[Eleny]

Hi, I posted this in the anxiety forum but thought it might be better suited to this forum.

I have Health Anxiety and have been on Lexapro for about a year which has been fantastic. Before this, my HA was extremely bad.

Recently I was chatting to a friend of a friend who is a CBT therapist and was telling her about my HA. She asked what treatment I'd had and I told her I hadn't had any, just my Lexapro which have been great.

She told me that I really should get it treated and it got me thinking. I guess I don't want to be on anti-depressants forever, but I don't want to face coming off them or getting Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, purely because I'm skeptical as to how effective it is in the long term.

Has anyone else received CBT for HA? Did it help? And do you think its necessary?

Thank you for any responses - and Merry Christmas!

[*Laurie*]

I would like to read some answers to your question about HA, too.

[eskielover]

The good thing it that CBT would get down to the bottom of WHY you have health anxiety & you could address the cause rather that feeling you have no choice than to suffer with it. In reality, meds don't cure anxiety they only mask the symptoms. Only when we address the root cause of the anxiety & work through it can it truly be healed.

Im assuming that health anxiety has to do with constantly being anxious about your own health..always thinking that something might be wrong with you? If that's the case then processing the cause of those feelings & where they came from (like experiencing the death of someone close to you at a young age or whatever) would be beneficial in healing the anxiety...something medication can't do....like I said, it only masks the symptoms.

I don't specifically have Health Anxiety but I have had great success with CBT in managing the worries I do have. It has particularly addressed my Catastrophic Thinking. I highly recommend this therapy.

[kecanoe]

CBT is designed to help you change the way you think about things, so it would probably help you think differently about your health. Why not give it a try?

[pegasus]

I would definitely be recommending psychotherapy and it is fine to stay on medication at the same time. Even a short 10 sessions of CBT can help as it helps you to better understand what is going on, it does though tend to just scratch the surface of issues so you might find going deeper into your issues more helpful after that.

[2B/-2B]

Hello Eleny.

This is what I would consider.

Anxiety is about fear of what might happen. To overcome that fear, therapy/counselling helps us to face those fears. It is the only way to overcome a fear - is to take a risk. Usually we start with small steps.

I would stay on the medication for the time being. Once therapy and counselling starts, and have practiced some CBT and/or BCT (CBT in reverse for facing fears), I would then tell my doctor/psychiatrist about the therapy and ask to have my subscription dosage dropped down. Then see how that goes for the next three months together with you CBT practices. If all is good, then ask to drop dosage again, and so forth. Hopefully you will eventually overcome HA without medication.

It is not prudent to just stop medication without having some proven substitution for the condition treated, such as CBT that is working for you.

I hope CBT will work for you.

[MelloJoy]

I have had wonderful results with CBT. I encourage you to see a therapist and try CBT. Best of luck.

[(JD)]

CBT is the method of choice! You can research it online. We don't call it Health Anxiety here in the States, but anxiety is anxiety and it's good to treat the cause and not, as the other member says, mask it's symptoms.

[Eleny]

Thank you for all your helpful responses.

Here's the thing I'm wondering about, because I'm on Lexapro I don't feel the intense anxiety I had. I feel ok now. So if I go to CBT it would feel pointless because I've lost touch of what those feelings were like so I wouldn't be able to use or understand the therapy effectively. So I'd have to come off my Lexapro, wouldn't I?

[gonegirl99]

I would suggest going to the doctor find out anything wrong with you physically

[kecanoe]

Originally Posted by Eleny

Thank you for all your helpful responses.

Here's the thing I'm wondering about, because I'm on Lexapro I don't feel the intense anxiety I had. I feel ok now. So if I go to CBT it would feel pointless because I've lost touch of what those feelings were like so I wouldn't be able to use or understand the therapy effectively. So I'd have to come off my Lexapro, wouldn't I?

No you wouldn't have to come off the Lexapro. For many people, being on an antidepressant makes it possible for them to get something out of therapy. You will learn stuff that will help you while you are on the meds that will also help you if you decide to drop the Lexapro.

I'm on all kinds of medications and none made CBT difficult. By the way, I am nearing the end of my CBT and I look back and realize I am a different person today than before the therapy. I have had exposure to some very difficult situations that would have probably resulted in me going to the hospital. Instead, I was able to rely on the coping strategies I've learned and I was able to manage my way through the 'trials'. Don't fiddle with your meds.