With health anxiety, an event happens, we have thoughts about that event, and then react to those thoughts. Learning to evaluate automatic thoughts and identify cognitive distortions is a critical skill for improving health anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps to improve health anxiety by reshaping dysfunctional thinking patterns, beliefs, and behaviors.

People with health anxiety hold dysfunctional core beliefs about health and illness. Core beliefs develop early in life and are strengthened through a process of reinforcement. It can be helpful to identify significant life experiences that led one to develop dysfunctional core beliefs about health. Once dysfunctional core beliefs are identified, one can reshape them through cognitive restructuring.

People with health anxiety often struggle with a fear of the unknown or the "intolerance of uncertainty." With the intolerance of uncertainty, one sees the uncertain things of the future as inherently bad. One can improve health anxiety by learning to see uncertainty in new ways. Learn to see the beauty of living in an uncertain world as well as recognize one's ability to cope with any difficult situations or events.