Health Anxiety Therapy Online
A headache becomes a brain tumor. A skipped heartbeat means something is seriously wrong. You check your body, search your symptoms, or ask for reassurance, and the relief never lasts. If this cycle sounds familiar, you may be dealing with health anxiety, and it responds very well to treatment. Our clinicians use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and exposure-based methods to help adults break the cycle, by secure video in 44 states.
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is persistent, distressing worry about having or developing a serious illness, even when medical evaluations are reassuring. In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), it most often falls under illness anxiety disorder. When physical symptoms are prominent and the worry about them is excessive, it may fall under somatic symptom disorder instead.
Health anxiety is common, and it isn’t “overreacting.” The fear and physical sensations are real; the problem is the cycle that keeps them going.
The Check, Reassure, Repeat Cycle
Health anxiety is maintained by behaviors that bring short-term relief and long-term worry:
- Body checking, such as feeling for lumps, taking your pulse, or examining your skin
- Searching your symptoms online
- Reassurance-seeking from family, friends, or doctors
- Avoidance, such as skipping doctors or avoiding exercise because it raises your heart rate
Each of these teaches your brain that the threat was real, which makes the next worry stronger.
How CBT Treats Health Anxiety
CBT is the best-studied treatment for health anxiety, and research reviews show strong, lasting benefits. Treatment typically includes:
- Understanding the cycle. You learn how attention, body sensations, and checking feed one another.
- Examining catastrophic thinking. You weigh the evidence and build tolerance for uncertainty.
- Reducing safety behaviors. You gradually cut back on checking, symptom searching, and reassurance-seeking.
- Exposure. You approach feared triggers, such as reading about an illness, without checking until the fear decreases.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills. You make room for anxious thoughts and live by your values.
Many people see meaningful improvement in about 8 to 16 sessions.
Health Anxiety and OCD
Health anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can look alike, because both involve intrusive fears and repetitive behaviors. When health worries take the form of obsessions with clear compulsions, such as rituals or mental reviewing, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is often the treatment of choice. Our clinicians are trained in ERP. Learn more about OCD therapy and ERP.
Treatment Online
Online therapy works well for health anxiety. CBT and exposure exercises are easy to do by video, and practicing at home means you work on your triggers where they actually happen. Learn how our teletherapy works.
Therapy doesn’t replace medical care. Keep appropriate checkups with your doctor; treatment helps you do that without getting pulled back into the cycle.
Common Health Anxiety Fears
Health anxiety can focus on almost any part of the body. Some of the most common fears include:
- Cancer, often triggered by a lump, a mole, fatigue, or a headache
- Heart problems, triggered by a racing heart, skipped beats, or chest tightness
- Neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), triggered by tingling, twitches, or numbness
- Infections or contamination, including fears of serious diseases after ordinary contact
- Worries about a child’s or partner’s health, which can drive constant checking on loved ones
When one worry is ruled out, another often takes its place, a strong sign the problem is the anxiety cycle itself, not any one symptom.
What an Exposure Exercise Might Look Like
Exposure for health anxiety is planned together and starts small. Depending on your fears, examples include:
- Reading a short article about an illness without searching your own symptoms afterward
- Noticing your heartbeat for a few minutes without taking your pulse
- Going a full day without body checking, then a full week
- Delaying a reassurance question, then not asking it at all
- Exercising enough to raise your heart rate, and letting the sensations pass
How Family Members Can Help
Loved ones often provide reassurance because they care, but repeated reassurance feeds the cycle. Treatment can help family members respond supportively without reinforcing checking, for example: “I know this is scary, and I trust you can handle not knowing right now.” Your clinician can include a family member in a session.
When to Seek Help
Consider reaching out if health worries take up a lot of your day, if checking or searching feels hard to stop, if you’re avoiding doctors or making repeated appointments, or if the fear is affecting your work, sleep, or relationships.
Insurance Coverage
We’re in-network with Aetna, Optum and UnitedHealthcare, Oscar (through the UnitedHealthcare network), Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ambetter (in Washington only), and others. Depending on the clinician and state, some of our clinicians also accept Anthem.
We do not accept Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans.
Psychological Healing has 40 clinicians, offering in-person sessions in 20 states and video sessions in 44 states.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can therapy cure health anxiety? Many people recover fully or improve dramatically with CBT. Research shows the benefits often last long after treatment ends.
How do I stop Googling my symptoms? Treatment helps you cut back gradually, not all at once, and replace searching with skills for tolerating uncertainty. Most people find the urge fades as they practice.
How long does health anxiety treatment take? Many people improve within about 8 to 16 weekly sessions, though it varies from person to person.
Is health anxiety treatment covered by insurance? Usually, yes, as outpatient psychotherapy. We’ll check your benefits before you start.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.
Clinically reviewed by Karan Singh, Ph.D.
Last reviewed October 16, 2026