This Is How To Manage Your Crippling Hypochondriasis During A Pandemic
by Libby Thompson
So. You clicked into this article. Which means?
We both are hypochondriacs.
The errant cough can send us into a panic spiral. Googling symptoms. Convincing ourselves it’s MS. Planning future arrangements for our pets. And that was BEFORE a global pandemic.
But now, we all have very real fears from a very real virus. So how do those of us with extreme health anxiety find ways to live balanced, semi-normal, semi-joyful lives without becoming crippled by constant, debilitating fear?
By trying these 6, (mostly) science-backed strategies. Let’s go.
1. Google is our enemy.
Never, ever Google your symptoms.
Seriously, never. WebMD cannot diagnose you. “The diagnostic information and advice on Google is necessarily vague because no website wants liability,” points out psychologist Eamonn Leaver, MAppPsych. “Plus, most symptoms can occur for multiple physical ailments, and most importantly, most symptoms a person with health anxiety experiences will be consistent with the anxiety itself. So, you’re likely to find illnesses that have symptoms you’re experiencing, which only triggers or exacerbates the anxiety.”
This also goes for the Mayo Clinic website. And Harvard Health. And the Cleveland Clinic. And Healthline. And every single other medical website.
It is really tempting to break this rule, and usually I convince myself that I’m Googling to make myself feel better, but in reality, it always makes it worse. You know it. I know it. Because it’s is a form of reassurance-seeking, which we’ll get to later.
It’s juicy.
2. Take control. (We like control anyway so this works out).
Taking control of our internet use and the information we take in can be a huge step away from fear.
“I have entirely turned off any alert for any information or news since March and it’s hugely helpful,” says Audie Metcalf, Editor-In-Chief of the very website you’re on right now.
“I struggled with the idea at first because of my job; I need to be informed, and I also am just someone who wants to know. All the time. But I realized that it was more my ego taking over for me, rather than the part of me that knew how to practice self-support.” She heard her own doubts reflected back to her from others, too. “When I told people I was going to try this they were kind of judgmental: ‘how will you know what’s happening on in the world? How will you be informed?!’”
But she found herself just as informed as she’d always been. “I have just turned my consumption process from a reactive one to a proactive one. It’s about having agency in how information reaches my mind since I know I catastrophize.”
Information bombardment — which is virtually inescapable in our society of constant scrolling and screens — can deeply skew our very perception of reality. World-renowned hypnotherapist Kerry Gaynor points out that being told something over and over — whether that something is about the world or about ourselves — can eventually allow lies to “masquerade as truths.”
Even if we know something to be unlikely the first time we hear it, hearing it over and over can morph how possible — and probable — something feels for us. Repetition “can wear you down,” so taking control of the information we allow in can help us keep a more accurate grasp of the truth.
3. Find a hobby that requires a lottttt of concentration.
Rumination, or overthinking, often fuels anxiety’s fire. Noticing some small twinge or possible symptom can easily occupy my mind for hours. But one strategy for avoiding that pull downward into anxiety’s grasp is to break the cycle of ruminating and fixating. This is where the common suggestion of “go for a walk” (which has never really helped me, and I doubt I’m the only one) comes in.
Really, anything that will snatch our attention away from the symptoms we’re experiencing can be helpful; it doesn’t necessarily have to be something physically active. “Start cooking, reading books, doing arts and crafts, take up a sport,” Leaver suggests. “Less time spent idle is less time you have to fixate on symptoms, and thus less time that health anxiety has to prevent you living a healthy and balanced life.”
So although the too-common advice is to “go for a walk,” and although that might be helpful to some, really the goal is intense distraction. When the weather is shitty and the sun has already set, I’m probably not going to leave my apartment for a walk. But I might be able to start a new project, or paint, or bake something I’ve never made before. It doesn’t have to be ambitious, it just has to demand our focus.
4. Set limits to time spent worrying.
“Come up with a scheduled, set length of time to do all your worrying and focusing on symptoms (about 30 minutes),” suggests Rehabilitation Neuropsychologist Renee Madathil, Ph.D. “This method trains your mind to attend to worry when you wish to, rather than constantly try to escape worry as it chases you throughout the day.”
This makes it easier to move on from odd symptoms or worrisome thoughts, because you know you’ll have a time to come back to them — without letting them hijack your thoughts for the whole day. “You can also jot down ‘worry’ thoughts as they come up during the day to ‘save’ for your worry time,” says Madathil. Even being able to take that small action of writing the thought down can help us feel more in-control and free us from the gripping anxiety that can take hold otherwise.
5. Do not seek reassurance.
I have racked up hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in medical bills over the last few years after convincing myself to “just get this checked out for peace of mind.” Have a couple of those been actual issues? Sure. Would any of them have really impacted my health if I’d waited until my next check-up? Definitely not.
I was just feeding my anxiety by constantly seeking reassurance from outside sources. “Reassurance from healthcare providers, family members, and friends is like the fuel to health anxiety fire,” says Dr. Jenna DiLossi, LCP. “It's one of the worst things you can do to yourself and here's why: seeking reassurance provides brief relief, but what that process actually does is reinforce the anxious thought process.” It’s a cycle that only gets worse the more you go around and around. “The more reassurance you seek and gain, the more you will need!”
So how do we stop?
We find it uncomfortable to sit with uncertainty or feelings of anxiety, so we reassurance seek to help dispel that discomfort. To stop, we need to first acknowledge and face these uncomfortable feelings. Just recognizing that we’re anxious or scared, and sitting with those feelings, instead of trying to get rid of them, can feel like an actionable step itself.
“We all have to deal with uncertainty,” Gaynor continues. “What most people do in response to that uncertainty is worry or be fearful until they have evidence or proof that everything is okay. But we can only give up worry and fear by giving up that need for a guarantee. We live in a world that isn’t always going to give us proof, evidence, or guarantees,” says Gaynor.
The more we look for what isn’t there, and the more we rely on proof that is fleeting, the more we live at the mercy of our anxiety and stay caught in the cycle.
6. Answer the "what ifs."
In line with accepting uncertainty and building that “muscle” to live with it, answering the “what ifs” instead of getting stuck within that worst-case scenario can take us out of anxiety and into practical steps instead. “Most people stay in the catastrophe: ‘What if it's cancer? What if it's COVID?’ But they never try to answer the question,” says Michael Hilgers, LPC. Instead of ruminating on the “what if,” we can answer the question.
“If it’s cancer, I will find an oncologist. I will contact Uncle Bob who had something similar. I will look for a local support group that specializes in cancer patients.” There may be unknowns, but the “what ifs” do have logical answers. “Answering the what if question helps create a sense of agency, which can help reduce anxiety,” adds Hilgers.
Much of the time, anxiety stems from the desire to control what we really can’t. So it’s no wonder that health is a major fodder for anxiety. It’s important, it’s incredibly personal, and often it is closely linked with our identity. But there’s only so much we can control about our health, and only so much we can know about it.
I’m not sure I will ever kick the temptation to head to Google or book a doctor’s appointment at the onset of the smallest symptoms, but at least I know there are a few things to test out before I head back down those unhelpful paths.
And, interestingly, the feeling of being able to control those small things itself is a balm for my health anxiety.
Try these. Ok, try one. It might help you, too.
