Health Anxiety: Understanding Health Worry and How Counselling Can Help
Health anxiety can make everyday physical sensations, minor symptoms or changes in your body feel frightening.
You may find yourself repeatedly checking your body, searching symptoms online, seeking reassurance from others or worrying that doctors or medical tests have missed something serious.
Even when you receive reassurance, the worry may quickly return.
Health anxiety is treatable, and counselling can help you understand the cycle of health-related worry and develop healthier ways of responding to uncertainty.
At Counselling and Therapy New Zealand (CTNZ), our counsellors support people experiencing anxiety, health worries and other challenges affecting their wellbeing and everyday lives.
If health worries are taking up a significant amount of your time or stopping you from living normally, counselling may be worth considering.
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is persistent or excessive worry about having, developing or experiencing a serious health condition, particularly when the level of worry is out of proportion to the available evidence or continues despite appropriate medical reassurance.
Health anxiety can occur in people who are physically healthy, people experiencing unexplained physical symptoms and people who already have a diagnosed health condition.
The central issue is not necessarily whether a physical sensation is real.
The difficulty is often the level of fear, uncertainty and attention attached to the sensation.
For example, a headache may lead to a thought such as:
“What if this is something serious?”
That thought can trigger anxiety.
The anxiety may then increase awareness of physical sensations, which can make the original concern feel even more convincing.
This can create a cycle:
Physical sensation → worrying thought → anxiety → increased body awareness → checking or reassurance → temporary relief → renewed worry
Understanding this cycle can be an important first step towards changing it.
What Does Health Anxiety Feel Like?
Health anxiety can look different from person to person.
You might:
Frequently worry that you have a serious illness
Interpret minor or normal bodily sensations as signs of disease
Search symptoms and medical conditions online
Repeatedly check your body for changes
Ask friends, family or healthcare professionals for reassurance
Feel unable to trust reassuring medical results
Worry that a doctor has missed something
Monitor your heart rate, breathing, skin, digestion or other bodily sensations
Avoid activities because you are worried they could affect your health
Avoid medical appointments because you are afraid of what might be found
Frequently think about cancer, heart disease, neurological conditions or other serious illnesses
Notice one health concern becoming replaced by another
Find it difficult to concentrate because of health-related thoughts
Feel anxious when you hear about someone else's illness
Spend significant amounts of time researching health conditions
Experience anxiety symptoms that themselves become a source of concern
Health anxiety can also involve fear about someone else's health, such as repeatedly worrying that a partner, parent or child has a serious illness.
Healthify NZ notes that health anxiety may involve excessive and persistent worry, repeated checking, reassurance-seeking, internet research, avoidance and interference with everyday life.
Health Anxiety and Physical Symptoms
One of the most confusing aspects of health anxiety is that anxiety itself can produce physical sensations.
Anxiety can be associated with symptoms such as:
Increased heart rate
Rapid or shallow breathing
Muscle tension
Sweating
Dizziness
Trembling
Stomach or digestive discomfort
Headaches
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Sleep difficulties
This can create a particularly difficult cycle.
You may notice a physical sensation, become concerned that it indicates illness, and then experience increased anxiety. The anxiety can produce further physical sensations, which may then seem to confirm the original fear.
The symptoms are real. The interpretation and response to those symptoms can be influenced by anxiety.
This does not mean that physical symptoms should automatically be attributed to anxiety.
If you have new, persistent or concerning physical symptoms, it is important to discuss them with your GP or another appropriate healthcare professional.
Common Health Anxiety Behaviours
Health anxiety is often maintained by behaviours intended to provide reassurance or certainty.
These behaviours can include:
Checking
Repeatedly checking your body, pulse, skin, temperature, breathing or other physical sensations.
Googling symptoms
Searching for possible explanations online and comparing your symptoms with descriptions of serious diseases.
Seeking reassurance
Repeatedly asking friends, family or healthcare professionals whether you are okay.
Rechecking medical information
Looking at test results, medical records or previous appointments repeatedly.
Avoidance
Avoiding exercise, travel, social activities, medical appointments or other situations because of health fears.
Monitoring
Paying very close attention to normal changes in your body and looking for signs that something is wrong.
These behaviours often provide short-term relief, but the relief may not last.
This can reinforce the belief that checking or reassurance was necessary, making the behaviour more likely to happen again.
Why Does Health Anxiety Keep Coming Back?
Health anxiety can become a self-reinforcing cycle.
For example:
1. You notice a sensation
You experience a headache, twitch, ache, racing heart or another physical sensation.
2. You interpret it as a threat
You think, “What if this is something serious?”
3. Anxiety increases
Your body responds to the perceived threat.
4. You notice more sensations
Because you are highly focused on your body, sensations that you might normally ignore become more noticeable.
5. You check or seek reassurance
You Google the symptom, check your body or ask someone for reassurance.
6. You feel better temporarily
The reassurance reduces your anxiety for a short time.
