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Posts tagged "overestimating threat"

Improve Health Anxiety by Examining the Evidence for Your Thoughts

Dec 18, 2023 Posted by: Brittney Chesworth biased information processing, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive restructuring, examine the evidence, overestimating threat, underestimating coping

With health anxiety, we tend to overestimate the likelihood and severity of getting a disease as well as underestimate our ability to cope with disease. We want to use cognitive strategies in order to help challenge biased assumptions. One CBT strategy is called "examine the evidence" and allows you to challenge to distorted or biased thoughts.

Why Watching Videos about Tragic Health Stories on Social Media Worsens Health Anxiety

Sep 11, 2023 Posted by: Brittney Chesworth biased information processing, confirmation bias, core beliefs, fear of disease, health anxiety, hypochondria, overestimating threat, thinking errors, threat bias

People with health anxiety hold dysfunctional core beliefs about health and illness.
One dysfunctional belief held by those with health anxiety is the overestimation of the probability and severity of disease. Core beliefs are reinforced by information processing, in which we pay more attention to data that confirms our belief.