Starting Here
Maybe a symptom sends you searching for hours, or a doctor's reassurance only helps for a day before the worry creeps back in. Health anxiety can take over far more of your life than the actual health concern warrants.
Therapy can help you manage the worry itself, alongside your relationship with medical care.
This Can Look Like
Health anxiety can look like:
- Frequent checking of your body for signs something is wrong
- Searching symptoms online and spiraling into worst-case scenarios
- Repeated doctor visits or tests seeking reassurance that doesn't last
- Avoiding medical care altogether out of fear of what you'll learn
- Difficulty believing reassurance, even from medical professionals
- Anxiety that consumes time and energy disproportionate to actual health risk
How Therapy Can Help
Therapy addresses the anxiety cycle itself, not just individual worries. We'll help you:
- Understand the cycle of worry, checking, and temporary relief
- Reduce reliance on reassurance-seeking and excessive checking
- Build tolerance for uncertainty about your health
- Address any past experiences that may be fueling the fear
- Reclaim the time and energy health anxiety has been taking up
Our Approach
We take the anxiety seriously without reinforcing the fear cycle. Your therapist will help you understand the pattern driving health anxiety and build tools to interrupt it, while respecting that appropriate medical care still matters.
Therapeutic Approaches We May Use
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — addressing anxious thought patterns about health
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — building tolerance for medical uncertainty
- Mindfulness-Based Therapy — reducing hypervigilance toward bodily sensations
- Somatic Experiencing — calming a nervous system on constant alert
Who Might Benefit From Treatment
Health anxiety therapy may be a good fit if you:
- Spend significant time worrying about your health or checking symptoms
- Seek frequent reassurance from doctors, family, or the internet
- Struggle to feel reassured even after medical evaluation
- Avoid medical care out of fear of what you might find out
- Notice health anxiety limiting your daily life or peace of mind
What to Expect in Therapy
Your first session explores how health anxiety shows up for you—your triggers, your checking behaviors, and what reassurance you've sought and how long it lasted.
Your therapist will help you build tools to manage the anxiety cycle, working collaboratively with your medical providers as appropriate.
Sessions are available in person at our Midtown Nashville office or online for clients throughout Tennessee.
FAQ
Is health anxiety the same as OCD?
There's overlap—health anxiety can involve similar checking and reassurance-seeking patterns as OCD. Your therapist can help clarify what's driving your specific experience and recommend the most fitting approach, including our
page if that fits more closely.
Will you tell me my worries aren't valid?
No. Therapy doesn't dismiss your concerns; it addresses the anxiety cycle that keeps worry disproportionate to actual risk, while still respecting the importance of appropriate medical care.
Do you accept insurance?
Nashville Counseling Associates is out-of-network with insurance providers, so we don't bill insurance directly. Many clients use out-of-network benefits to get reimbursed, and we're happy to provide a superbill (an itemized receipt) for you to submit.
Session fees generally range from $130–$185 depending on the clinician, with $85 sessions available with our graduate-level interns and sliding-scale options based on financial need.
How do I get started?
Fill out our contact form or call (615) 281-9139. We'll ask a few questions about what you're looking for and help match you with a therapist whose experience fits health anxiety and worry about your body.
Sessions are available in person at our Midtown Nashville office or online for clients located anywhere in Tennessee.
Ready to begin counseling?
You don't have to keep carrying this on your own. Reach out to Nashville Counseling Associates, and we'll help connect you with a therapist whose training and approach fit the worry and checking that's taking over.
