they could be poisonous. The hand-washing was his way of dealing with this – because he became afraid that he could become ill if he didn’t keep his hands clean. It was truly sad to see this obsessive behaviour, especially in a young child.)

Being Triggered By Representations Of Serious Illness

People with health anxiety sometimes cannot bear to see, or read about, anything related to serious medical conditions or emergencies. This would include, for example, not being able to watch some of the more graphic modern hospital dramas on television.

So, if watching something like this triggers an anxiety attack, then you may need to talk to a medical professional about it.

Constantly Checking For Symptoms

I know women are often told to “check their breasts for lumps”, and men may be given similar advice regarding their testicles, but if you are checking your body for possible symptoms of disease (e.g. lumps, tender spots / pain) all the time, then you may have health anxiety.

Conviction Of Illness

A person who is a hypochondriac will often be convinced they are suffering from some (often rare or severe) disease, no matter what anybody else (e.g. family, friends, doctors) tells them.

Distrusting Your Doctor

Let’s say you have self-diagnosed your problem and you have gone to your doctor for confirmation, but your doctor does not diagnose you with what you thought you had.

If you do not trust your doctor’s opinion or diagnosis (e.g. they may say you have something more common and less severe, or they may actually say you’re completely healthy), then, bearing in mind you are probably not medically trained, and he/she is, then you are exhibiting a classic symptom of hypochondria.

You may justify this distrust on the basis that, for example, “well yes, the doctor may have gone to medical school, but they probably didn’t study this rare illness that I’m suffering from.”

Exaggerating Symptoms

While most people who experience minor issues such as aches and pains (including headaches) will simply go about their business as normal, people with health anxiety will blow these symptoms up into some serious and major.

For example, they may actually have a regular headache, but they will assume it’s a brain tumour instead – for no good reason, of course, in most cases.

Frequent Visits To The Doctor

This is one of the stereotypical signs of hypochondria – and for good reason.

Some people with severe health anxiety will go to the doctor (or emergency room) for every little or imagined problem.

And the fact that, in most cases, nothing will be found wrong does not deter them from repeating this obsessive behaviour.

It’s On Your Mind All The Time

If you cannot stop worrying about your health, to the extent it prevents you from living your normal day-to-day life, then you may have health anxiety.

According to a charity called Anxiety UK, there are two diagnostic criteria that could suggest you have a problem:

1. Have you experienced a preoccupation with having a serious illness due to bodily symptoms that has been ongoing for at least six months?
2. Have you felt distressed due to this preoccupation?

If you can answer “yes” to these two questions, then it’s time to seek help.

Psychosomatic Disorders

The mind and the body are inextricably linked, so mental disorders, including anxiety and depression, can cause actual physical symptoms (e.g. chest pains, dizziness, headaches, insomnia, paresthesia / pins and needles, restlessness, reduced libido, and sweating).

Ironically, for hypochondriacs, these symptoms that are induced by their anxiety can often be mistaken (mainly by themselves) for something serious.

Refusing To See A Doctor

While the common perception of hypochondriacs is that they visit their doctor constantly, health anxiety can sometimes manifest in the exact opposite way – i.e. they won’t go to the doctor in case they get diagnosed with something serious.

Requesting Second Opinions

This goes hand in hand with distrusting your doctor – some people will take this a step further by seeking a second opinion, in the need to find somebody who will confirm that they are as ill as they think they are.

Researching Potential Illnesses

If you are constantly using the Internet to look for illnesses and diseases you may be suffering from, then you may have cyberchondria.

Yes, this is a real word that means “the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomology based on review of search results and literature online.”

This can lead to serious distress, when you imagine you have all sorts of dangerous health problems.

And although cyberchrondria is, of course, a relatively new term, I remember reading a strikingly appropriate scene in one of my favourite books, the classic “Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing Of The Dog)” by Jerome K. Jerome. Check out Chapter 1 and see whether you think this perfectly describes the Victorian equivalent of health anxiety or not!

Anyway, if you cannot resist Googling imagined symptoms and rare diseases, it is high time you went to talk to your doctor about your anxiety.

Seeking Reassurance Constantly

Constantly asking other people, whether they be medical professionals or not, to reassure you that you are not ill, and especially if you doubt their responses, can be become compulsive, and another sign that you need help.

Sympathetic Sickness

When somebody that a person with health anxiety knows becomes sick, that person will often imagine that they too have the exact same problem.

While not uncommon in specific cases, such as sympathetic pregnancy (also known as Couvade Syndrome) where men experience some of the same issues, e.g. morning sickness, as their pregnant partners, thinking you are suffering from the same diseases or illnesses as people you are not that close to is a symptom of health anxiety.

Your Entire Life Is Affected

If your worries about your health are affecting your relationships, your job, and your hobbies, then this is unhealthy and you need to do something about it.

Conclusion

If you recognize yourself in these symptoms, then it’s time to seriously consider getting help.

And if somebody you know is displaying several of these red flags, then perhaps you should have a talk with them (or with somebody close to them) about it.

The good news is that there are treatment options, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) that can be very successful.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Find A Counsellor (USA Only)
2. Hypochondria Book