OCD and Health Anxiety: Strategies for Managing Obsessions and Physical Health Concerns
Everyone worries about their health from time to time. It’s normal to wonder if that headache is just stress or if your stomach ache means you ate something bad. But for some people, these thoughts don’t fade away—they stick, grow, and start to take over daily life.
When obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) overlaps with health anxiety (sometimes called illness anxiety disorder), the result can feel exhausting. Your mind may latch onto fears about illness, symptoms, or bodily sensations, leading to constant checking, researching, or seeking reassurance.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone—and there are ways to manage it. In this blog, we’ll break down what OCD and health anxiety are (and how they overlap), common signs and thought patterns, why reassurance can backfire, practical, research-backed strategies for managing obsessive health concerns, and when and how to seek professional help!
Understanding OCD and Health Anxiety
What Is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health condition that involves:
Obsessions: unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that cause distress
Compulsions: repetitive behaviors or mental actions done to try to reduce anxiety or prevent something bad from happening
With OCD, the brain gets stuck in a loop—an obsession triggers symptoms of anxiety, and a compulsion temporarily eases it. But relief is short-lived, so the cycle repeats.
What Is Health Anxiety?
Health anxiety is an intense, ongoing fear of having a serious illness, even when medical tests show you are healthy. It can manifest as intrusive thoughts. People with health anxiety may:
Monitor their bodies for signs of disease or illness
Worry excessively about mild or normal physical sensations
Seek repeated medical reassurance
Avoid medical care out of fear of bad news
How OCD and Health Anxiety Overlap
While OCD and health anxiety are two separate conditions, they can share many similarities—so much so that it’s easy to mistake one for the other. In both, the brain becomes hyper-focused on health-related fears and struggles to let go of them. The difference is that OCD usually involves a broader pattern of obsessions and compulsions, while health anxiety focuses almost entirely on fears about illness and physical health.
For some people, OCD shows up specifically through health-related obsessions. These are intrusive, unwanted thoughts that keep repeating, such as:
“What if I have cancer?”
“What if I’m missing an important symptom?”
“What if my doctor overlooked something serious?”
“What if I’m contagious and making other people sick?”
When these thoughts appear, the anxiety can feel so intense that you feel compelled to “do something” to make it go away. That’s where compulsions come in—repetitive behaviors or mental actions meant to reduce the fear, such as:
Googling symptoms over and over, often late at night, searching for proof you’re fine—or confirmation of your worst fear
Checking your body for lumps, rashes, or other changes, sometimes multiple times a day
Asking friends, family, or coworkers for reassurance that you look healthy or seem fine
Visiting multiple doctors or seeking repeat medical tests to make sure nothing is “missed”
The problem is that these compulsions only provide temporary relief. You might feel calmer for a short while, but the doubt eventually returns—often stronger than before. This sets up a cycle:
Intrusive health fear →
Anxiety spikes →
Compulsion (checking, Googling, asking) →
Brief relief →
Fear returns, sometimes with new worries
How the Cycle Plays Out
Imagine waking up and feeling a slight tightness in your chest. Most people might think, “I probably slept in a weird position,” and move on. But with OCD and health anxiety, your mind immediately jumps to worst-case scenarios:
“Is this a heart problem?”
“What if I’m having a heart attack and don’t know it?”
You check your pulse. It feels normal, but you’re not convinced. You Google “chest tightness causes,” reading article after article until you stumble on something about heart disease in people your age. Now your anxiety spikes even higher.
You call your doctor’s office, just to “be safe,” but can’t get an appointment right away. So you text a friend: “Hey, do I look pale to you?” They reassure you that you look fine, but the fear lingers. You find yourself checking your chest for sensations every few minutes throughout the day.
By evening, the tightness is gone—but you’ve spent hours feeling tense, distracted, and drained. The next morning, a new sensation pops up—maybe a headache or a stomach flutter—and the cycle starts all over again.
