Hypnotherapy for Health Anxiety
Horsham, West Sussex and UK-Wide online
What health anxiety looks like
Health anxiety — sometimes known as hypochondria — is a deeply distressing pattern of worrying excessively about your health, misinterpreting normal bodily sensations, and fearing serious illness even when medical reassurance is clear.
For many people, this also includes a fear of doctors, a fear of hospitals, or both. These fears can make daily life feel overwhelming, exhausting, and isolating.
Health Anxiety is the third most commonly presented Anxiety Condition to Anxiety UK.
What Is Health Anxiety (hypochondria)
Health anxiety (sometimes called illness anxiety disorder) is a pattern of excessive worry about having, developing, or misdiagnosing a serious medical condition. Even when tests are normal, reassurance is given, and symptoms are explained, the worry remains.
Common Symptoms
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Constant checking of the body for signs of illness
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Repeatedly seeking reassurance from doctors, loved ones, or online searches
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Difficulty believing medical results
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Fear of doctors, hospitals, or medical tests
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Catastrophic thinking (“What if this headache is a tumour?”)
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Physical symptoms triggered by anxiety itself (tight chest, stomach pain, dizziness)
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Avoiding medical appointments out of fear — or attending them excessively
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Hypervigilance to normal bodily sensations
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Trouble relaxing, sleeping, or focusing on daily life
Health anxiety is not “imagined.” The fear feels real, and the physical sensations are real — but they are driven by the nervous system, not disease.
Reasons and Causes of Health Anxiety
Health anxiety often develops from a combination of psychological, emotional, and experiential factors. Common contributors include:
Past Illness or Trauma: A personal health scare, chronic condition, or witnessing someone else’s illness can sensitise the brain to danger signals.
High Stress or Burnout: When the nervous system is overwhelmed, normal sensations can feel threatening.
Family Patterns: Growing up around illness, or with caregivers who were anxious about health, can shape how the brain interprets bodily sensations.
Personality Traits: People who are highly responsible, sensitive, analytical, or perfectionistic are more prone to health‑related worry.
Information Overload: Googling symptoms, reading worst‑case stories, or consuming medical content can reinforce fear pathways.
Misinterpretation of Bodily Sensations: The brain learns to associate harmless sensations (e.g., a flutter, ache, or twinge) with danger — creating a loop of fear → symptoms → more fear.
How Hypnotherapy Can Help With Health Anxiety
Calming the Nervous System: Hypnosis activates the parasympathetic “rest and digest” response, reducing physical symptoms like stomach tension, chest tightness, and dizziness.
Rewiring Fear Pathways: Through guided imagery and suggestion, the brain learns to reinterpret bodily sensations as safe rather than dangerous.
Reducing Catastrophic Thinking: Hypnotherapy softens the automatic “what if?” thoughts and replaces them with balanced, grounded interpretations.
Breaking the Reassurance Cycle: Clients learn to trust their bodies again, reducing the urge to check, Google, or seek repeated medical reassurance.
Strengthening Emotional Resilience: Hypnosis supports emotional regulation, helping clients feel more in control, calmer, and less overwhelmed by uncertainty.
Supporting Physical Comfort: Techniques such as pain‑control imagery and relaxation scripts help reduce the physical sensations that fuel anxiety.
Book a free Health Anxiety consultation today
Call us on 077 59 44 53 60
How Sophrology helps health anxiety
Sophrology is a relaxation method that combines physical and mental exercises. It brings you to a relaxed state where you can focus on your breath and positive memories. By becoming more aware of your body, we can help improve your physical, emotional and mental health. In addition, sophrology can help develop a positive attitude towards life which in turns help with the management of symptoms.
IMPORTANT
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts and feel that you may harm yourself or want to take your own life it is important to tell someone and get help. If your thoughts around suicide are consuming, there are a number of options for keeping safe:
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Talk to someone you trust and ask for help
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Call 999 and ask for an ambulance
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Go to your nearest A&E department
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Talk to an advisor at the Samaritans
Contact us for a free consultation today
Call us on 077 59 44 53 60
Why us?
We hold qualifications such as
Solution Focused Therapy
EMDR+
EFT
NLP
Specialties in stress management
Stress and Anxiety are the primary reasons teeangers come to consult us. Hypnotherapy is a safe and effective treatment due to its ability to reach the subconscious mind where roots of anxiety often lie. It therefore allows you to go deeper in addressing issues. By identifying the source of the issue, we can enable to shift limiting beliefs and therefore give you new thought patterns to change your self-perceptions.
"I feel invicible!"
Elena
"I can't remember ever feeling that relaxed' "
Evie
"Thank you so much for your help. I don't recognise myself.
Lou