Health anxiety is a specific type of anxiety that is related to your own health, or your perception of it. Health anxiety is when you spend so much time worrying you’re ill, or about getting ill, that it starts to take over your life.
This course will consider:
This course is aimed at people experiencing health anxiety and for those supporting someone with health anxiety. The course also serves as an introduction to health anxiety for staff working with someone with this issue.
This course has ten pages. This course will take approximately one to two hours to complete, but this timing will depend on how fast you read and how long you spend on the reflective questions. You do not need to complete the whole course in one go. If you leave and come back to the course, it will remember where you got up to.
If you would like to get a certificate for this course, you must mark each page complete. You can do this by pressing the ‘mark complete’ button at the bottom of each page.
This course is for education and information only. It does not provide therapy, medical advice, or professional support. If you need crisis support, please contact local mental health services, your GP or telephone 111 or the emergency services.
Course updated: February 2025
Anxiety Care (opens in a new tab) provide support for people experiencing anxiety.
Anxiety UK (opens in a new tab) provide information and support to people experiencing anxiety.
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) (opens in a new tab) provide information about counselling in England and Wales.
Go to Centre for Clinical Interventions (opens in a new tab) and search for Helping Health Anxiety.
There are lots of great resources on Get Self Help (opens in a new tab)
Follow the Get Self Help link then search for: Health Anxiety Thought Record.
Follow the Get Self Help link then search for: The Court Case Scenario.
Follow the Get Self Help Link then search for: Unhelpful Thinking Habits.
Mental Health Matters (opens in a new tab) provide support and information on employment, housing, community support and psychological support.
Mind Infoline (opens in a new tab) provide information about mental distress and provides help and support in your local area.
The NHS website (opens in a new tab) has information about conditions, treatments, local services and healthy lives.
No Panic (opens in a new tab) provide support for people experiencing panic attacks, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, general anxiety disorder and tranquiliser withdrawal.
Rethink Mental Illness (opens in a new tab) provide information and have a helpline for people affected by their mental health.
Wells, A. (2005) Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: A Practice Manual and Conceptual Guide. Wiley &Sons: Chichester.