Health Anxiety Therapy in London and Online
At Therapy Central, we offer health anxiety therapy in London and online for people caught in cycles of worrying about symptoms, checking, reassurance-seeking or fearing that something serious has been missed. A qualified therapist can help you understand what keeps health anxiety going and use CBT or other evidence-based approaches to reduce fear-driven habits while keeping appropriate medical advice in place. You can request a free 15-minute consultation to talk through what support might fit.
Hypochondria is the older name for health anxiety — we use the newer term because it describes the experience better and carries less stigma.
Request a free 15min consultation
Discover Health Anxiety
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety involves worrying excessively about your health when there is no or very little medical reason to do so. You may worry you have cancer, you are having a stroke and/or you have HIV/AIDS when there is no medical evidence to support this.
There are various behaviours that often characterise people with health anxiety. You may relate to all or just some of the following:
- Often seek reassurance from others (GP, family, friends) about your health concerns
- Regularly research your symptoms online
- Check your body frequently
- Avoid anything associated with illness, such as your GP surgery, hospitals and being around people who are unwell
Worrying excessively about health and engaging in some/all of the above behaviours can begin to significantly interfere in various aspects of people’s lives, such as work, relationships and leisure activities. This can lead onto other emotional problems, such as depression. It is also common for people to experience Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) alongside health anxiety.
What Causes Health Anxiety?
There are various experiences that can increase the likelihood of developing health anxiety:
- Having experienced a serious physical health problem yourself or someone close to you has had a serious physical health problem
- Death of someone close to you
- Having a family member with health anxiety
- Hearing negative/worrying information in the media e.g. hearing about people being misdiagnosed and hearing of serious and unpleasant illnesses
The above experiences can lead people to feel that they are vulnerable and this can trigger people to worry lots about their health.
What Keeps Health Anxiety Going?
Let’s now look at some of the ways in which health anxiety can be maintained:
1- Anxiety can bring on various unpleasant and seemingly strange physical sensations in the body, such as an increase in heart rate, tingling sensations, muscles tension and difficulties concentrating. Additionally, aside from anxiety, we all experience minor discomfort in our bodies from time to time, such as a reduction in energy, pain and a lump or bump.
If a person is already worrying a lot about their health they may misinterpret the above physical sensations as a serious illness. This can, in turn, increase anxiety and then the physical sensations can intensify. Moreover, when we worry excessively about our health, our attention on internal physical sensations heightens and so the physical sensations mentioned above are noticed more easily! To add to this, it is a well-known phenomenon that the more we focus in on a physical sensation the more the sensation intensifies!
2- It is common to want to seek advice and reassurance from others about physical sensations that are worrying you. You may have received the message from those around you that the physical sensations you experience, such as tingling and pain, are “all in your head”. When seeking medical advice your physical problems may have been brushed aside. This may then lead you to worry that your physical problems have not been thoroughly investigated which feeds your anxiety even more. Alternatively, it could be that your Doctor agrees to arrange medical investigations and they show that there is nothing medically wrong. This may be reassuring, however this is short lived. People may then worry that something has been missed and continue to worry excessively. They then increasingly seek reassurance to feel that short term sense of relief.
How Does Health Anxiety Therapy help?
In the early stages of therapy, your therapist will help you to gain an in-depth understanding of your health anxiety; how it developed and how it is being maintained. This in itself can be empowering and can also inform how to take steps to overcome it. You can use the therapeutic space to explore your worries and the challenges they present, including the detrimental impact it has been having upon your life in a supportive, non-judgemental environment. Your physical sensations are very much real. However, if medical causes for the physical sensations have been ruled out and you are continuing to worry excessively about your health, you will be helped to learn that rather than being a sign of a serious illness they are often due to your normal physiological responses. Your health anxiety therapist can also help you to learn various coping strategies to tackle your health anxiety.
What are the Best Therapy Approaches for Health Anxiety?
CBT Therapy is a well-evidenced approach for health anxiety, and many people find it helpful for understanding the links between thoughts, feelings, body sensations and safety behaviours. In CBT for health anxiety, the behaviours you engage in due to your worries will be explored. You will most likely learn that although they help you to cope with your anxieties in the short term, they worsen your anxiety in the longer term. You will be helped to challenge your worries and discover that your anxiety surrounding health contributes to you feeling unpleasant physical sensations, as opposed to being attributable to a serious illness. Over the course of therapy you will become better equipped to manage your health worries. This will enable you to return to living your life whilst not being held back by your worries. Below is a common vicious cycle that people with health anxiety experience which is based upon CBT:
1- Trigger: feeling unwell
2- Thoughts/Thinking processes: Hypervigilance to changes in the body, Increased attention on detected changes in the body, “I have cancer, I am going to die”
3- Feelings: Anxiety, stress, overwhelmed
4- Behaviour: Seek reassurance from friends, family and medical professionals, check symptoms frequently by checking for lumps, search symptoms online (Reduces anxiety in the short term but this is short lived)
5- Physical: increased heart rate, tension in the body, lumps/soreness appearing (due to excessive prodding!), fuzzy head, tingling
Other psychological approaches which have shown to be helpful for people with health anxiety include, mindfulness-focused therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
For health anxiety, ERP for health anxiety can help you practise reducing checking and reassurance-seeking in a gradual, supported way.
What are the Benefits of Health Anxiety Therapy?
You do not have struggle with health anxiety on your own. Research and clinical experience shows that therapy for health anxiety can lead to various positive improvements including:
- Reduction in worries
- Improved mood
- Improved quality of life
- No longer avoid difficult situations due to your anxiety
- Ability to engage in more social activities
And even better news is that evidence suggests that the benefits listed above are often long lasting.