7. The worry returns
A new sensation, thought or piece of information triggers the cycle again.
Counselling can help you understand this pattern and explore different ways of responding to health-related uncertainty.
What Can Cause Health Anxiety?
There is no single cause of health anxiety.
It can develop or become more noticeable following:
A serious illness affecting you or someone close to you
A frightening medical experience
The death of someone close
A period of significant stress
A previous health scare
Living with an ongoing medical condition
Experiencing unexplained physical symptoms
Increased awareness of your body
A tendency towards anxiety or excessive worrying
Exposure to health-related information
Repeated internet searching about symptoms
Changes in your personal circumstances or sense of safety
For some people, health anxiety may develop gradually. For others, it can become particularly noticeable after a specific health event.
Healthify NZ notes that previous negative health experiences, serious illness within a family and stressful life experiences can be associated with health anxiety.
When Should You Consider Counselling for Health Anxiety?
Everyone worries about their health sometimes.
Health-related concern can be a normal response to symptoms, medical tests or uncertainty.
It may be worth seeking additional support when health worries:
Take up a large amount of your time
Are difficult to control
Continue despite appropriate medical reassurance
Lead to repeated checking or researching
Cause you to frequently seek reassurance
Make it difficult to concentrate
Affect your sleep
Affect your relationships
Interfere with work or study
Cause you to avoid activities
Make medical appointments particularly distressing
Prevent you from enjoying everyday life
You do not need to wait until health anxiety becomes overwhelming before seeking support.
How Can Counselling Help With Health Anxiety?
Counselling provides a confidential space to explore the thoughts, feelings and behaviours connected with health anxiety.
Depending on your needs, therapy may help you:
Understand your anxiety
Learn how anxiety affects your thoughts, body and behaviour.
Identify patterns
Recognise situations, sensations and thoughts that tend to trigger health worries.
Understand reassurance-seeking
Explore why checking, researching and seeking reassurance can feel helpful in the moment but may maintain anxiety over time.
Develop different responses
Learn strategies for responding to health-related thoughts without automatically checking, avoiding or seeking reassurance.
Manage uncertainty
Explore how to tolerate not having complete certainty about your health without allowing the worry to take over.
Reduce avoidance
Gradually reconnect with activities that health anxiety has caused you to avoid.
Improve everyday functioning
Work towards being able to focus more on relationships, work, study, hobbies and everyday life rather than constantly monitoring your health.
Evidence-based talking therapies, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), can be used to address health anxiety. Healthify NZ also identifies approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as options that may be useful.
What Happens in Health Anxiety Counselling?
Your first appointment is an opportunity to talk about what you have been experiencing and what you would like help with.
You may discuss:
What your health worries are
When they started
Physical sensations or symptoms that trigger concern
How you respond when you become worried
Checking and reassurance-seeking behaviours
Avoidance
Previous health experiences
Stress and other life circumstances
How anxiety is affecting your relationships, work, study or everyday life
Your counsellor can then work with you to identify patterns and establish goals for therapy.
There is no need to have a formal diagnosis before seeking counselling.
You can seek support because health worries are affecting your life, even if you are unsure exactly what is happening.
Health Anxiety Does Not Mean You Are “Making It Up”
Health anxiety can sometimes be misunderstood.
Having health anxiety does not mean that you are deliberately exaggerating or inventing symptoms.
The distress is real.
Health anxiety refers to the way a person experiences and responds to health-related uncertainty, symptoms and perceived threats.
It is also possible to have a genuine physical health condition and experience health anxiety at the same time.
The aim of counselling is not to tell you that every physical symptom is caused by anxiety.
Instead, counselling can help you develop a healthier relationship with uncertainty and reduce the anxiety-driven behaviours that may be interfering with your life.
Health Anxiety vs Illness Anxiety Disorder
Health anxiety is a commonly used term for excessive or persistent worry about health or illness.
Illness anxiety disorder is a clinical term used when a person's preoccupation with having or developing a serious illness causes significant distress or impairment and meets diagnostic criteria.
Some people with illness anxiety disorder have few or no physical symptoms. Others may have physical sensations that become the focus of significant health-related worry.
The term hypochondriasis, or “hypochondria,” was previously used but is no longer the DSM-5 diagnostic term. Illness anxiety disorder is now used in situations where the focus is predominantly on fear or preoccupation with serious illness.
What If I Actually Have a Health Problem?
This is an important question.
Counselling should not replace appropriate medical assessment.
If you have new, persistent, worsening or concerning physical symptoms, speak with your GP or another qualified healthcare professional.
Health anxiety can occur alongside genuine physical health conditions, and a counsellor is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment.
For people who have been appropriately medically assessed but remain trapped in cycles of worry, checking, reassurance-seeking or avoidance, counselling can focus on the anxiety surrounding health.
Example: How Health Anxiety Can Affect Everyday Life
Imagine someone notices a small change in their body.
