graceolivia

Hello! I'm a 25 (almost 26) year old graduate student studying mental health counseling, currently in my second semester. I also have spent most of my life dealing with GAD, as well as Health Anxiety for the past six years or so. I started my grad program in September (after moving across the country for it) and have noticed an increase in my health anxiety for sure, probably as a response to all of the stress I'm facing with school, and moving, and being away from my family. I try to find ways to distract myself from worrying about perceived symptoms, by talking with friends (either about what I'm anxious about or something separate), going for walks, or playing music. But in the recent months, it has still be very distracting and at times very distressing. I can worry about a lot of different things about my body (sometimes heart problems, blood clots, cancer, etc) but in the recent months it has mostly been around my reproductive health and urinary health. Hoping to connect with others on the ways they live with GAD, Health Anxiety, or both, and to share the ways we all work towards having a better relationship with our anxiety. I'm also currently working on a paper for a class defending the presence of Health Anxiety Disorder in the DSM-5, and am hoping to hear from other people about their stories to include (with their consent of course) about what their experiences have been with Health Anxiety, what it was like to receive a diagnosis of it, etc, etc. Thank you! Happy to be a part of this.