Hypnotherapy for Health Anxiety: Breaking the Cycle of Worry
I help people living with health anxiety using Hypnotherapy, CBT and Mindfulness.
Health anxiety can affect people whether or not there is any underlying medical condition. It may involve persistent worry about illness, repeated checking for symptoms, fear of receiving a serious diagnosis, or difficulty accepting reassurance when no problem has been found.
For some people, health concerns follow a particular illness or difficult experience. For others, the anxiety develops gradually and begins to affect everyday life, relationships and peace of mind.
If you or a family member is struggling with health-related anxiety, I’d be pleased to discuss how I may be able to help.
How Health Anxiety may affect you.
Concerns about our health are perfectly natural. Health anxiety becomes more difficult when those concerns begin to dominate your thoughts or behaviour, even when there is little or no medical evidence of something being wrong.
I regularly work with people whose anxiety takes different forms.
- Constant and intense self-monitoring for symptoms
can be one sign that health anxiety is taking hold. You may find yourself repeatedly checking your skin, noticing every minor pain or discomfort, or becoming highly alert to sensations such as a cough, breathlessness or a change in how your body feels.
Difficulty accepting reassurance
can also become part of the pattern. Even after medical advice or tests have provided reassurance, the relief may be short-lived before another symptom or worry takes its place.Fear about access to healthcare
can increase anxiety, particularly when appointments are difficult to obtain or when you feel uncertain about whether a symptom warrants medical attention.- Anxiety about the future
is also common. Health worries may become entangled with concerns about work, family, finances or how you would cope if a serious illness were ever diagnosed.
I have really enjoyed our sessions and wanted you to know that you have helped
me to reach exactly where I wanted to be – to feel peaceful and content, and able
to feel and enjoy the fullness of life – from the easy moments to the challenging
ones…. 9 months ago I believed it was possible, but I did not realise it would feel
this good to be alive, and so quickly too.
My approach to helping manage Health Anxiety.
Like other forms of anxiety, health anxiety affects people in different ways.
I always begin by understanding your particular experience and what is maintaining the anxiety for you. My core approaches, Hypnotherapy, CBT and Mindfulness, can each have a useful role.
Hypnotherapy for Health Anxiety
Hypnotherapy can help you develop a calmer and more focused state in which we can work with some of the thoughts, feelings and automatic responses associated with health anxiety.
I may also teach self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques that you can use independently when anxiety begins to escalate.
CBT for Health Anxiety
CBT can help you identify and challenge patterns of thought and behaviour that may be keeping health anxiety going.
These might include repeatedly checking for symptoms, assuming the worst from a minor physical sensation, seeking constant reassurance or becoming caught in repeated thoughts about illness.
The aim is to help you respond to these thoughts more realistically and with greater confidence.
Mindfulness for Health Anxiety
Mindfulness can provide a practical way of noticing anxious thoughts and physical sensations without immediately reacting to them.
For many people, this can help create some distance from the cycle of worry and make it easier to respond calmly rather than automatically.
Paul Levrant. Hypnotherapy, CBT and Mindfulness to help manage Health Anxiety.
I have been helping clients with health anxiety since I began practising in 2008.
There is nothing unusual or embarrassing about experiencing persistent fears about your health. These worries can be extremely uncomfortable and can have a substantial effect on everyday life.
I came to train as a therapist in mid-life and today practise Hypnotherapy and CBT and also make use of Mindfulness, drawing on these approaches according to the needs of the individual client.
Help with Health Anxiety
I see clients at my consulting rooms in Highgate, North London and Radlett, Hertfordshire, and can also work online where appropriate.
If health anxiety is beginning to dominate your thoughts or restrict your everyday life, we can discuss what you are experiencing and whether my approach may be helpful.
Book a FREE Initial Consultation
I’d be pleased to arrange an initial telephone consultation with you. This will help me to understand your particular situation, and will help you to decide if you’d like to see me for therapy.
This initial consultation is completely free of charge, and without any obligation to proceed.