Health Anxiety Support

This is going to be so powerful for you if you struggle with health anxiety. Use this in moments when irrational health worries have flared up, to soothe and rationalise your way back to calm. Health anxiety is when anxiety manifests itself in terms of unnecessary health worries. I see this a lot in my therapy practice, this is a really common form of anxiety. We can become convinced that something is wrong without any evidence and jump quickly to worrying thoughts. I'll talk you through lots of helpful ways to support yourself with this. Disclaimer: this is not to be used to replace medical advice. If you have any health concerns seek advice from a doctor or professional. This is to be used for health anxiety.

Transcript

Welcome into this space,

I am here to support you if you're experiencing a moment of health anxiety,

If that is something that is just happening in this moment now or something happening in general,

It doesn't matter,

I'm here to show up to help you to bring yourself back to a more grounded space.

So just do whatever you need to do to come into this quiet space today.

If you need to close off any distractions around you,

If you want to close your eyes and go inwards,

If you want to make sure you can get nice and cozy and have blankets around you,

Whatever you're needing please feel free to do.

And what I want you to start to do is I want you to just see if you can slow the pace down.

So whether you do that by breathing slowly or whether you just lean into this slower pace,

What tends to happen when we're feeling anxious is the thoughts get faster and faster and faster and faster where they can really quite spiral and so leaning into this space with me,

What you're doing is you're catching yourself,

You're holding yourself and you're just seeing if you can slow that pace down.

So that might be using your breath to do that and it's okay if that feels difficult in this moment but you can try some slow deep breathing and I'll give you a moment to do that,

Just slow deep breaths,

Nothing too complicated or maybe it's just going a little slower by listening to this music.

Well done,

I am here with you and I really know that this can be such a horrible place to go to because this place we can go to is a space where we can't really rationalise and we can't use our rational mind to reassure ourselves that can feel really difficult.

So what this is all about is trying to catch yourself if you feel you are spiralling into a place of not such positive thoughts and this is a space to come to either if that's happening or happened or maybe even just before you can feel that's happening.

The first thing I want to reassure you with when it comes to health anxiety is that there's one thing health anxiety tends to have a sure sign of doing and that is that we don't tend to worry that maybe something's just a bit off,

Something's maybe a little bit not okay but we tend to worry that something is catastrophic and what you'll know probably sounds familiar is that what you'll be fearing is something that is either life-threatening or at least feels like it would be a worst-case scenario.

Notice how we don't tend to worry that something is just a little bit off,

Something is solvable,

We will tend to take ourselves to this worst-case scenario and so if you're there,

If you're going into worst-case scenario,

In a lot of ways we almost have a higher percentage that this is probably health anxiety than actually the percentage or the probability that this is the thing that you're fearing.

Now I know this is scary and I know that the thing that you're fearing is not something that totally isn't possible because if that was the case then we probably wouldn't be fearing it.

Usually it's something that could be possible but that actually has quite a low probability of being what is going on in our body.

It may be something that's rare or it may be something that isn't an everyday thing,

It may be something that has ultimately quite a low chance of happening.

Again I know I can't reassure you that the thing you're fearing absolutely isn't the case but what I can reassure you with is that this may be worth looking at is the percentage right now higher that this is health anxiety as opposed to it being this worst-case scenario thing.

For lots of people when they're experiencing health anxiety this is what they'll realize,

Actually there's a much higher probability this is health anxiety because a symptom of health anxiety is that I'll be fearing a worst-case scenario situation.

So where this might take you to is that this could have a really high chance of being health anxiety and also naturally quite a low chance of being that thing that I'm fearing.

Take a moment to just sit with that,

Take that if that helps,

Leave it if it doesn't.

I want you to just lean into what I know can be helpful here.

Remember anxiety skews our ability to use probability.

When we're experiencing anxiety we believe something has a 99% chance of being true,

It almost completely wipes out our ability to really rationalize and really realize hold on a minute this thing is a 0.

Something percent chance of happening to me,

This thing is a lower than a high high percentage of actually happening,

Skews that ability for you to do that.

So just breathing as you sit with that for a moment or two.

Now when we're experiencing health anxiety what also can happen is that we can have this tendency to feel as though we have to overly manage things,

Almost overly manage ourselves,

Maybe even overly manage other people I'm not sure for you personally but it's almost like a micromanagement of ourselves to the point where we can try to manage or micromanage our own body.

