Therapy - what's worked for Health Anxiety?

[Madeira]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum. I have been battling health anxiety for over a decade following quite a significant health scare, I also have an OCD diagnosis. I have been on and off sertraline throughout this time which is generally effective in managing my anxiety. My last bout of health anxiety started in about November and it has been my worst bout ever. The intrusive thoughts were so persistent I actually contemplated suicide. The irony that you want to die so that you can escape constantly pondering your own death! I am back on meds and doing so much better, but this time around I want to throw myself into therapy too. I've just started with a great clinical psychologist and she is recommending EDMR. Has anyone tried this with success? What other therapies have you found useful in managing extreme health anxiety? I'd really appreciate any thoughts. Many thanks, Madeira

[Whizz]

Not really anything professional but I found knowing what my triggers are helped a lot. For example I'd block news that would show up about certain conditions. I also found stress in general triggered very obsessive thoughts so attempting to limit or remove that stress also helped, I also found I'd create an image in my mind of what a peaceful evening would look like, this for me helped to de-stress as it would give me something to look forward to at a certain time of the day and for me it really helped knowing it was a worry free zone from that part of the evening until I go to bed.

[kyllikki]

Welcome to NMP! I very much want to applaud you, Madeira, for asking about this and for the progress you have made!

Also want to point out that there are a lot of us here whose HA, like yours, developed or got way worse after a health event -- which highlights that HA is NOT just about being "the worried well", it's about spending an outsized or distressing amount of mental time, energy, etc on your health. I say this because it bothers me to no end when people insinuate HA is 100% inside one's head, or is something you can just "dismiss" because it's all about hyperfocus -- it isn't always! But, that is a separate topic. :)

First, would suggest really taking the time to find who and what is right for you. don't be afraid about speaking up if a certain form of therapy feels so "wrong" to your brain that you can't even engage with it. I had this with DBT or whatever it is called -- sat there in every session thinking "this is the dumbest thing I have ever done and I feel like I am being condescended, manipulated, etc. just doing it." Evidently the point of DBT is that you're supposed to say those things aloud, but I couldn't get past the fact that I was supposed to willingly subject myself to someone pushing my buttons so that I'd react less to button pushing in the future! That same person also tried to push EDMR on me and I found it pretty horrifying how they wanted to go about it. All this despite telling them that I had had great success with self-help CBT in the past! Anwyay, fast forward to recent times and I have found someone who is mostly CBT oriented and also introduced some of the EDMR techniques to me without in any way signing me up for them, as it were -- and guess what? It's working. I still have horrid anxiety but I have been able to gain a LOT of distance between the thoughts and the emotional reaction, as well as challenge my thinking way more, and tone down the automatic behaviours significantly. My HA is about 60% less distressing than it was 6 months ago. And that's a big deal for me!!

Wishing you all the best

[pav1984]

It's good that you have found a therapist. I think it can be helpful to speak to someone. Better than bottling things up. Please tell someone if you feel as bad as you mentioned in your post. Please talk to someone long before you get to that stage.

In terms of my own experience with health anxiety, I'm on Sertraline, have been for counselling, posted on here. Health anxiety isn't very nice, however I haven't suffered from health anxiety for a good while now.

For me my faith in Jesus has helped me. Since I have started taking my faith more seriously and learning about Jesus, I think my health anxiety has gone. I'm still an anxious person, however I would say my health anxiety has gone.

My advice to you is if you haven't already, go to Jesus and ask him into your life.

[Madeira]

Thank you all very much for your replies. For the first time in years I feel completely determined to get control of my anxiety and OCD. Not just for myself but for my children too - I am terrified by how low I felt. My daughter also has anxiety and OCD and I need to be a good role model for her. I have tried therapy on and off, but it's never really clicked for me, but this time around it feels different. My mind is open and the psychologist I am working with is really excellent. I have already begun to understand so much more about myself and how I ended up in this place mentally, and as a result my feelings of shame and weakness are subsiding. I now see my anxiety as a little Gollum type character. It's not an integral part of me, but a separate being and I am learning to say no to him when he is creeping up on my. I am slowly beginning not to go down the rabbit hole. I am going to start EDMR, along with more narrative therapy. I will post my experiences and results for others in case it's helpful. Thank you again for the warm and encouraging words. I will take all the support I can get. Madeira