CBT Tools for Health Anxiety
CBT Tools for Health Anxiety
Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best-evidenced approach for health anxiety — and many of its tools you can begin practising yourself. This guide gathers practical CBT techniques to try.
How CBT helps health anxiety, working with anxious thoughts, gentle exposure to uncertainty, reducing safety behaviours, and building a calmer relationship with health.
What's inside
- →How CBT helps — the evidence
- →Anxious thoughts — working with them
- →Thinking traps — spotting them
- →Facing uncertainty — gentle exposure
- →Safety behaviours — easing them
- →With a therapist — getting the most
For educational purposes only
This guide is educational and supportive information about health anxiety — it is not medical or mental-health advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. Health anxiety is common and very treatable, and a doctor or therapist (cognitive behavioural therapy can be especially helpful) can make a real difference. This guide does not diagnose or rule out any physical condition: if you have new or concerning physical symptoms, it's wise to have them assessed once by a doctor rather than repeatedly seeking reassurance. If anxiety feels overwhelming or you are in distress, please reach out — call or text 988 (US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline); in an emergency, call 911.