How long Does Health Anxiety Therapy Last?
The length of therapy depends upon the severity of health anxiety. Some people can make significant improvements in six sessions. Usually people can benefit greatly from six to twenty four sessions in total.
Our therapists specialised in Health Anxiety
All of our therapists are qualified psychologists, psychotherapists or counsellors registered with several professional bodies. These include the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the British Psychological Society (BPS), as well as, BACP, UKCP and BABCP.
Our therapists use CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), psychodynamic, humanistic and integrative approaches tailored around your needs to help you deal with your unique challenges and reach your goals.
Testimonials
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Therapist l had was absolutely brilliant with me. He had patience with me and bit by bit l gained a little of confidence to try and get out and go on the buses.
He deserves an award and if l could l would in the beginning l thought how is this person going to get me back on public transport but he did he gave me the confidence l lost and now have back.
I will never forget him and what he has done for me. I wish him nothing but the best in his life.
(Patricia)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My therapist was excellent. I highly recommend her and I am truly thankful for my sessions, I left feeling confident and positive.
The mental tools, systems and approaches I have been able to develop with her and use in my life have been hugely beneficial.
Thank you to all at Therapy Central.
(John)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Therapist really gave me the space to talk and express my feelings and fears in a very comforting environment.
She was there not only to listen, but challenge my thinking, guide me during the uncertainty I was experiencing and give me useful and practical tips to improve my mental health and wellbeing. Highly recommended!
(George)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Working with the therapist has been a life-changing experience. Each session has been invaluable, helping me gain a good understanding of CBT methodology enabling me to incorporate ways to combat stress and anxiety in my daily life.
The Therapist shows that she really cares and has the ability to make you feel calm whilst discussing any personal issue.
(Richard)
Fees & Insurances
Therapy, Counselling and CBT sessions are 50 minutes long and are usually held at regular weekly time slots.
Free
15 Minute Initial
Phone Consultation
£85 - £145
Psychological Therapy/
Counselling (Self-funded)
£120 - £175
Couples Therapy/
Family Therapy
Covered by
Your Private Healthcare Insurance Provider
Health Anxiety Therapy in London & Online
If you are looking for health anxiety therapy in Central London or Online, at Therapy Central we can help you learn the strategies you need to start controlling your anxiety and understand its causes. As a result, you’ll be enabled to make the crucial changes to bring balance and fulfilment back into your life.
It’s not easy to recognise that you might have a health anxiety issue, but remember that you are not choosing to feel anxious, and thus it’s largely not your fault to feel the way you do. You are not alone.
Get professional help with Health Anxiety in London and Online today. Contact us for a free 15 min consultation with a Health Anxiety Therapist to see if our help would fit your needs. You can also get in touch via email at info@therapy-central.com or call us at (+44) 020 348 82797.
Health Anxiety Therapy FAQs
What is health anxiety therapy?
Health anxiety therapy helps you understand and change the patterns that keep fear about illness going, such as repeated checking, reassurance-seeking, body scanning, symptom searches or avoiding health information. At Therapy Central, your therapist will help you map your own cycle and work on practical steps at a pace that feels manageable.
Is health anxiety the same as hypochondria?
Health anxiety is the term many people now use for what used to be called hypochondria. It describes persistent worry that you may have, or may develop, a serious health problem. Therapy does not aim to prove that every symptom is harmless; it helps you reduce the checking and reassurance cycle that keeps the fear alive.
What type of treatment is used for health anxiety?
CBT is commonly used for health anxiety. It can include testing predictions, reducing reassurance-seeking, changing checking habits, and gradually facing feared situations or sensations. Depending on your needs, therapy may also draw on mindfulness, compassion-focused work or other evidence-based approaches.
Can therapy help if I feel real physical symptoms?
Yes. Therapy can help when real sensations trigger fear, monitoring or repeated reassurance-seeking. It does not replace medical assessment. If symptoms are new, severe, changing or medically concerning, speak to your GP or another appropriate medical professional. Therapy can then help you work with the anxiety cycle around symptoms.
What happens in health anxiety therapy sessions?
Early sessions usually explore your main fears, triggers, checking, reassurance-seeking, avoidance and previous experiences of medical reassurance. Your therapist may help you build behavioural experiments or exposure exercises, practise tolerating uncertainty, and reduce habits that give short-term relief but keep anxiety going.
Can I see a health anxiety therapist online or in London?
Yes. Therapy Central offers health anxiety therapy in London and online. Online sessions can work well when you have a private space and a reliable connection, and they can make it easier to practise changes between appointments in the settings where checking or reassurance-seeking usually happen.
How long does health anxiety therapy take?
There is no fixed number of sessions. Some people use a focused block of weekly therapy, while longer-standing or more complex health anxiety can take more time. Your therapist should review goals and progress with you, and you can ask about likely session numbers during your free consultation.
Can I use health insurance for health anxiety therapy?
Many clients use private health insurance for therapy at Therapy Central. We work with providers including AXA, Bupa, Aviva, Cigna and WPA, depending on your policy and therapist match. If you are using insurance, tell us when you enquire so we can help confirm the practical steps.
Our Practice in Central London
Our comfortable and confidential therapy rooms are conveniently located 3 min walk from Oxford Circus station, in Central London (see map below). Change starts with Talking!
Learn More:
How to Stop Health Anxiety: Expert Treatment Guide
Authors:
Dr Raffaello Antonino, Counselling Psychologist
Dr Amy Smith, Counselling Psychologist
Image Credits:
Background vector created by rawpixel.com – www.freepik.com
Business vector created by dooder – www.freepik.com
Home vector created by freepik – www.freepik.com
