Everyone worries about their health sometimes. Health anxiety is different: a persistent, distressing preoccupation with being — or becoming — seriously ill, that doesn’t ease even when tests come back clear. It’s a recognised form of anxiety, and it’s treatable.
What health anxiety looks like
- Persistent worry that you have, or will develop, a serious illness
- Interpreting normal body sensations (a headache, a skipped heartbeat) as signs of something grave
- Frequent body-checking — examining, googling symptoms, taking your pulse
- Seeking repeated reassurance from doctors, loved ones or the internet
- Brief relief after reassurance, followed by the worry returning
- Alternatively, avoiding doctors entirely for fear of bad news
Why reassurance doesn’t work
This is the cruel trap of health anxiety: reassurance feels like the solution, but it only calms things for a short while before the doubt creeps back — and the cycle of checking and reassurance-seeking actually strengthens the anxiety over time. Clear scans and normal blood tests rarely settle it for long.
It’s not “all in your head”
Health anxiety is a genuine and distressing condition, not attention-seeking or imagination. The physical sensations people notice are usually real — it’s the catastrophic interpretation of them that drives the distress.
How it’s treated
Health anxiety responds well to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which helps break the checking-and-reassurance cycle and change the way threat is interpreted. Where anxiety is severe, medication may also help, prescribed by a doctor. Treating any co-occurring anxiety or depression is part of the picture too.
If worry about your health is taking over, support is available. Try our anxiety self-check, or our online psychiatry service can provide specialist telehealth assessment — book an appointment with a referral.
This article is general information, not medical advice. In a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000.