Health anxiety- Hypochondria. In peace!

Hello! Thank you for reaching out. We hear that your parents have recovered from Covid-19! Congratulations on their good health and recovery. We hope you and your family are safe during these times. Your concern on their health is completely understandable. The current scenario has been emotionally and mentally harrowing due to the virus, its mutations and several other surrounding factors. Your worries are justified in these situations. You only want what is best for your parents health and you. And that is absolutely okay. Being rational during these situations can be helpful. Since your parents have recovered, they might need post-COVID19 recovery aid- like good sleep, healthy meals, exercise and positive interactions. However, it is unlikely that they will contract the virus again, since you do take care of them immensely. It can be very frightening to deal with the uncertainty and worry of parent’s health. You too need to take care of your emotional and physical self so as to be able to be of aid to them. Try to engage in mindful activities - deep breathing exercises, cooking, art, dance, singing or anything that interests you to stay in the flow and focus on the activity you are doing. Grounding - grounding essentially asks you to focus on your here and now, i.e grounding yourself in the present moment. Gratitude journaling, writing down things you are grateful for, looking for 5 things you can identify with your senses among other things are something that you can use. Rely on others for emotional support - whenever there is an urge to worry about the health of the parents, connect with them or people you can confide in. When you share your concerns with others, conversations and empathetic bonds help in understanding yourself and your emotions. Develop a strategy of Anxious-coping - In moments of calm, establish a few steps that you can take which will help you to cope with anxiety. These can be a set of strategies like calling a friend, doing a quick meditation, gardening, or drawing 10 flowers. Anything that you can remind yourself to cope with the stress. Solution based excercises - create a list of pros and cons. When you are done, look at the list and rate them based on what is realistic and unrealistic. Then, look at the things you can do to feel less worried- like talking with your parents, or something else. While these should help you to deal with issues, if you feel like it is getting too much for you to deal with alone- we would recommend you to please reach out to professional mental health practitioners from organisations or independent set ups for the same if you need emotional support! Credits: Parul Pushkarna, Intern at Heart It Out

Given that you are surrounded by saddening news everyday everywhere since past 2 months, and at the same time having discovered that your parents got Covid +ve, it is understandable that you developed the fear of losing your parents or having anything terrible happen to anyone. It is also possible that you or someone you know may had lost someone close and you were able to process it effectively.

Seek counseling session to express and explore what is troubling you and how you can deal with these uncertain times more effectively.

Take precautionary medications, indulge in yoga and other exercises that shift your focus to building Immunity whenever you feel troubled or overwhelmed by the thoughts. For eg being proactive about doing breathing exercises, walking , drinking lot of fluids , and so on so that your energy will be focused on their well-being instead of possible illness.

Worrying and hypochondria. In hypochondria person is preoccupied with his or symptoms. You keep worrying regarding your parents. Excessive worrying happens in anxiety problem and panic disorder or depression. You need to consult a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

visit a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist

stop watching news, and searching on Google. This will worsen your problems.

Hi, you are worried about your parents health since they were diagnosed with covid. I understand it can be worrying to cope with covid pandemic being all around. You are worried about your parents being diagnosed with covid and you are also worried about them having diabetes. In order to help you feel calm you can consult a psychologist and Counseling sessions will help you. A psychologist will help and guide you with ways to manage your worries and feel calm,

Consult a psychologist.

You need detailed evaluation as its only because of post covid leading to possible  infections like black fungus  or too much worried about your parents health or googling often about covid medicines, steriod usuage and after effects., which is kerping you preoccupied with worry about their health. Do connect to me on practo consult to do the needful

The good news after all my ose information you had mentioned is that your Parents are safe and you are blessed to be with them.. The very same concern turns up into Anxiety is to be looked in to..

To feel motivated and to get rid of those anxious thoughts, you can reach me by using the link given below :- https://prac.to/hema-sampath-psychologist-dir