When Anxiety Makes You Fear Your Physical Symptoms
This client story is based on real therapeutic work. Identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.
When “David” came to work with me, he was in his late 70s and had been struggling with persistent tension headaches and uncomfortable sensations around his head and eyes. But the physical sensations were only part of the problem. He had also become anxious about them.
The moment he noticed pressure, tightness or pain, his attention would move towards it. He would monitor what he was feeling, wonder what it meant and become increasingly focused on whether the sensation was still there. His intake showed that the problem was having a major impact on his life. He rated it 10 out of 10 and was also experiencing anxiety, stress, sleep difficulties and grief.
Importantly, he was also receiving appropriate medical care. He had a history of physical health concerns and continued working with doctors and specialists alongside our therapeutic work. My role was not to diagnose or medically treat the source of his headaches. We were working with the anxiety, fear and emotional patterns surrounding what he was experiencing physically.
When the Sensation Itself Becomes Something to Fear
A physical sensation can become much more distressing when anxiety becomes attached to it. A person notices pain, pressure, dizziness, palpitations, tingling or another bodily sensation and starts wondering what it means. Attention narrows onto the body. Every change is noticed and analysed.
Over time, the fear of the sensation can become part of the problem itself.
That was important in David’s case. One of the outcomes he later identified was not only waking without pain or pressure, but being free from the fear of the physical symptoms themselves.
There Was More Underneath Than the Physical Symptom
As we worked together, it became clear that his experience was not only about what he was feeling in his head. He was also carrying unresolved experiences from much earlier in life, including childhood trauma and long-standing beliefs about needing to be good, responsible and meet other people’s expectations. Our work repeatedly returned to themes of guilt, self-punishment, performance, forgiveness and emotional burdens he had carried for decades.
Later in life, he had also experienced the devastating loss of a son. That grief added another layer of complexity.
By the time we began working together, there were decades of experiences, beliefs and emotional responses sitting alongside the anxiety he had developed around his physical sensations. This was not simply about trying to switch off a tension headache.
The First Signs of Change
Ten days after our first session, there were signs that something was beginning to shift.
He reported occasions when he woke without the headache. At another point, pain appeared and then subsided. He was listening consistently to his personalised recording and was beginning to notice that his experience was not always the same from one day to the next.
By the following month, however, he was still experiencing daily head sensations.
David later described having “glimpses of freedom.” He felt that the psychological side of the work was helping, but the sensations were still varied and complex.
His progress was gradual, so we continued.
What We Worked on Next
The focus shifted from simply trying to make the sensation disappear to understanding what happened when it appeared. We explored what he immediately thought, what meaning he attached to the sensations, what he feared and why his attention kept returning to his head and eyes.
At one point, I asked him to reflect on why part of him did not believe he was okay or capable of healing. His beliefs about himself and his body had become an important part of the work.
We also worked with themes of self-punishment, guilt, fear and the tendency to keep looking for evidence that something was wrong. Later sessions focused on changing the questions he was asking himself and redirecting his attention towards what he wanted to experience rather than continually checking for pain.
Around 60 Days, He Realised Something Significant Had Changed
At first, the changes were subtle enough that he did not always recognise how much progress he was making. Then, at around the 60-day point, he thanked me because he had begun to recognise that something significant had shifted. The progress had accumulated over time.
There had been mornings without the usual headache. Moments when sensations appeared and then subsided. Changes in the way he thought about what he was experiencing. A growing ability to step back rather than immediately becoming consumed by what his body was doing.
Eventually, those smaller changes became noticeable enough for him to see that he was experiencing himself differently.
The Fear Had Lost Its Grip
By December, physical sensations could still occasionally appear later in the day. But something important had changed. My follow-up notes from that point record:
“Not fearful.”
And:
“More direction.”
That distinction matters. When someone has spent a long time fearing a physical symptom, progress is not always measured solely by whether the body ever produces that sensation again.
Sometimes the most meaningful shift is that the sensation no longer controls the rest of the day. You notice something without immediately spiralling. You do not spend hours monitoring it. You have more capacity to direct your attention towards the rest of your life. That was becoming possible for David.
You Are Not Too Old to Change Long-Standing Patterns
One of the things I find particularly meaningful about David’s story is that he was in his late 70s when we began working together.
Some of the experiences and beliefs we were working with reached back decades. There was childhood trauma, significant grief later in life and years of responding to his body in particular ways.
Yet his age did not prevent change. His progress unfolded gradually, but by around 60 days he was recognising a significant difference, and by the later stages of our work the fear surrounding the sensations had changed substantially. You can carry a pattern for decades and still change your relationship with it.
Looking Beneath the Symptom
Physical symptoms should always be appropriately investigated when necessary, and hypnotherapy is not a substitute for medical care. But when someone has entered a cycle of fear, hyperfocus and constant monitoring, there may also be an emotional and psychological component worth exploring.
My approach combines Rapid Transformational Therapy®, clinical hypnotherapy, conversational hypnosis and Somatic Trauma-Informed Coaching techniques. I adapt the work according to the individual rather than assuming everyone experiencing anxiety around physical symptoms needs the same intervention.
With David, that meant working not only with the anxiety surrounding his symptoms, but also with long-standing beliefs, unresolved emotional experiences, grief and the fear attached to what he was feeling physically. The aim was to help him experience himself and his body differently.
Gradually, that is what began to happen.
Looking for Help With Anxiety Around Physical Symptoms?
I am Julie Chal, a Rapid Transformational Therapist, anxiety specialist and Clinical Hypnotherapist based in Perth, Australia. I work with clients in Perth and online across Australia and internationally.
If physical sensations have been medically assessed but you find yourself continually monitoring them, fearing them or struggling to think about anything else when they appear, there may be an anxiety pattern worth exploring alongside your appropriate medical care.
My Tranceform Anxiety to Thrive program works with the deeper beliefs, emotional responses and subconscious patterns that may be contributing to the anxiety cycle.
The first step is a 50-minute Consultation Call, where we explore what you are experiencing, what may be contributing to it and whether my approach is appropriate for you.