asking for reasurance

[tricia56]

hi im always asking for reasurance either from family gp on internet and even foning help lines up either about anxiety or health matters and i do it everyday.and want to ask some one if by doing this all the time it keeps my anxiety going , but for the last couple of weeks i had no internet or fone so i couldnt fone or look up on internet and all tho because not having the accsess to any of these things for a few days i was really anxiouse but after that i seemed to cope a lot better with my anxietyand managed it alot better and i only asked my family now again for reasurance. but now because im back on the internet and fone since yersterday ive started again googling and going websites looking for answers and my anxiety has gone sky high yet again , so im just wondering if any one else is similar to me and if it is asking for too much reasurance feeds my anxiety

[jayjoe18]

Yes! Definitely! I had severe health anxiety a few years back and from that experience I learnt that Google and seeking reassurance is not good. It helps at the time to calm you down but in the long run it really doesn't help, trust me. It just makes everything worse, by looking online etc you're fueling and keeping the anxiety going. The proof is in what you said, that the anxiety subsided once you had no internet access. You need to learn how to reassure yourself in anxious situations, although it's difficult it really does help. The more you do this, the easier it becomes and the less worries you will have. What helped me is writing it all down, I have this little book 'For' and 'Against' my worries. It really helps to rationalise things when your anxiety is high and if you get a recurring worry, it's handy to re-read what you wrote. This worked for my health anxiety :)