What is Health Anxiety? Five Signs You Have Health Anxiety Related to COVID

Some level of anxiety is a normal response to the COVID pandemic. Thankfully, the news cycle of spring 2021 is slightly less depressing than in spring 2020, yet it now contains a confusing mixture of hopeful and worrisome updates about COVID. As a result, many people’s COVID-related worries have not completely been put to rest. For most, their worry is manageable (albeit uncomfortable), yet for some people, their anxiety feels unbearable and unrelenting. 

Enter: health anxiety. Health anxiety (AKA illness anxiety or hypochondria), entails obsessive worry about having a serious, yet undiagnosed health condition. Many people with health anxiety are so preoccupied with imagined illness that their functioning is impaired. They may become obsessed with bodily functions (such as heartbeat or respiration), physical sensations (such as stomach aches or headaches), and minor physical abnormalities (such as skin redness). People may be more prone to health anxiety if they had a serious childhood illness, a parent with an illness, a parent with health anxiety, or a history of abuse.

Read on for 5 signs you might have health anxiety related to COVID and how to address each one. If health anxiety is interfering with your functioning at work, school, or in social settings, you should seek consultation with a psychologist.

1.    Sign: You obsessively consume news or health information about COVID. Tracking news about COVID is helpful insofar as it informs the safety precautions you take, but beyond that, viewing an endless amount of COVID news may be both a cause and effect of health anxiety.

Strategy: You can combat this habit by regulating the amount and type of news you consume. For instance, you might make the decision to only read the news one or two times per day. Thoughtfully selecting and reading articles can be less anxiety-provoking than passively consuming often-sensationalist news broadcast TV.

2.     Sign: You talk excessively about your health or COVID with others. If you find that talk about COVID is crowding out other important topics in your life or theirs, it could signify anxiety.

Strategy: To address this tendency, you can preemptively start conversations by saying you are trying to focus less on COVID and request steering clear of COVID in this conversation.

3.   Sign: Anxiety about COVID prevents you from doing things that doctors recommend or deem healthy. If you’re so anxious about your health that you’re not doing things that doctors deem safe and healthy, such as taking walks outside or calling friends, it could be time to check in with yourself.

Strategy: Ask whether your behaviors are helping or worsening your anxiety. Then make changes accordingly.

4.    Sign: You regularly check or screen yourself for any sign of illness. Taking your temperature daily in the absence of symptoms or running to the internet every time you feel an ache could indicate health anxiety.

Strategy: To combat these habits, which further amplify your focus on your health, pay attention to your triggers and then develop ways of reducing them. For example, if you keep your thermometer near your bed and use it each morning upon waking, make it less accessible. If you notice your anxiety worsens the day after drinking alcohol, cut down on your alcohol consumption. If you frequently check your symptoms on WebMD, block that website on your browser.

5.    Sign: You misattribute normal bodily experiences, such as occasional fatigue or a runny nose, to a serious illness, such as COVID. Health anxiety can warp your reasoning abilities and you might accept a feeling or a worry as fact.

Strategy: To avoid falling into this thinking trap, ask yourself a simple question: “What else could this be?” Pausing to consider alternative reasons or explanations can create enough space between you and your anxiety to examine it.

At Premier Psychology Group, Dr. Liz Stein specializes in the intersection between physical and mental health. Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation. We are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and provide virtual therapy in Boston, Connecticut, and New York City.