Stopping the Cycle of Panic Attacks and Health Anxiety

Many people experience their first panic attack the same way: they mistake sensations such as chest pain, racing heartbeat, sweating, or tingling for a heart attack. The fear that you are having a heart attack or some kind of medical emergency is often enough to send you to the emergency room. It’s a scary and confusing thing to go through, but fortunately, ending the cycle of panic and health-related anxiety is very doable.

 Health anxiety, or hypochondria, is a condition in which someone worries excessively about their own, or someone else’s, wellbeing. It’s easy to begin looking for signs of illness or disease which can lead to frequent “scanning” of the body. For example, someone may mistake chest tightness for a heart attack which leads them to begin panicking. Other people may fear they have cancer and engage in excessive and unnecessary self-exams. It’s common for people with health anxiety to frequent the doctor’s office and get checked out in order to feel reassured that they are okay. Over time, continued scanning, checking, or evaluating symptoms ends up worsening the cycle of anxiety; seeking reassurance only quells the anxiety for a brief period of time before the anxiety rises again. Not everyone with health-related anxiety experiences panic attacks but many do. It’s important to get to the root of your fears and beliefs about your health in order to stop the panic attacks.

 Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective treatment for health anxiety. The work involves learning to understand the distorted thinking and unhelpful or false beliefs that keep you stuck in worry. It also involves the sometimes hard, but effective, work of exposing yourself to your fears in order to break the cycle of avoidance or reassurance seeking. Mindfulness skills also help us to relate differently to our worrisome thoughts and learn to differentiate between helpful and unhelpful ways of thinking.

 If you’re struggling with panic attacks and/or health anxiety, I encourage you to reach out to schedule a consultation. Panic disorder and health anxiety are both very common and treatable conditions!

Helpful reading:

 Freedom from Health Anxiety by Dr. Karen Lynn Cassiday

 The Anxiety Workbook for Teens by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW