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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Yes, usually. A doctor can assess health anxiety by video, refer you for CBT and prescribe an SSRI when it is right; new symptoms that need examining are seen in person.
- What it is: spending so much time worrying that you are ill, or will become ill, that it takes over your life. It is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- How common: anxiety disorders affected 470 million people worldwide in 2023, yet only about 1 in 4 people who need treatment get it. Health anxiety is among them, and it is treatable.
- Real symptoms: anxiety itself causes headaches, a fast heartbeat, chest tightness and nausea, which can feel like proof of illness.
- Treatment: cognitive behavioural therapy helps most, and SSRIs can help. Cutting back checking, searching and reassurance is part of the plan.
- Emergency: call 112 for chest pain spreading to the arm, neck or jaw, sudden severe breathlessness, or if you might act on thoughts of ending your life.
Do not book a video appointment for chest pain that spreads to your arm, neck or jaw, sudden severe breathlessness, fainting, or a sudden severe headache, even if you have health anxiety, or if you are thinking about ending your life and might act on it. Call 112 or go to an emergency department.
Can an online doctor treat health anxiety?
Yes. A doctor by video can go through the symptoms that worry you, decide whether anything needs examining or testing, and then treat the health anxiety itself: a referral for cognitive behavioural therapy, a plan that limits checking, searching and repeat tests, and an SSRI after a full assessment when it is right for you. New symptoms that need an examination are seen in person, and the doctor tells you which ones.
How an online consultation helps with health anxiety
- Your symptoms taken seriously: The doctor checks the symptom that worries you and says plainly whether it needs tests.
- The cycle explained: How worry, body checking and reassurance keep health anxiety going, and how to break it.
- Therapy that works: A referral for CBT, the treatment that helps most.
- A plan you agree: Regular reviews instead of repeated tests and searches, and medicine when it helps.
What the doctor checks in an online health anxiety consultation
The doctor looks at the symptoms that worry you first, then at the worry itself. The doctor asks about:
- Warning signs: chest pain, breathlessness, weight loss, bleeding, a new lump or other symptoms that need checking.
- What you fear: which illness, how much of the day the worry takes, and what sets it off.
- What you do about it: checking your body, searching online, asking for reassurance, repeated appointments or tests.
- What you avoid: exercise, medical programmes, or doctors altogether.
- Mood and anxiety: low mood, panic attacks, OCD and thoughts of self-harm.
- Your history: past illness in you or someone close to you, and tests you have had.
Before the call, list the tests you have had and their results. It helps the doctor decide quickly what, if anything, needs doing next.
What are the signs of health anxiety?
Some concern for your health is normal and useful. Health anxiety is when the worry takes over your life, even though no illness has been found. You might:
Swipe sideways to compare →
| Sign | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Constant worry | Worrying a lot about your health, imagining the worst, or fearing a doctor missed something |
| Checking | Checking your body often for lumps, tingling or pain |
| Reassurance-seeking | Asking people again and again whether you are ill, or going back to doctors and hospitals |
| Searching | Looking up symptoms and health information online for long periods |
| Avoiding | Avoiding anything to do with illness, such as medical programmes, or avoiding doctors altogether |
| Acting as if ill | Avoiding exercise or activities in case they make an illness worse |
Can health anxiety cause real physical symptoms?
Yes. Anxiety causes real sensations: a fast heartbeat, chest tightness, changes in breathing, sweating, nausea and headaches. In health anxiety, these normal anxiety symptoms feel frightening and seem to confirm that something is wrong, which raises the worry further.
The cycle of health anxiety
- A trigger: a new sensation, a relative becoming ill, or health news online.
- Worry and tension: ‘What if this is serious?’
- Checking, searching or seeking reassurance, which eases the worry only briefly.
- Anxiety symptoms such as chest tightness or headaches feel like proof of illness.
- The worry grows, and the cycle starts again.
What causes health anxiety, and who gets it?
Health anxiety often follows past ill health, in you or someone close to you, symptoms that were missed or misdiagnosed, or a time of stress or depression. It is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it often comes with other anxiety, panic attacks or low mood.
Anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental disorders, affecting 470 million people in 2023, yet only about 1 in 4 people who need treatment receive any.
Health anxiety or something else?
