Health Anxiety Explained: What It Really Is, Why It Feels So Real, and How to Break the Cycle with Therapist Leeor Gal

Have you ever Googled a symptom at 2am, convinced yourself something was seriously wrong, and then left a doctor's appointment feeling relieved — only to spiral again a few days later?

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. And you're not making it up.

I sat down with Leeor Gal, therapist, anxiety coach, and owner of The Therapy Gal group practice in Philadelphia and South Jersey, for one of the most honest conversations I've had about health anxiety. Leeor doesn't just understand this from a clinical perspective — she's lived it herself. And that combination makes for a conversation that goes way beyond the surface.

It Almost Never Starts With "I Think I Have Health Anxiety"

According to Leeor, people rarely walk into her office saying they have health anxiety. What they say is: I think I'm dying.

And that makes sense. Because when you're in the middle of it, the fear feels completely real. Your heart is racing, your body is doing something weird, and your brain is telling you this is the thing — this is the moment something goes seriously wrong.

What's actually happening is that your nervous system is picking up on discomfort and interpreting it as danger. Sensations become symptoms. Symptoms become facts. And before you know it, you're in the ER convinced you're having a heart attack — when really, it's a panic attack.

This is one of the most isolating parts of health anxiety: you feel like nobody believes you. And sometimes, they don't. But that doesn't mean what you're feeling isn't real.

What's Really Underneath It

Leeor talks a lot about what's driving health anxiety beneath the surface — and it's almost always more than just a fear of getting sick.

Sometimes it's a past medical experience that taught you your body can't be trusted. Sometimes it's trauma. Sometimes it's something as seemingly small as a well-meaning family member catastrophizing over a rash — and your brain filing that away as evidence that the worst-case scenario is always possible.

And sometimes, she says, health anxiety is actually about control. When other things in your life feel uncertain or out of your hands, your health becomes the one thing you feel like you can manage. So you manage it obsessively.

The Safety Behavior Trap

One of the most important things we talked about is safety behaviors — and why they feel so helpful in the moment but keep you so stuck in the long run.

Checking your pulse. Measuring your blood pressure. Googling your symptoms. Messaging your doctor through the portal. These things offer a blip of relief. A tiny moment of okay, I'm fine. But that relief never lasts, because the reassurance itself teaches your brain that the threat was real enough to need checking in the first place.

Leeor puts it simply: if you look for it, you will find it. Not because something is wrong — but because your body is responding to the stress and fear you're creating by searching.

The goal isn't to white-knuckle through the urge to check. It's to understand why the urge is there, and slowly start to trust that you can sit with uncertainty without needing to resolve it immediately.

Living in the Maybe

One of my favorite things Leeor says in this conversation is that the answer isn't black and white. It's not rush to the doctor the second you feel something and it's not never go at all. It's what she calls living in the maybe.

The maybe sounds like: I've had a headache for a few hours. I didn't drink enough water today. Let me wait and see. Or: I've had this for a week, I've tried the obvious things, and I'm still not feeling well — let me schedule an appointment for next week.

The maybe is the gray space. And for people with health anxiety, that gray space is the hardest place to sit. But it's also where recovery actually happens.

What Progress Actually Looks Like

Here's the thing I really want you to hear: progress doesn't mean you never worry about your health again. That's not a realistic goal, and Leeor is refreshingly honest about this — she still catches herself spiraling, still has her husband remind her to put down the phone and stop Googling.

Progress looks like catching yourself sooner. Choosing not to check the Apple Watch. Sitting with a weird sensation without immediately needing to know what it means. Trusting that you've done your due diligence — your annual appointments, your routine bloodwork — and that's enough for right now.

It's not a straight line. But it is absolutely possible.

You Are Not Broken

If you've struggled with health anxiety, you've probably felt some version of: what is wrong with me? Why can't I just get over this?

Leeor talks about how shame keeps this cycle going — because you can't shame yourself into healing. And so much of that shame comes from feeling like nobody believes you, like your fears are too big or too irrational or too exhausting for the people around you.

So I'll say what Leeor says: what you're feeling is real. It makes complete sense that you feel this way. And you are not broken.

You just need someone in your corner — whether that's a therapist, a coach, a partner, or a community of people who actually get it — to help you find your way through.

You can find leeor

at @@thetherapygal on Instagram & tiktok,

or at thetherapygal.com.

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