Now your body is this incredible divine ecosystem that has been working for you even if it's had its moments where it struggled,

It's been working for you your entire life,

It is an ecosystem that does not need you to tell it what to do and just like any ecosystem when something is off that incredible system has a way of bringing itself back into balance.

So often it does not need you to overlook it,

To tell it what to do,

There are so many incredible parts of your body that really do know how to function without you needing to do or say or be aware of anything.

And so if in our life we're feeling as though we really have to put a lot of effort into lots of other things and control things and manage things and push with lots of things,

It's almost a weird feeling to realize that maybe I don't have to do that with my body.

This is when health anxiety can creep in,

It can feel like there must be something off,

There must be something I'm missing,

There must be something that I,

The driver here,

Needs to take control over.

See if you can imagine your body just almost smiling at you and saying hey you are not the one in control of this here,

We have this all under control.

If something's off we know about it and we know what we need to do and we also know how to send any signals that are needed.

Try asking yourself too,

Is this a new and sudden thing that I've all of a sudden started to really worry about?

Quite often this will again be the case with health anxiety.

I want you to see if instead of jumping on that new and sudden experience in your body,

Can you just be aware of there is a uncomfortable feeling going on or there's something that maybe feels a bit off right now but that it's fairly new,

I'm not sure what it really is yet and that I don't need to jump to this worst-case scenario,

I'm just experiencing something that feels a little bit different in my body.

There are many things that that can be and usually things have a way of moving through and working themselves out.

Can you trust your body to talk to you if it needs to continue to get your attention?

Can you trust yourself to listen if it needs to continue to get your attention?

Notice that this is very different to any sudden symptoms and sudden feelings and sudden thoughts and sudden worries.

This is about slowing the pace down and being able to tell your body I'm here to listen if there's something you want to continue to get my attention on,

Something that really kind of is continuing to come up but that I'm not going to be reactive because that doesn't cause you any good feelings and it doesn't help either you or your body to almost feel safe in that relationship together.

Affirming to yourself I'm able to respond to my body in a secure and grounded and responsive way,

I am not reactive and sudden and fearful when it comes to my body.

I really do trust that there are so many things my body has been able to fight off without me realizing,

So many things my body is doing all the time without me telling it to,

That perhaps I need to give a little more trust to my body and in turn a little bit more trust to myself to hear those messages should I need to,

Should they be consistent,

Should they come through in a more grounded way.

Again using this tool of if I've gone to worst-case scenario,

What are the multiple options in between that what I'm feeling right now could be that I'm not considering.

Can you come just one step back from that worst-case scenario,

What would that actually be like?

Can you come a few steps back from that,

What would that be like?

Can you maybe even consider that this really is just something that your body's just felt that doesn't really mean anything,

What does that feel like?

Breathing through this,

I know this is hard but this is about re-regulating your nervous system more than anything,

It's your nervous system that's in a space of fight-flight-freeze,

That's what's the most unhappy right now.

So that nervous system needs some love,

That nervous system needs some re-grounding,

You can do that by your breath,

You can do that by walking,

You can do that by tapping,

You can do that by movement but this is all about bringing that nervous system back to equilibrium so that you can actually rationalize again,

So that you can see clearly,

So that you can feel a lot more grounded in yourself.

This is a place that we want to do anything from.

Well done,

I know that isn't easy,

I really hope you're feeling a little bit more grounded right now than you was a moment ago and if you're not then that's okay too,

Keep doing what you need to do to cycle through this knowing that this is a cycle that we have to come back around.

If you feel you can,

I want you to also just take a moment to zoom out.

I want you to recognize that usually when we have a flare-up of health anxiety it's a symptom of actually what we might be feeling in our wider life.

If there are any areas of your life right now where you're not feeling in control,

Where you're not feeling safe,

Where you're not feeling secure,

Where you're not feeling supported,

Where you're worrying,

Where you're feeling fearful,

Then this almost creates this background feel of anxiety,

This background feel like something's not right,

Something could go wrong.

I tend to find that if on the whole we're feeling quite secure,

We're feeling quite stable,

We're feeling quite safe,

We're not worrying too much about anything major in our life or there's no major changes going on,

Then we don't tend to have as much anxiety at the forefront flaring up too because this background sense is nice and secure,

Therefore the foreground of our worries tend to be a lot calmer as well.