Swipe sideways to compare →
| Condition | How it differs | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Panic attacks | Sudden surges of fear with a racing heart, which can feel like a heart attack | Panic attacks |
| Generalised anxiety | Worry about many things, not mainly about illness | Anxiety |
| OCD | Obsessions and rituals, which may include fears of contamination | OCD |
| Depression | Low mood and loss of interest; often comes with health worries | Depression |
| Body dysmorphic disorder | Worry about how a part of your body looks, rather than about illness | Body dysmorphic disorder |
Health anxiety does not mean your symptoms are ignored
People with health anxiety get ill too. Losing weight without trying, bleeding, a lump that is growing, chest pain on exertion, or a symptom that is new and different still need a doctor, and the plan you agree says which symptoms to report.
How do you stop health anxiety?
Cognitive behavioural therapy helps most: it teaches you to cut back checking and reassurance-seeking, to stop avoiding activities because of body sensations, and to see sensations in a more balanced way. Behavioural stress management and exposure therapy can also help, and SSRIs can treat health anxiety itself.
Self-help that works
- Keep a diary: record how often you check your body, ask for reassurance or look up health information, and aim to cut back over a week.
- Challenge your thoughts: in one column, write your health worries; in a second column, write a more balanced thought, such as ‘headaches can often be a sign of stress’.
- Keep busy: when you feel the urge to check, go for a walk or call a friend instead.
- Return to normal life: bring back the sport, socialising and other activities you have avoided, step by step.
- Relax: practise breathing or muscle relaxation exercises.
- Stop searching: searching the internet for diseases tends to add confusion and anxiety.
Which health anxiety treatment might the doctor recommend?
The doctor first decides whether any symptom needs checking, then treats the anxiety. This is the framework the doctors use:
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| What you have | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worry about a symptom, without warning signs | Assessment, a clear answer and self-help | Yes | Not usually needed |
| A new symptom with a warning sign | Examination and tests | Partly | For the examination and tests |
| Worry that takes up hours a day despite normal tests | Referral for CBT, and a plan for checking and searching | Yes | For the therapy sessions |
| Health anxiety with low mood or panic, or therapy alone has not helped | An SSRI with reviews, alongside CBT | Yes | If there is little improvement |
| Many appointments and tests with different doctors | One agreed doctor, regular reviews, and limits on tests | Yes | Only for tests the doctor agrees |
| Chest pain spreading to the arm, neck or jaw, or severe breathlessness | Emergency care | No | Call 112 now |
Worry about your health taking over? A doctor can tell you in one consultation what needs checking and what will help.
See available times →Treatment options for health anxiety
What you can do yourself
- Use the self-help steps above, starting with the diary.
- Stay physically active, and stay involved in work and social life.
- Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs, which make anxiety worse.
- Agree a regular review with one doctor, rather than seeing many different doctors.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. After a full assessment, the doctor may prescribe an SSRI, which can help health anxiety itself and the low mood or panic that often come with it, with reviews booked. Benzodiazepines are controlled medicines and are never prescribed online. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
What does not help
Searching symptoms online, which adds confusion and anxiety. Repeated tests and second opinions, which reassure only briefly. Checking your body many times a day. Avoiding exercise and activities because of sensations.
Special situations
After a serious illness
Worry after a serious illness, in you or someone close to you, is understandable. When it takes over daily life, it can be treated like any health anxiety, alongside your follow-up care.
Pregnancy
Worry about the baby’s health is common. Tell your midwife or doctor, and see the mental health in pregnancy pages.
While travelling in Europe
Fear of falling ill abroad can spoil a trip. Pack your usual medicines, and remember that in an emergency you call 112 anywhere in the EU; for anything else, a doctor by video can help wherever you are.
Children
Mobi Doctor consultations are for adults aged 18 and over. A child who is unwell needs a paediatrician or a local doctor in person, and emergency signs in a child mean 112.
When health anxiety is treated online, and when you need in-person care
Treated online: assessment of your symptoms and worries, referral for CBT, SSRI treatment with reviews, and a plan that limits checking, searching and repeat tests.
In-person care: examinations and tests for new symptoms with warning signs, therapy sessions where you prefer them in person, and any emergency.