Over time, this cycle can touch every part of life. You might notice:
Missing out on social activities because you’re too worried about your health
Struggling to focus at work because your mind is on symptoms
Feeling physically exhausted from being in constant “fight or flight” mode
Avoiding exercise, certain foods, or travel for fear of triggering symptoms
The stress itself can cause real physical changes—headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension—which can feed right back into the health anxiety. It becomes a loop that’s hard to break without the right tools and support.
Common Thought Patterns in OCD and Health Anxiety
Recognizing the patterns your mind falls into is one of the first—and most important—steps in managing OCD and health anxiety. These thought styles aren’t true reflections of reality—they’re habits of thinking that your brain has learned over time. Some people refer to them as “ANTS” or automatic negative thoughts. The more aware you become of them, the easier it is to interrupt the cycle.
1. Catastrophic Thinking
Catastrophic thinking means jumping straight to the worst-case scenario, even when there’s little evidence for it.
Example: A mild headache becomes “I must have a brain tumor.”
Example: A lingering cough turns into “This is probably lung cancer.”
In the moment, these thoughts feel urgent and real. Your brain is wired to pay more attention to possible threats than neutral information—so even a small symptom can trigger a big emotional reaction. Unfortunately, this can keep your nervous system in a constant state of high alert.
How it affects you: Catastrophic thinking creates unnecessary panic, which can make physical sensations (like tension headaches or muscle tightness) even worse, leading to more worry.
2. All-or-Nothing Thinking
All-or-nothing thinking, also called “black-and-white thinking,” leaves no room for nuance or middle ground.
Example: “If my medical test isn’t 100% perfect, something must be terribly wrong.”
Example: “If I feel tired today, that means I’m seriously ill.”
This mindset ignores the fact that health is often a mix of ups and downs. People can have off days, mild symptoms, or slightly unusual test results without having a dangerous condition.
How it affects you: All-or-nothing thinking adds unnecessary pressure to be perfectly healthy all the time—which isn’t realistic for anyone.
3. Intolerance of Uncertainty
Uncertainty is a normal part of life, but with OCD and health anxiety, it can feel unbearable. The thought of “not knowing for sure” whether you’re healthy may cause intense anxiety.
Example: “I can’t relax until I’m 100% certain I don’t have a serious illness.”
Example: “If I don’t get a second opinion, I’ll always wonder if something was missed.”
The truth is, absolute certainty about health is rarely possible. Even the most thorough medical tests have limits. Learning to live with some uncertainty is a key skill for breaking the anxiety cycle.
How it affects you: The constant search for certainty fuels compulsive checking, repeated doctor visits, and hours of online research—which only strengthen the fear over time.
4. Hypervigilance to Bodily Sensations
Hypervigilance means being overly focused on your body, scanning for any sign of change or symptom.
Example: Constantly feeling your neck for lumps.
Example: Monitoring your heartbeat multiple times a day.
Example: Checking your skin in the mirror for new marks or spots.
The problem? The more attention you give your body, the more sensations you’ll notice. Many of these are harmless—muscle twitches, temperature changes, digestive noises—but when anxiety is high, your brain interprets them as signs of danger.
How it affects you: Hypervigilance can turn normal bodily sensations into triggers for obsessive worry, creating a feedback loop between your mind and body.
Why Reassurance Isn’t Always Helpful
When you’re anxious about your health, reassurance seems like the most logical solution. You might:
Ask a doctor to run more tests
Search the internet for symptom explanations
Ask a loved one to confirm that you “look fine”
Check your body again “just in case”
And at first, it works—your anxiety drops. You might feel calm for a few hours, days, or even just minutes. But then, the doubt returns:
“What if they missed something?”
“What if this new symptom is something different?”
So you seek reassurance again. And again. Over time, this teaches your brain that the only way to feel safe is to keep checking, asking, or researching. This doesn’t break the anxiety cycle—it reinforces it, making the fear come back faster and stronger.
A more effective approach: Instead of rushing to erase the anxiety, the goal is to build tolerance for it—to let the fear be there without reacting with a compulsion. This is the foundation of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), one of the most effective treatments for OCD and health anxiety.
