Understand what maintains your illness anxiety

Reassurance-seeking and avoidance give you a momentary escape from the worry and anxiety, but in the long run, they make it worse by convincing you that you cannot tolerate the uncertainty of not knowing your future health - yet this is an uncertainty with which we must all ultimately live.

• Identify the triggers that sustain your health anxiety - identify the triggers for your worries about illness and all the ways you try to get rid of them
• Practice illness-related exposure therapy - exposure therapy involves gradually reducing (and ultimately ending) your worries and anxieties.

The easiest way to do the right thing is to follow the advice of your doctor or the general advice given to the public for health screenings that fit your age and risk status.

Let sound medical practice dictate when you see the doctor and get l...