When to get in-person care
Call 112 or go to an emergency department now for:
- chest pain that spreads to your arm, neck or jaw, or comes with sweating or breathlessness
- sudden severe breathlessness, or fainting
- a sudden, severe headache
- thoughts of ending your life that you might act on
Get medical advice the same day for:
- a new symptom that is getting worse quickly
- panic attacks that keep coming
- thoughts of death or self-harm without a plan to act on them
You can also find a free, confidential crisis helpline in your country at findahelpline.com.
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: daily 7am–11pm CEST. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, and the exact price is shown before you pay.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about your worries: describe the symptoms that worry you and the tests you have had, and say how much time the worry takes.
- Leave with a plan: what to do, what to take and for how long, and which signs mean you should be seen in person. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.
No sign-up needed
Checking symptoms again and again can feed health anxiety. If you need to check one, tick it to see the pages that mention it, then talk it through with a doctor on a video call.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Anxiety can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about health anxiety
What is health anxiety?
Health anxiety is when you spend so much time worrying that you are ill, or will become ill, that it takes over your life. It is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it can be treated.
What is a hypochondriac?
An older word for someone with health anxiety. Doctors now usually call it health anxiety, or illness anxiety disorder. The worry is real and distressing, and it can be treated.
Can health anxiety cause real symptoms?
Yes. Anxiety causes real sensations, such as a fast heartbeat, chest tightness, breathing changes, sweating, nausea and headaches. In health anxiety these feel like proof of illness, which raises the worry further.
Is it health anxiety or a real illness?
It can be both, which is why a doctor checks new symptoms properly before treating the worry. Health anxiety is suggested when tests keep coming back normal, when the feared illness changes from month to month, when the fear is far out of proportion to the symptom, and when checking and reassurance bring only brief relief; a real illness usually has symptoms that follow a consistent pattern and show up on examination or tests.
How do I stop health anxiety?
To stop health anxiety, cut back checking your body, searching online and asking for reassurance, step by step, and challenge worried thoughts with more balanced ones. Cognitive behavioural therapy helps most, and an SSRI can help too.
Why do I keep thinking I am ill?
In health anxiety, worry, checking and reassurance feed each other: each check eases the worry briefly, then it returns stronger. Past illness, stress and low mood make this more likely.
Is health anxiety a mental illness?
Yes. Health anxiety is a recognised anxiety condition, related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which the fear of being ill takes over your life even though no illness has been found. It is not a weakness or a sign that you are making symptoms up, and it responds well to cognitive behavioural therapy and, when needed, an SSRI.
Should I stop searching my symptoms online?
Yes. Searching the internet for diseases tends to add confusion and anxiety rather than reassurance, because every symptom matches something serious somewhere online, and each search feeds the health anxiety cycle. Agree with a doctor which symptoms are worth reporting and how, then put that plan in place of searching; many people find it helps to set a limit and reduce it week by week.
What can I do myself about health anxiety?
Keep a diary of the worry, the checking and the searching so you can see the pattern; set a limit on checking your body and searching online and cut it down week by week; agree with a doctor which symptoms to report, then trust that plan; practise slow breathing and exercise regularly, because both ease the physical symptoms anxiety causes; and read a CBT-based self-help guide for health anxiety. If the worry still takes over your life after a few weeks, ask for therapy.
Will I still be checked if I have a real symptom?
Yes. Health anxiety does not mean your symptoms are ignored. Weight loss, bleeding, a growing lump, chest pain on exertion or a new, different symptom still need a doctor.
Does health anxiety go away?
Health anxiety rarely disappears on its own, because checking and reassurance keep it going, but with cognitive behavioural therapy most people improve a great deal, and an SSRI helps when anxiety or low mood come with it. Flare-ups can return at stressful times or after a real illness, so the skills learned in therapy are worth keeping up, which is why stopping the checking and searching for good matters.
How can I help someone with health anxiety?
If someone has health anxiety, be kind, but avoid giving reassurance again and again, which helps only briefly. Encourage them to see a doctor about the worry itself and to stay active.
Can an online doctor treat health anxiety?
Yes, usually. A doctor can assess your symptoms and health anxiety by video, refer you for CBT, prescribe an SSRI when it is right, and agree a plan that limits repeat tests.
- Health anxiety, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed 8 November 2023.
- Health anxiety, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, Talking Therapies (UK), accessed 15 October 2026.
- Illness anxiety disorder: diagnosis and treatment, Mayo Clinic (US), updated 19 April 2021.
- Anxiety disorders: fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 15 September 2026.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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