For 25-year-old Hollie Sharman, the fear of dying was a daily reality that kept her trapped in a cycle of medical emergencies and isolation. She visited accident and emergency departments four to five times a week, enduring excruciating chest pain that doctors could never find a physical cause for. At her most severe, she spent 13 hours in one such visit, only to return home with the same panic when her legs felt weak.
Sharman’s experience is not unique. She describes a relentless loop of searching for symptoms online, using tools like ChatGPT to diagnose herself, and feeling isolated from friends and family. Her anxiety began in childhood, where she would invent excuses to stay home from school. By her 22nd birthday, the condition had escalated to the point where she suffered a severe panic attack in a restaurant restroom during a meal with friends.
The Cycle of Reassurance and Avoidance
Dr. Kirren Schnack, a clinical psychologist, defines health anxiety as an obsessional worry about being seriously ill when there is no medical evidence to support it. This condition often manifests in two distinct behavioral patterns: checking and avoidance.
Checking behaviors include frequently examining one’s body, monitoring vital signs like blood pressure, or spending hours researching symptoms on the internet. Schnack notes that some individuals also seek constant reassurance from friends, family, or online communities to feel safe. Conversely, avoidance involves steering clear of doctors or ignoring bodily sensations because the individual fears the worst possible outcome.
Sharman’s anxiety severely impacted her personal life. She disconnected from her social circle to avoid repetitive conversations about her health. Her romantic relationship also suffered, as she struggled to accept reassurance from her partner. “How can you tell someone everything’s fine when I think I’m actually dying?” she asked, highlighting the disconnect between logical reassurance and the visceral fear experienced by those with the condition.
Diagnosis and Management Strategies
Sharman was eventually diagnosed with health anxiety and health-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). With the support of her family and partner, she developed techniques to manage her symptoms. One effective method involved writing down her symptoms, such as chest pain, and then recording at the end of the day that she was fine. This created a record she could refer to when anxiety spiked, reminding her that previous fears had not materialized.
Dr. Schnack emphasizes that while health anxiety is a serious condition, it is manageable. She advises that if a symptom is new, concerning, or persistent, it is responsible behavior to check reliable sources like the NHS website. If a symptom lasts more than two weeks, a general practitioner appointment is recommended. However, for immediate emergencies, individuals should call 999 or go to A&E.
For those managing health anxiety, Schnack suggests several practical strategies. These include challenging worst-case thinking by considering alternative explanations for physical sensations, such as attributing back pain to poor posture rather than a serious illness. Limiting reassurance-seeking by setting time limits on asking others about symptoms can also help. Other techniques include burning off anxious energy through quick bursts of movement, grounding oneself with strong sensory experiences like holding an ice cube, and using specific breathing techniques to calm the nervous system.
Sharman now uses her TikTok platform to raise awareness about health anxiety, helping her parents and others understand her condition. She encourages others not to put their lives on hold due to anxiety, stating that pushing through these feelings is key to recovery. Her journey from being confined to hospital wards to sharing her story publicly demonstrates that health anxiety does not have to control one’s life.
Source: BBC
