Health anxiety can actually have its own symptoms because it's possible for the person to have stomachaches, dizziness, or pain as a result of their overwhelming anxiety.
Yes when your physical symptoms are caused or worsened by your mental state it is called as psychosomatism. People with mental illnesses can experience a range of physical symptoms, such as muscle tension, pain, headaches, insomnia, and feelings of restlessness.
Anxiety itself can cause symptoms like headaches or a racing heartbeat, and you may mistake these for signs of illness.
Some people worry excessively that they have a serious illness or are going to develop one, a disorder commonly called hypochondria or health anxiety.
Hypochondria is a type of anxiety disorder. It is also known as health anxiety, or illness anxiety disorder, or hypochondriasis. It is normal for people to worry about their health now and again. But people who experience hypochondria get very worried that they are seriously ill, or are about to become seriously ill.
People with health anxiety often misinterpret normal or benign physical symptoms and attribute them to something more serious. For example, if they were to compress an arm while asleep, instead of rolling over and shaking off the numb feeling, they might worry they were having a stroke.
Overthinking can also affect physical health, Carroll says. Some of her patients who deal with negative thoughts and anxiety have also experienced headaches, body aches and stomach problems, she said.
Because hypochondria can activate the “fight or flight” system of the body, having excessive worries about your health can cause some physical symptoms. Some common symptoms of anxiety that hypochondria can trigger include: Stomachaches and conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Anxiety Can Cause Feelings of Illness
Feeling sick may be a sign that you've fallen ill, but it can also be a sign of anxiety. While feeling sick may be the only physical symptom of anxiety, there are often others including breathlessness, dizziness and fatigue.
Use a distraction. Another technique to keep you from self-diagnosing is distraction. When you feel like doing some Googling distract yourself by doing something else — going for a run, calling up a friend, watching some funny videos, whatever will get you out of your head.
Poor emotional health can weaken your body's immune system. This makes you more likely to get colds and other infections during emotionally difficult times. Also, when you are feeling stressed, anxious, or upset, you may not take care of your health as well as you should.
A hypochondriac is someone who lives with the fear that they have a serious, but undiagnosed medical condition, even though diagnostic tests show there is nothing wrong with them. Hypochondriacs experience extreme anxiety from the bodily responses most people take for granted.
For some people, this situation is the start of a vicious cycle. "Anxiety and stress themselves produce these physical symptoms, and on top of that your reaction to those symptoms can make them worse. The more you focus on them, the more alarmed you become, and the more intense your symptoms become," says Dr. Barsky.
Munchausen syndrome (also known as factitious disorder) is a rare type of mental disorder in which a person fakes illness. The person may lie about symptoms, make themselves appear sick, or make themselves purposely unwell.
Some of the causes include: Disturbance in perception such that normal sensations are magnified. Having learned apparent benefits of being sick, such as receiving attention. Hypochondriasis may occur in an individual who had a childhood illness or had a sibling with a childhood illness.
It's important to note that only a mental health professional can diagnose a mental health condition. Therefore, the only way to receive a definite answer to the question, “Do I have a mental illness, or am I overreacting?”, is to get in touch with a professional at an accredited treatment center.
The severity of the anxiety can sometimes manifest as the symptoms of various neurological diseases. People suffering from anxiety can display physical symptoms, which are quite similar to several neurological issues like brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and Lyme disease.
Health issues that may seem like anxiety can be cardiac, endocrine, GI-related, inflammatory, metabolic, neurological, and respiratory. Within those groups, conditions that might first present like anxiety include irritable bowel syndrome, cardiac arrhythmias, hypoglycemia, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Googling Symptoms Causes Health Anxiety
These extreme conclusions can cause serious anxiety, especially for people who are already afraid of health problems. This anxiety happens so frequently today, there's a name for it—cyberchondria.
When we are more susceptible to stress, depression, or anxiety, our brains may be playing tricks on us. A cycle of continuing to look for what is wrong makes it easier to find what is wrong out there. It's called a confirmation bias.
The most effective treatment for illness anxiety is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), specifically, Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP). In our experience, CBT and ERP for illness anxiety are more effective when combined with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).