Practical Strategies for Managing OCD and Health Anxiety
1. Learn to Notice and Name Your Thoughts
When you have a health worry, say to yourself:
“I’m noticing the thought that I might have a serious illness.”
“This is an anxiety-driven thought, not a fact.”
Naming the thought can create a small distance between you and the fear.
2. Practice Mindful Observation
Instead of immediately reacting to every symptom, try observing it without judgment.
Example: “I feel a twinge in my stomach. That’s interesting.”
Avoid jumping straight to catastrophic conclusions.
Mindfulness helps train your brain to respond with curiosity rather than panic.
3. Limit Reassurance-Seeking
Choose a set number of times you’ll check symptoms each day (or week).
Avoid late-night Googling—it fuels anxiety and rarely provides reliable answers.
Let trusted loved ones know you’re working on reducing reassurance requests, so they can support your efforts.
4. Use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
ERP is a gold-standard treatment for OCD. It involves:
Exposure: intentionally facing the feared thought or situation (e.g., noticing a headache without Googling it)
Response prevention: resisting the urge to do the compulsion (e.g., not checking your blood pressure multiple times)
Over time, ERP helps your brain learn that anxiety naturally decreases without the compulsion.
5. Create a “Delay Plan”
When a health fear strikes:
Write it down.
Set a timer for 30 minutes before taking any action.
Engage in a grounding activity (walk, stretch, listen to music).
Often, anxiety will lessen during that time, and the urge to check may fade. Sometimes you need to start with less than 30 minutes and that’s okay! Any amount of time you delay the urge before taking action, the better!
6. Keep a “Wins” Journal
It’s easy to feel stuck during tough times. Keep track of moments when you chose not to check or seek reassurance and celebrated that success. This builds confidence in your ability to handle uncertainty.
Example: “Had a stomach ache today, but waited it out. It passed.”
When to Seek Professional Help
You might benefit from professional support if:
Health worries consume more than an hour a day
You avoid activities or places because of illness fears
Reassurance-seeking is interfering with work, relationships, or daily life
Therapies that can help:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Helps reframe unhelpful thoughts
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): Targets the OCD cycle
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Builds tolerance for uncertainty
Medication: For some, medications like SSRIs (prescribed by a doctor) can reduce obsessive thinking and anxiety.
Start Online OCD and Anxiety Treatment in Michigan
OCD and health anxiety can feel overwhelming, but they are treatable. You don’t have to stay stuck in the cycle of fear, checking, and seeking reassurance. By understanding how these conditions work, applying practical strategies, and reaching out for professional support when needed, you can regain control over your mental and physical health.
Managing OCD and health anxiety takes time, patience, and consistent effort. Progress might be gradual, but every small step counts. Remember, anxiety isn’t something you “cure” overnight—but you can lessen its hold. Celebrate each time you face uncertainty without giving in to compulsions.
With the right tools and support, it’s possible to live a full, meaningful life without health fears taking over. That’s where Embodied Wellness can help. Our experienced OCD and anxiety therapists are here to guide and support you every step of the way.
How to get started:
Be matched with one of our online OCD and anxiety therapists in Michigan
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At Embodied Wellness, PLLC we offer a variety of holistic treatment services for adults and teens with depression, and OCD. We specialize in EMDR, Somatic therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems, and DBT for trauma. We also specialize in CBT and Empath Counseling.We offer online therapy in Michigan. Start overcoming your trauma today by visiting our Detroit-based practice. We also have low-cost therapy options available!
About the Author:
Sarah Rollins, LMSW, SEP, is the founder of Embodied Wellness, PLLC, a group therapy practice offering EMDR therapy in Ann Arbor, MI, and online therapy throughout Michigan. She is dedicated to helping individuals heal from anxiety and trauma without reliving painful memories. With a compassionate and holistic approach, Sarah integrates EMDR, somatic therapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) to support deep, lasting healing. Her mission is to provide a safe and affirming space where clients can reclaim their sense of peace, resilience, and self-acceptance.