How your GP can help

Once your GPhas established thatyou do suffer from health anxiety, and there is noserious underlying physical cause for any symptoms you might have, theyshould investigate whether you might have a problem, such asdepression or anxiety disorder,that may be causing or worsening your symptoms.

If this is the case, you may be referred forpsychological therapy and you may benefit from antidepressants(see below).

Ifthis is not the case, the aim shouldstill be to helpyou become less worried about your health. You may find that your GP's advice and self-help resources (see below) are all you need to start feeling better, or you may still benefit froma referral forpsychological therapy.

Psychologicaltherapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy(CBT) is an effective treatment for many people with health anxiety.

It involves working with a trained CBT therapist toidentify the thoughts and emotions you experience and the things you do to cope with them, with the aim of changing unhealthy thoughts and behaviours that maintain health anxiety.

CBT looks athow tochallenge the way you interpret symptoms, toencouragea more balanced and realistic view. It should help you to:

• learn what seems to make the symptoms worse
• develop methods of coping with the symptoms
• keep yourself more active, even if you still have symptoms

However, CBT is not the besttreatment for everyone with health anxiety. Some people maybenefit more from a different psychological therapy, such astrauma-focused therapy or a psychotherapy that will help a particular psychological condition.

Accurate assessment is neededto select the right treatment for you and for your problem, so, if necessary, you may be referred to a mental health specialist for this next step.

Medication

Antidepressants may be helpful if you have a mental health condition such as depression. For some people, these may work better than CBT. Your GP can directly prescribe antidepressants or refer you to a mental health specialist for treatment.

However, treating your symptoms with medication is not always the answer and the possible benefits of medication always need to be weighed against the potential negative effects.

Helping yourself

There's lots you can do to help yourself. A good first step would be to read the NHS Health Anxiety leaflet , which can be downloaded from the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS website. This is just one of many self-help guides available .

It providesadvice and exercises you can try yourself, such as keeping a diary of your preoccupations and symptoms, and counteracting them with realistic and rational thinking.