Changing This Belief Can Improve Your Health Anxiety

Health anxiety is a complicated beast, and there are many reasons why this type of anxiety develops and is maintained. As you may have heard me talk about before, core beliefs are one powerful driving force behind health anxiety. There are many different types of problematic core beliefs about health and illness but here are a few examples:

• I am likely to get a serious disease (more than is statistically probable).
• I am weak and vulnerable to serious disease.
• I won't be able to cope if I get a disease.
• I must be symptom-free to be healthy or safe.
• Doctors/tests/treatments are wholly incompetent, invalid, and ineffective, and they won't be able to help me detect and/or treat a disease.
• Anxiety symptoms are dangerous and indicative of serious health problems or an impending emergency.
• Death will inevitably be horrifying, and I am unable to cope with the idea of dying one day.

These beliefs influence how we interpret everything that happens in our day-to-day lives. As someone with a long history of living with health anxiety, I struggled with all of these beliefs for years. It took time and intentional effort, but by working on modifying each of these beliefs, little by little, I was able to significantly improve my health anxiety.

A Promising Change for Me

Although changing all of these beliefs helped in one way or another, a pivotal realization for me was when I realized just how much I believed that I was weak and vulnerable to illness. It was as if I saw myself as barely hanging on by a thread—like I was this frail little thing. And, because of my presumed fragility, I lived my life convinced that any disease that came through was going to be the disease that put me into the grave.

Of course with that mentality, I was terrified of any bodily sensations or symptoms because if it were a sign of some sort of a disease, then I would be finished.

So when I started seeing this belief as invalid and started collecting evidence for a more helpful, accurate belief, my health anxiety improved immensely. I realized that I don't need to stress about every illness/disease that comes my way because I will most likely be able to cope with that illness.

How You Can Start Changing Your Beliefs Today

The way to change core beliefs about health and illness is to learn how to start intentionally collecting evidence for a new belief. You already collect evidence for the maladaptive belief... you just probably don't realize it. So, you want to switch it up a little. For example, let's say you, like me, struggle with the belief that you are weak and vulnerable. As the first step, you want to develop a new, more adaptive belief.

For me, the newer belief was: I am strong, resilient, and capable of coping with/managing/overcoming the vast majority of illnesses.

Once you've identified this belief, start collecting the data. Actively seek out information for this belief. For example:

• When and how have you coped with illness in the past?
• Did things turn out OK?
• Were you able to manage it? How did you cope with it?
• Do you know of other stories about loved ones or people in your social circles or online who live with diseases and manage them well or even overcome/cure them?
• Have you read any articles about advancements in medicine when it comes to treating certain diseases? (I actually see these articles a lot these days because I read them. It helps me continue to have hope in the idea of being able to cope with a disease.)

Start documenting evidence for a healthier core belief today. It doesn't need to take a lot of time. Start by dedicating 10 minutes a day to this exercise. Remember, you can improve your health anxiety by making small changes in your thoughts and behaviors each day. You can do this! If you want to improve health anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy, including exposure and response prevention, is considered the first-line treatment.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.