Health Anxiety and Q&A Live Presentation REPLAY
SUBSCRIBE and click the BELL to get notified when new videos are uploaded.
Unlimited CEUs $59 based on these videos at allceus.com for social work, counseling, marriage and family therapy, addiction counseling, case management, pastoral counseling and more.
Join this channel to get access to perks:
   / @docsnipes  
#healthanxiety #covid #ncmhce

NOTE: ALL VIDEOS are for educational purposes only and are NOT a replacement for medical advice or counseling from a licensed professional.
Health Anxiety
Dr. DawnElise Snipes PhD, LPCMHSP, LMHC, CIBHS
AllCEUs, Counselor Education and Training
What is It
Health anxiety is a persistent fear that
You will get sick
You are sick
Your illness is getting worse
Where Does It Come From
Physical
History of illness
Current chronic illness
Reinforcement of physical hyperviglance
Cognitive
Lack of understanding of the risks, protective factors and probabilities of illness (FCP)
Cognitive biases due to exposure (school, media, click bait (cyberchondriasis))
Where Does It Come From
Environmental
Being in environments that are higher risk, especially if social distancing is not possible (doctors offices, jails, subways)
Relational
Having a family member/friend with a chronic illness
Having a family member/friend who experienced medical trauma
Not having faith/trust in medical providers
Medical providers that fail to provide information or informed consent

Consequences (Chicken – Egg)
Physical
HPAAxis hyperactivation
Reduced immunity
Impaired sleep
Increased pain
Increased risk for what you are fearing
Increased likelihood of “overdoing” a good thing
Affective
Depression
Anxiety
Anger
Guilt
Cognitive
Difficulty with concentration and problem solving
Consequences (Chicken – Egg)
Environmental
Reduced productivity
Constantly cleaning
Relational
Withdrawal from others
Isolation/rejection due to being a “hypochondriac”
Reduced self esteem “Am I crazy?”
Impaired support due to lack of CRAVES
Treatment
Avoid routinely reassuring the patient that all is well. (invalidating)
Provide safety, empowerment, voice and choice

Treatment: CRAVES
Consistently listen
Respond to concerns
Attend to prevention behaviors, strengths and desire to stay healthy
Validate feelings
Empathize with how exhausting/terrifying it is
Support development of
Distress tolerance skills (TAGS)
Information gathering* and factbased reasoning
Addressing catastrophizing, all or none thinking and the availability heuristic
Social support (support groups for condition or HA)

Treatment
Differentiate possible from probable causes of symptoms
X pain or symptom
Play out the tape based on your individual factors
Increase health literacy about regarding prevention and protective factors
Resources (Horses Mouth with Redundancies)
Personal health care provider (concierge physicians)
American ___ Society (Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Association)
Harvard Health
Cleveland Clinic
Treatment
Dealing with Doctors
Bring a checklist if you are concerned about X diagnosis. If they disagree, ask them to explain why and provide an alternate explanation. (In MH remember it is also a matter of degree (i.e. dementia vs. aging))
Research after the visit to verify and increase knowledge
Be clear about all of your symptoms
Frequency, intensity, duration
Mitigating and exacerbating factors
When it started and what changed
Don’t trivialize your symptoms or the doc likely will too
Summary
Health anxiety impacted over 20% of the population (in 2010 (prior to the pandemic))
Healthy caution is important, but when fear of death keeps you from living a rich and meaningful life, it becomes a problem.
Many websites and news stories actually worsen fear. (click bait)
Cognitive behavioral strategies can help people get into their wise mind, use factbased reasoning, tolerate distress and take proactive steps addressing the things they can control
Contact


Video by Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes on integrative behavioral health approaches including counseling techniques and skills for improving mental health and reducing mental illness.

AllCEUs provides multimedia counselor education and CEUs for LPCs, LMHCs, LMFTs and LCSWs as well as addiction counselor precertification training and continuing education.

AllCEUs courses for counselor continuing education are accepted in most states because we are an approved education provider for NAADAC, the States of Florida and Texas Boards of Social Work and Mental Health/Professional Counseling, CCAPP

Dr Dawn Elise Snipes provides training through AllCEUs.com that are helpful for ACA OPD, Counsellor OPD, OPD Points, LPC CEUs LMHC CEUs LCPC CEUs LSW CEUs LCSW CEUs LMFT CEUs CRC CEUs HPCSA ACA