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Felicity used to constantly worry about her health. Whenever she had a cough, she was scared she had lung cancer. Whenever she had a headache, she feared the end was near. Googling her symptoms didn’t help. “And that really fed into my anxiety,” she says.
Rather than having illness after illness, 31-year-old Felicity suffered from health anxiety. And she’s far from alone, with 2013 research suggesting that about 6 per cent of Australians – well over a million people – suffer from the condition during their life.
Hypervigilance fuels anxiety symptoms, such as muscle tension
and a racing heart.
Credit:iStock
Health anxiety: Why Googling your symptoms can make you sick
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Health anxiety: Why Googling your symptoms can make you sick
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Updated Mar 01, 2021 | 19:25 IST
Anxiety is arguably an emotion that predates the evolution of man. What was meant to help us make instantaneous decisions in the real jungle, is now triggering anxious responses in the concrete jungle era. Unaddressed anxiety can derail one s best laid out plans | Photo Credit: iStock Images
Anxiety was meant to protect us. Instead, it has become a painful cndition as the fast-paced world throws all of us in the fast-gear. Even prior to COVID-19, anxiety was the most prevalent mental health challenge. The coronavirus pandemic just made it worse.
Dr Jodie Lowinger, a clinical psychologist and founder of the Sydney Anxiety Clinic has helped countless patients struggling with anxiety. Dr Lowinger tells the Sydney Morning Herald, Since the pandemic, those levels have skyrocketed. The reason. is that anxiety thrives on uncertainty. And these are nothing if not uncertain times.
If not now, then when? We must normalise mental health days
smartcompany.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smartcompany.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.