CBT for OCD and Health Anxiety

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Health Anxiety Disorder (formerly known as hypochondria) are both in the spotlight at present due to the nature of the Coronavirus threat. The link is not just the level of the frequent handwashing that we are advised to do – that is only a relatively superficial type of connection, and mainly to certain subtypes of OCD.   People with OCD are fearful of a variety of stimuli, environments, ideas etc that they associate with threat and danger. The danger themes that we find include health/contamination, but also security (e.g. checking that doors are locked), or fear that they could behave in a violent or sexually inappropriate way. Sufferers experience persistent intrusive thoughts (which they try to suppress) about these themes, as well as repetitive compulsive behaviours or mental actions aimed at reducing anxiety and preventing feared outcomes.   Those with Health Anxiety problems largely confine their worries to the domain of illness, constantly monitoring their bodily surface and sensations for possible symptoms, which they then catastrophise based on their anxiety rather than on appropriate evidence.