Most of us worry about our health from time to time. But a psychological condition called health anxiety becomes a problem when the worries and fears about our health interfere with our lives.
Dr. Trish Furer is with the Anxiety Disorders Program in the department of clinical health psychology of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She has been studying what happens when people begin to worry too much about their own health.
"For some people, a news story about the spread of SARS may be a trigger that can create intense anxiety," Furer says. "It may make some people worried about walking though a Chinese neighbourhood, or afraid to go near a hospital or touch a doorknob. The sneeze of a nearby office worker could trigger a panic reaction."
People with health anxiety spend a lot of time checking their bodies to make sure they are healthy: looking for lumps, examining moles, taking their temperature or pulse frequently. They may spend hours surfing the web looking at medical websites because of their worries about illness.
Health anxiety can involve mild fears about getting a serious illness and can be quite transient, or can be a much more severe and chronic problem. Hypochondriasis, for example, is a severe and persistent form of health anxiety that interferes substantially with a person's daily life.
Furer notes: "Some people see doctors frequently and have lots of medical tests. But some are so worried about their health they won't go to see a doctor because they don't want to risk hearing that they really are sick."
Furer explains that there are effective psychological and medicinal treatments available for health anxiety. She is presently evaluating a behavioral treatment program for health anxiety that involves coping with fear of illness and death, and increasing life satisfaction.
"If a person feels better about his or her life, then fear of contracting disease will be lessened," she advises.
While she says concerns about contracting SARS in China or Toronto are understandable, Furer notes that worrying to the point where it interferes with your work of family life may be a sign of health anxiety.
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