Health anxiety is a condition that may cause you to constantly worry about an actual health condition that you have or it can even cause healthy people to worry that they are sick when they are not. It is common that while receiving during medical care/treatment, the emotional dimensions of an acute or chronic ailment are relegated to the background.
Indeed, it is never a smooth ride when you have to deal with an illness, especially when it is a life-threatening one. With over 10% of American women slightly predisposed to depression, it matters to pay attention to this issue. Here are a few ways how.
Exercise patience with treatment methods and recovery process
The worst part of any medical condition is not the diagnosis alone. Instead, the ability to remain calm while enduring the treatment and recovery process is the real deal. Sometimes, you will have to endure a plethora of lab tests before your physician specialist settles on the suitable treatment course for you. In a situation like this, it is easy to slip into an anxious mood. Sadly, that will only progress into a total loss of control over your emotions. At this point, you are likely to sink deeper into a depressive state and health anxiety takes hold.
One solution is to avoid carrying out internet searches on your illness and reading what others say about it. Although the world wide web holds a wealth of information, it does not mean everything there is the absolute truth. Failure to avoid scouring the internet on your medical condition will give rise to assessing inaccurate information, which will make you feel worse.
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Choose privacy: Avoid discussing it with everybody who asks
Indeed, in some circumstances, silence is golden. Unfortunately, in a bid to solicit sympathy from a listening ear for health anxiety, some sufferers quickly open up about their medical state to anyone. However, the logical thing is to choose privacy and confidentiality. There have been circumstances where people inadvertently suffered health stigmatization from the public. Whether you are awaiting a diagnosis or already got it, your safest bet is to restrict that crucial piece of information to only a few trusted persons.
This could be your spouse, partner, best friend, or adult children. For example, the world continues to reel from the Coronavirus pandemic, and there’s a lot of testing going on. Therefore, rather than going to a public place to get tested, a private covid test will offer you that sense of discretion. You can be assured that My Healthcare Clinic uses only the latest methods to produce accurate results.
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Allow yourself to feel the emotions about your health
Despite the talk on being guarded about your emotional health when dealing with a physical illness, it is a must to allow yourself to feel them. It is never a good thing to avoid going through the entire emotional process. According to American psychologists, coping mechanisms involve three levels; acceptance of the news, grieving the loss or drastic change, and resolution.
In other words, allowing yourself to deal with these emotions (in a healthy way) helps you process your current state. Again, it enables you to become resolute and willing to fight to regain your health. It is alright to cry, feel self-pity, and begin to ask the ‘why me?’ questions. The solution is to move on up from there.
Indeed, most serious health problems come up out of the blue, and it’s understandable to feel grief, despair, and sadness. This emotional upheaval is normal only if you refuse to allow it to overtake your senses. Instead, take steps to redirect your energies towards fighting the physical ailment. With health anxiety the issue is not whether your physical symptoms are real, but whether you are responding to and coping with your symptoms in a helpful or unhelpful way. Use these ways to cope and come out stronger.
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