They search for possible causes online and find information about a serious illness.
They begin monitoring the symptom repeatedly.
They ask a partner for reassurance, book a medical appointment and receive reassuring results.
For a few days, they feel better.
Then they notice another sensation.
The worry starts again.
Over time, the person may spend hours researching symptoms and checking their body. They may stop exercising, avoid social activities or find it difficult to concentrate at work.
The problem is no longer just the original physical sensation. The health anxiety has started to shape everyday life.
Counselling can help the person understand this cycle and develop different ways of responding to health-related thoughts and uncertainty.
Why Choose Counselling and Therapy New Zealand?
At Counselling and Therapy New Zealand (CTNZ), counselling is available for a wide range of mental health and life challenges, including anxiety.
Our approach focuses on understanding each person's individual circumstances rather than assuming that everyone experiences anxiety in the same way.
Counselling may provide support with:
Health anxiety
General anxiety
Panic attacks
Stress and overwhelm
Depression
Trauma
OCD-related concerns
Relationship difficulties
Grief and loss
Other challenges affecting mental wellbeing
CTNZ provides counselling services in Auckland, Nelson and Mangawhai, with options available online where appropriate.
Frequently Asked Questions About Health Anxiety
What is health anxiety?
Health anxiety is excessive or persistent worry about having or developing a serious illness. It may involve interpreting normal bodily sensations or minor symptoms as signs of serious disease, repeatedly checking the body, seeking reassurance or researching symptoms online.
Is health anxiety a mental illness?
Health anxiety can occur as part of an anxiety disorder. In some cases, persistent preoccupation with having or developing a serious illness may meet the criteria for illness anxiety disorder. A qualified healthcare professional can assess your symptoms and determine whether a diagnosis is appropriate.
Can health anxiety cause physical symptoms?
Yes. Anxiety can produce physical sensations including increased heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, dizziness, sweating and digestive symptoms. However, physical symptoms should not automatically be assumed to be caused by anxiety and should be medically assessed when appropriate.
Why do I keep thinking I have a serious illness?
Health anxiety can cause you to interpret physical sensations as potential signs of serious illness. Checking, researching and seeking reassurance may provide temporary relief but can also keep your attention focused on health threats and reinforce the worry cycle.
Why doesn't reassurance work for my health anxiety?
Reassurance can reduce anxiety temporarily, but if reassurance becomes something you repeatedly need to feel safe, the relief may not last. Counselling can help you explore the cycle of reassurance-seeking and develop different ways of responding to uncertainty.
Is Googling symptoms a sign of health anxiety?
Repeatedly searching for symptoms or illnesses online can be associated with health anxiety, particularly when searching becomes difficult to control, increases distress or is used repeatedly for reassurance.
Can health anxiety happen even when my tests are normal?
Yes. Some people continue to worry about illness despite reassuring medical assessments or test results. Difficulty accepting reassurance is one recognised feature of health anxiety.
Can I have health anxiety and a real medical condition?
Yes. Health anxiety and physical health conditions can coexist. Counselling does not involve assuming that physical symptoms are imaginary or caused by anxiety.
Can counselling help with health anxiety?
Yes. Talking therapies can help people understand health-related worry, identify unhelpful patterns and develop different ways of responding to symptoms and uncertainty. CBT is one evidence-supported approach for health anxiety.
How long does counselling for health anxiety take?
There is no fixed number of sessions. The length of counselling depends on the severity and duration of your concerns, your goals, other circumstances affecting your wellbeing and how you respond to therapy.
Do I need a diagnosis before seeing a counsellor?
No. You can seek counselling because health-related worry is affecting your life. A counsellor can discuss your concerns with you and help determine what type of support may be appropriate.
Should I see my GP or a counsellor for health anxiety?
It can be appropriate to involve both. Your GP or another healthcare professional can assess physical symptoms and medical concerns, while counselling can address anxiety, worry, checking, reassurance-seeking and avoidance. If you have concerning physical symptoms that have not been medically assessed, seek appropriate medical advice.
Where can I get health anxiety counselling in New Zealand?
CTNZ provides counselling services in Auckland, Nelson and Mangawhai, with online counselling options also available where appropriate.
Take the Next Step
Health anxiety can make it difficult to switch off from thoughts about illness.
You may know logically that you have been reassured, but still feel the need to check, search or ask someone again.
You do not have to manage that cycle on your own.
Counselling can provide a confidential space to understand your health anxiety, explore the patterns keeping it going and work towards feeling more comfortable with uncertainty.
If health worries are affecting your everyday life, contact Counselling and Therapy New Zealand to discuss whether counselling could be right for you.
Auckland | Nelson | Mangawhai | Online
Important health information
Counselling is not a substitute for medical assessment or treatment. If you have new, severe, persistent or concerning physical symptoms, contact your GP, Healthline or another appropriate healthcare professional. In an emergency, call 111 in New Zealand.