Before the recent pandemic acute anxiety about health was not a problem that was especially
common in my clinic. Sure there were always people who could be described as
‘hypochondriacs’ and doctors had told them to ‘see’ a mental health professional when their
visits became too numerous! Also there were those who maybe had reasons for being anxious
about their health, but had become overly fearful. These included people who perhaps had
heart problems which had been resolved with medical interventions, but who were unable to
resume a normal life and lived a restricted existence because of fear.
However, in the last few years I have seen a very large number of people of all ages who have
developed debilitating health anxiety. It has morphed from the fears of Covid contagion with
its associated behaviours, over-testing and self-imposed privations on liberty, to real suffering
and full on panic attacks. There are many reasons for this and it helps to give this new
phenomenon a context. Some people may have seen friends of family die of Covid or from
medical conditions that didn’t get proper treatment during the pandemic. They became much
more aware of the value of health which a lot of us tended to take for granted. The
suddenness and unpredictability of these deaths left people feeling out of control in many
ways and not being able to access health resources or have support from them created
psychological issues that have continued. The NHS is in the worst state it has ever been in
(and I hear this from clients who work in it) and getting doctor’s appointments and treatment
at A&E is no longer easy. I see people with PTSD from the experience of having seen loved
ones suffer and the feeling of being disempowered stays with them. But the perfect storm
doesn’t end there. The industrial action taken by health workers and paramedics in the last
couple of years has contributed further to patients fears. I’m not discussing the rights or
wrongs of the strikes, but simply describing the impact they are having on some people. For
example, I have been seeing one lady in her 50’s who hasn’t got any particular health needs
but who always liked to know that the health service was available should it be needed. Her
father had died during Covid in very bad circumstances, leaving her fearful that if she needed
help it wouldn’t be there. Now when the hospital doctors strike, the evening before she goes
into a total state of panic. She won’t go for a walk in case she trips over and breaks a bone
that won’t be treated for hours and then ‘might get a DVT’. She says she lies awake at night
with her heart racing and counting the hours and days till the strike is over. She really is
suffering and I’m seeing increasing numbers of adults (and children) who are experiencing
health anxiety along a spectrum.
Now for the good news! Solution focused hypnotherapy and NLP can help you reset and to
be free of intrusive thoughts. None of us can be sure what will happen to our health in the
future and we certainly can’t fix the NHS in the short term. Despite this I CAN give you back
your power and support you to live a healthy and happy life and give you the resilience to
face what may, or may not, happen in the future. Imagine that! If you have anxieties around
health please call me for a chat to see how you could be helped. If you’ve been diagnosed
with a condition, research suggests that alongside your treatment, hypnotherapy will make
sure that your mind is in the best place to support you.