Most of us don’t look forward to the moment we draw our final breath. Why would we? It is human nature to want to remain alive. Thus, mild discomfort around death is normal. But for some people, the fear of death is so debilitating that it consumes them on a regular basis, to the point that they have a difficult time enjoying the fact that they are alive right now. 

People fear death for a variety of reasons 

If you have health anxiety, you likely hold inaccurate core beliefs about health and disease. These beliefs have led you to be hypervigilant about your health status. Consequently, you have become hyper aware of all bodily functions, sensations and symptoms. And you probably misinterpret normal or benign bodily sensations and symptoms as indicating a serious health problem. 

So, what are these pesky core beliefs that are causing all of this trouble? In this article I will briefly review a few of the common core beliefs held by people with health anxiety. 

What are Safety Behaviors?

Safety-seeking behaviors, this is an actual thing. In the context of health anxiety, safety behaviors are what we do to try and prevent or reduce the anxiety we are experiencing from a given symptom, bodily sensation or bodily function. The three main types of safety behaviors related to health anxiety are reassurance-seeking, checking and preventive.

Why Don't They Work?

If you have health anxiety, you likely seek reassurance about your health-related concerns from doctors and/or loved ones. In other words, you repeatedly seek the simple reassuring message that there is nothing wrong with your health. Do you think this mole looks suspicious? Should I be worried about this headache? 

The Not-So-Pretty-Picture of Reassurance-Seeking 

Safety-seeking behaviors- this is an actual thing. Safety behaviors are what we do to try and prevent or reduce the anxiety we are experiencing. Examples of safety behaviors related to health anxiety might be to scan your body for any concerning blemishes or checking your pulse multiple times a day. Safety behaviors can reduce anxiety in the short-term but they most definitely increase anxiety over the long-term. Why? Because we can learn to rely on them and rob ourselves of the opportunity to see that we never needed them to begin with.

Now that’s a morbid title. Why the bleep would we do that? I’ll explain. People have different reasons for experiencing health anxiety. But after doing a bit of digging, many of my clients find that their health anxiety ultimately stems from a fear of death. Now, most people don’t like the idea of death. But even though they don’t like it, they are able to accept to some degree that they are going to die one day. However, for some people the fear of death leads to a host of worries around anything that could potentially kill them. And health is an easy target.

Health anxiety sucks. At times, there can be seemingly constant flux of bodily sensations or symptoms to worry about. A headache, random heart palpitation or stomach ache can send you into a tailspin of worries, anxiety, body checking, googling, doctor visits, scans and tests. The whole process is exhausting. So, what is happening behind the scenes?

Cognitive researchers delineate a common process that takes place among those with health anxiety that includes a variety of thoughts and behaviors. See the diagram below as outlined by Abramowitz et al. (2007).

If you have health anxiety, you likely seek reassurance about your health-related concerns from doctors and/or loved ones. In other words, you repeatedly seek the simple reassuring message that there is nothing wrong with your health. What does reassurance-seeking look like? You might ask your significant other, friends or family members whether they think a given symptom is concerning.

People with health anxiety often have inaccurate beliefs and interpretations of their bodily symptoms. They misinterpret benign bodily changes or sensations as being indicative of some serious disease or illness. Research on cognition shows that people with health anxiety (compared to non-anxious control groups) are: