Health Anxiety Program
Learn practical strategies for managing excessive worry about health with our clinically-proven online program for health anxiety.
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Health Anxiety at a Glance
Health anxiety is characterised by feeling overly anxious about having or developing serious illnesses or diseases. Many people with health anxiety seek excessive reassurance such as repeated doctor visits, requests for medical investigations, googling of medical symptoms or checking and scanning their body for any signs of illness or abnormality. They can also avoid places, situations or conversations about health topics.
Fortunately, health anxiety is very treatable and many people who seek help can get better. This program will teach you practical skills to tackle persistent worry about your health and improve the way you feel.
About the Health Anxiety Program
This 6-lesson program is based on an effective psychological treatment for health anxiety and worry called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (or CBT). It is designed to teach you proven strategies for tackling your symptoms and show you how to work with your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours so you can make a positive change in how you feel. It may be especially helpful to you if you’ve been previously diagnosed with Health (or Illness) Anxiety Disorder and haven’t had CBT in the past.
This program may be suitable for you if:
- You tend to worry a lot about your health and the possibility of having or developing an illness
- You check your body frequently for signs and symptoms of disease or illness
- You feel compelled to research your symptoms or try to avoid health-related information or content entirely
- You seem to be stuck in the way you feel and would love to learn how to get out of this cycle
- You are ready and willing to learn new skills to change the way you feel
The skills in this program can benefit both those who worry about developing a future illness, or those who have a diagnosed medical condition already. Many people with diagnosed medical conditions will have an expected degree of anxiety, however if your anxiety about health is excessive, this program could be suitable for you.
What You Will Learn
Throughout this program you will follow an illustrated story of ‘James’ as he learns to tackle unhelpful thoughts and checking behaviours that serve to maintain and worsen his health anxiety. Each lesson focuses on teaching you a practical skill you can use to begin changing the vicious cycle of worry about your health. Once you complete a lesson, you will have 5 days to practice your new skill before the next lesson becomes available.
Lesson 1
About Health Anxiety – Learn about your own symptoms, your health anxiety cycle, and how CBT can help.
Lesson 2
Reducing Your Focus on Health Worries – Learn to reducing checking and unhelpful internet-searching.
Lesson 3
Becoming Aware of Your Anxious Thoughts – Learn how to identify your anxious thinking patterns that contribute to health anxiety.
Lesson 4
Putting Thoughts And Fears To The Test – learn to tackle your thoughts and beliefs about your health anxiety.
Lesson 5
Tackling Avoidance and Safety Behaviours – Learn to overcome health anxiety through graded exposure to previously avoided situations.
Lesson 6
Staying Well – Master your skills and stay well over the long-term!
Access convenient, discreet, and effective online self-help...
What's Included
Each of our programs has been designed to help you get the most out of self-guided learning and provides you with a range of materials to support you on your recovery journey.
Lessons
Story-based lessons that teach core coping skills
Extra Resources
Tools to help you overcome common challenges
Workbooks
Exercises designed to help you tackle your symptoms
Alerts & Reminders
Reminder e-mails and texts to help you stay on track
Action Plans
Step-by-step activities to help you put new skills into practice
Progress Tracking
Questionnaires to help you monitor your well-being
How to Get Started
Option 1: Enrol in this program as ‘self-help’ and complete it independently, or
Option 2: Speak with your regular clinician (e.g., your GP, psychologist, or other health professional) and see if they can prescribe you this program and monitor you throughout your online treatment. You can download and take the Clinician Letter to your appointment.
Choose to start right away or speak with your clinician about this program
Enrol As Self-Help
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Get instant access and start right away
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Complete a lesson every 1-2 weeks
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Extra 12 months of access once completed
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Available to people who ordinarily reside in Australia
Get a Prescription
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Get free access with a prescription
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Your clinician can monitor how you are
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Extra 12 months of access once completed
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Available worldwide with a prescription
Please note: our programs have not been evaluated in populations who have been diagnosed as having schizophrenia or bipolar disorder; people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol; or take sedative medication (e.g., Valium, lorazepam) daily. More tailored, intensive, face-to-face support from a clinician may be more suitable for these populations and for people who are thinking about suicide. We recommend that such individuals seek clinician support and medical advice before enrolling into a self-guided online treatment program for their mental health.
Frequently Asked Questions
Over the years, we’ve helped many individuals improve their mental health through our clinical trials and online programs. If you have any questions about this program, check out the FAQs below or get in touch with us.
This program is designed for people who are excessively worried that they might either have or will develop a serious disease.
This program is self paced, but is designed to be completed within 3 months, at most. We recommend completing one lesson every week. Upon completion of the program, you will be granted an extra 12 months access for practice purposes. Please note, there is a 5-day lockout period between lessons to encourage the revision of material.
You can enrol in the ‘self-help’ option and start the program right away for $59 (you must reside in Australia to access this option), or you can seek a prescription from your regular GP or mental health professional and enrol in the program for free (this option is available worldwide under the supervision of your treating physician).
The amount of support you receive will depend on the way you choose to do this program.
If your clinician – doctor, psychologist or other mental health professional – prescribes it, they will have access to the program and your well-being scores, so you can check-in with them about your progress and how you feel.
If you do the program as ‘self-help’, there is no clinical support available because the program is completely automated, although you can contact us for any technical difficulties. However, provided you complete all six lessons, the results will be as good as with supervision.
The best place to seek advice about treatment options for your specific symptoms and situation is from your GP.
To make the most of the program we recommend completing a lesson every 1-2 weeks and practising the skills that you learn regularly. Make sure that you download and save all of the downloadable program materials so you can come back and review the strategies later on.
You can access this program for free if your regular clinician is registered with THIS WAY UP and prescribes this program to you by e-mailing you a personalised registration link called a “Quickscript” using our secure online system.
Here’s how to discuss this option with your health professional:
Step 1.
Make an appointment with your clinician (e.g., your GP, Medical Specialist, Psychologist or other Allied Health Professional).
Step 2.
Download, print, and take the Clinician Letter to your appointment. This letter outlines some information about how your clinician can register with THIS WAY UP and prescribe our programs using our online system.
Step 3.
Ask your clinician if they are familiar with THIS WAY UP and tell them about the program you’d like to do.
If your clinician is new to THIS WAY UP, they may need some time to register and get to know our system, so you may not be able to get a program prescription right away.
If your clinician is able to prescribe and monitor you throughout the program, they will send you a ‘prescription’ e-mail called a “Quickscript” via our system with details on how to enrol.
Please note, it is up to individual clinicians to decide whether it is appropriate for them to prescribe and monitor you through one of our programs. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that your clinician will be able to assist you.
However, majority of our treatment programs are available as ‘self-help’ within Australia so if this option is suitable for you, you will be able to enrol and receive up to 12 months of access for AUD $59.
When you enrol in this program as ‘self-help’ you will be guided through the lessons by our system and will be completing it independently.
Our team is here to provide technical assistance, but we are not able to answer clinical questions or give you personalised advice about your health.
When you enrol in this program under the ‘supervision’ of your regular clinician (e.g., your GP, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other health professional) they will be able to view your progress and well-being scores, and will be able to check in on you should you require further assistance.
You may also be able to check in with them about your particular symptoms or seek further guidance on implementing the strategies you learn.
Some clinicians may choose to prescribe this program as part of your face-to-face or telehealth sessions.
Some clinicians may choose to recommend that you enrol in this program as ‘self-help’ and support you throughout without formally prescribing it to you.
The Science Behind This Program
This program is based on established clinical practice guidelines in the Management of Mental Disorders. It has also been evaluated in randomised controlled trials and in studies in real world settings, including:
Newby et al. (2016) | Newby et al. (2017) | Newby et al. (2020) |
Sharrock et al. (2021)
Not Sure if this Program is Right For You?
Take a Test to Help You Choose a Program
If you’re unsure which program to pick, take our anonymous online test to check how you feel and see which program may be suitable. This test will show you your levels of stress, anxiety, or depression and will make suggestions on what you can do next.
Why choose this way up…
Online Programs That Work
THIS WAY UP has been developing and releasing scientifically-supported online mental health programs for over a decade. We ensure that our programs help individuals achieve real positive results by conducting clinical research and adhering to the best practice guidelines in treatment of mental health conditions.
Choose to learn from a trusted Australian team that cares about your mental health
For Clinicians
Did you know that you can use this evidence-based online program in treatment of Anxiety?
According to the clinical practice guidelines, internet-delivered CBT forms part of the stepped-care approach to treatment.
As a registered THIS WAY UP clinician you can prescribe The Health Anxiety Program to your clients and stay informed of their progress.
