Illness Anxiety Disorder

To diagnose illness anxiety disorder, healthcare providers refer to the criteria listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 5th edition (often known simply as the DSM-5. Your provider may make a diagnosis or they may refer you to a behavioral health specialist, like a psychologist or psychiatrist. The six criteria for illness anxiety disorder include:

1. Frequent or constant worrying about being or becoming sick.
2. Having no symptoms or only mild ones. If you do have a medical condition and experience illness anxiety disorder related to it, the worries you experience may seem disproportionate or excessive to others.
3. You feel a high level of anxiety and are easily alarmed when it comes to your health.
4. You frequently do things to check or assess your health like checking for signs and symptoms of illness, or you frequently avoid medical appointments, hospitals, etc.
5. You’ve had these feelings of severe, health-related worry for at least six months. The feelings don’t have to be consistently about just one illness during that time.
6. There isn’t a better condition to explain your symptoms and what you’re experiencing.

A persistent fear about having a serious illness or developing one is the top symptoms of illness anxiety disorder. Your provider may diagnose illness anxiety disorder if you have health anxiety (or other illness anxiety disorder symptoms) for six months or longer even after tests show that you’re not sick.