u/FiveGoodbyes — reddlx

I've been living with health anxiety for three years and I know the condition pretty inside and out at this point. I've read a load of books, I've taken in a load of frameworks, I've been to therapy twice to try and get the condition under control. Something I've realised is that the thoughts aren't the problem, it's the feelings behind the thoughts. Because your brain doesn't act on logic, it acts on emotion. So it's not so much the diffusing the thoughts that everyone tells you to do in these self-help books that needs to be focused, It's teaching the massive wave of fear and emotion and negativity and sadness that comes with the thought that there's no problem here. That's what holds the swaying power. That's what is hard to fight. I could be a little corny and call it something like "the cloud" or "the thunderstorm" because that's sort of what it feels like. It's so incredibly strong and persuasive it seems near impossible to go any way against it. And I just wondered if anyone who has recovered saw a reduction in that feeling, how they dealt with it, kept it under control, combated it when it happened. Did it fade away naturally, when you intervened with the thought, how did you persuade the fearful emotion that there's nothing wrong? kind of thing.

EDIT: I'm now realising I may have worded this a little poorly. When I say "go against the thought" I don't mean to fight it or try to convince myself nothing's wrong, this of course fuels the cycle. I mean when I try to take my mind off the thought, engage with something else, do literally anything that doesn't give the thought attention, the fearful negative "cloud" feeling drags me back. It's like it demands to be given attention, and no matter how much I try to carry on my life regardless the feeling is so strong and persistent I always end up folding.