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Quinnbeth's Post

Quinnbeth

Updated 1y ago

How to differentiate between regular anxiety and hypochondria?

Does anyone have any advice on figuring out if you have just regular anxiety or hypochondria? I get very stressed and anxious about my health, if I get the smallest pain or ache or discomfort I run straight to google which inevitably makes things worse. My doctors and my counsellor haven’t said that I do or don’t have hypochondria, they just treat it as GAD. I just want to know what’s wrong with me at this point 😅

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FS_cookielove

Online quizzes, searching anxiety vs hypochondriac, or seeing a therapist

Quinnbeth

I’ve seen three therapists so far - none of them really knew which direction to go in. The first tried CBT which didn’t really work for me, the second tried to find a root cause (we worked together for over a year and couldn’t find anything substantial), and the third tried methods of acceptance and creating an anxiety tool kit. The latter works but doesn’t really help in the long run.

ME0W

Health Anxiety is a scary thing to deal with. You may want to look into finding a psychologist before you see a therapist. They can help you manage the anxiety chemically first then you can move on to conquering it at its source. Talking to people about your worries and experiences are definitely a way to help. This won't stop you from googling or worrying all the time, but it can minimize it a bit.

Quinnbeth

thank you 🥹 I think I’ll definitely look into psychologists and neurologists. For now I mostly talk to my family about it but they’re getting sick of hearing it all of the time

hall2cn09

It's okay. I'm the same way. Any pain or ache or anything my anxiety shoots up because I fear the worst. I'm going with "health anxiety" because it's all worry over health

FS_cookielove

oh wow that's super expensive. Maybe there's an online option for a primary?

Quinnbeth

I’m not sure but there aren’t many registered professionals online anyway. I did a six week online CBT course where I had video call sessions with a therapist but it didn’t work for me :/

The content in this post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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How to differentiate between regular anxiety and hypochondria?