Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 - Health Anxiety

Overcoming Health Anxiety

For Mental Health Awareness Week this year, the focus is anxiety.

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Some people find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and can often affect their daily lives. Anxiety can come in many forms, one of which we are focusing on this week is health anxiety.

So, what is Health Anxiety?

Health anxiety is when you spend so much time worrying, you're ill, or about getting ill, that it starts to take over your life. It's related to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

There are signs to look out for if you think you may have health anxiety, those are:

• constantly worry about your health
• frequently check your body for signs of illness, such as lumps, tingling or pain
• are always asking people for reassurance that you're not ill
• worry that a doctor or medical tests may have missed something
• obsessively look at health information on the internet or in the media
• avoid anything to do with serious illness, such as medical TV programmes
• act as if you were ill (for example, avoiding physical activities)

It is important to note that anxiety itself can cause symptoms like headaches or a racing heartbeat, and you may mistake these for signs that you are not well.

Self Help:

There are ways in which you can combat this anxiety yourself.

Keep a diary- keep a record of how often you check your body and try to gradually reduce how often you do these things over a week

Challenge your thoughts- create a table with 2 columns. Write your health worries in the 1st column, then more balanced thoughts in the 2nd. For example, in the 1st column you may write, "I'm worried about these headaches" and in the 2nd, "Headaches can often be a sign of stress"

Keep busy with other things- when you get the urge to check your body, for example, distract yourself by going for a walk or calling a friend

Get back to normal activities- try to gradually start doing things you've been avoiding because of your health worries, such as sports or socialising

Try to relax- try this simple breathing exercise or research some relaxation exercises

When to seek help:

Although feelings of anxiety at times are completely normal, if anxiety is affecting your daily life or causing you distress, maybe it is time to think about accessing Talking Therapies.

Talking Therapies are a free service that is available through the NHS to help you deal with your anxiety. You would speak with your own therapist and work together to reach your goals. You don’t need to access the GP, you just need to be motivated to change.

Text TALK to 60163

Call: 01482 335451

Refer Online: https://iaptportal.co.uk/erew.html

Website: www.humberews.co.uk