If you have had a flare-up of health anxiety it's worth asking yourself that question,

Not to necessarily need to force any changes,

As I know life can be very very complicated,

There may be a lot of things going on,

But more so as reassurance to yourself of,

Ah maybe that's why all of a sudden all my focus has just gone on this thing to do with my body or to do with my health because there's all this other stuff I'm feeling I can't control.

Again remember this is about control,

Micromanagement,

Management,

Not feeling safe,

Not feeling secure.

When we're feeling safe,

When we're feeling secure,

When we're feeling grounded,

We tend to be able to approach a difficulty,

Even if it is to do with our health,

In a much more calm and stable and rational place.

Again know that you don't need to necessarily do anything with that,

It's more me offering that to you as a little bit of reassurance,

It might just bring a bit more clarity to you.

So some intention setting and commitment to yourself now as we start to come to the end of this meditation,

This space,

This intention setting of I am not going to continue to search anything,

Look anything up because I know that doesn't help me.

The only advice,

Recommendation I'm going to take is if it's from a professional,

That one can be really important.

I realize that the only thing I need to actually do is regulate my nervous system.

Once my nervous system is more regulated then I trust that I can approach this in a calm and rational way.

Again I recognize that the chances of this being health anxiety is likely right now far higher than the thing that I'm fearing.

I give my body a little bit of credit for what it actually has done for me and all it does for me.

My body is amazing and it does so much and maybe it doesn't need me to scrutinize it in this way or become critical or frantic of it.

I actually give my body so much credit for how incredible it is.

Thank you so much for coming into this space with me today,

Really really well done for just taking this time to rebalance yourself and actually do something really positive for yourself.

Take a few more nice breaths,

Deeply breathing if you can and when you're ready I want you to just roll your shoulders back and maybe beginning to blink your eyes open.

Remember that all you need to do right now is regulate your nervous system,

That's the space you need to come into,

That's the space where you're gonna feel a lot calmer,

A lot more grounded and be able to see clearer.

Come back to this anytime you need to if this has been helpful and we're here to support you.

Reviews

Very helpful

This is just what I needed tonight. I especially appreciated the personal and supportive approach, it made me feel like I'm not so alone in this anymore and like someone gets it. Thank you so much 🙏

That was spot on, Just what was needed. Thank you so much for this healing meditation.

Just what I needed. Calming soothing pace. Voice that allows me to slow down and consider factors that cause anxiety. So helpful within making me feel flawed. Thank you!!!

Absolutely what I needed to hear. Thank you. Very helpful.

I found this amazingly supportive today! Struggling through a chronic health issue is a new experience for me, and while there are real concerns to address and work toward healing, my anxious brain can get unnecessarily carried away. This is really helpful and I’ll be returning to this practice as needed! Thank you for sharing it with us!

So truly helpful and calming for me in my current high anxiety state. This was my second meditation with you today and I feel so much better as a result. Thank you so much, Scarlett. 🙏🏻💚

Scarlett, thank you for this talk/meditation. I have been struggling with health issue however I am the person to go down the rabbit hole and experiencing anxiety of all the What ifs. to go and do a search on this thing and that thing and wonder if it’s this or that… Which yes in essence probably brings out more anxiety. what I do need is to be grounded so that I can listen more to my body, which is my true struggle. If you have any suggestions, I am wide open. And thank you for calming me this morning as I begin my day. Many blessings to you.

Never found a meditation on health anxiety and it’s so so powerful thank you Scarlett x

Thanks for this ! It was very helpful esp the part where you said take one step back or two from the worse case scenario

Wow, it seemed like you were describing my experiences completely. Thanks Scarlets for the helpful reassurance.
I will try to trust my body more
🙏

Thanks Scarlett. I will follow you so as to be notified when the course is available. Looking forward to that 🙏

Thank you so much. Kept me from falling headfirst into a health anxiety induced panic attack.

Amazing! I took so much away from that meditation. Thank you 🙏

Thank you SO much for this reassuring and insightful practice. It really helped me get out of my overthinking, catastrophising mind and return to a more grounded and rational place of being.
Sending you my deepest gratitude and blessings. 🙏🏼💖