ANXIETY DISORDER AND THE THREAT OF HEALTH ANXIETY

Running head: ANXIETY DISORDER AND THE THREAT OF HEALTH ANXIETY
Anxiety Disorder and the Threat of Health Anxiety
Student’s name
University
Author’s note
Rachman, S. (2012). Health anxiety disorders: A cognitive construal. Behaviour research and
therapy, 50(7-8), 502-512.

ANXIETY DISORDER AND THE THREAT OF HEALTH ANXIETY
1
Anxiety related disorders are widely prevalent in today’s world. There are no particular
age group or gender constraints that constitute the population affected by anxiety related
disorders. Anxiety, in a broad sense, refers to a feeling of worry, distress or fear about future
events. However, in a more technical sense, anxiety is defined as an emotion characterized by the
feelings of worried thoughts, tension or physical changes such s increased blood pressure or
palpitation (Andrews et al., 2019). However, anxiety related disorders are not similar to plain
anxiety. It indicates an array of mental illnesses caused by various stress factors, side effects of
medication, illicit substance use or consequences of medical illnesses such as hypoglycaemia,
heart attack etc, and it can be triggered by numerous factors and conditions. However, one of the
major causes that trigger such disorders can be identified as health anxiety, i.e. the fear of
illnesses or health deterioration (Goodwin, Yiend & Hirsch, 2017).
In the present scenario, when the world is observing the unprecedented pandemic attack
by coronavirus or Covid-19, the issue of health anxiety is not a mere forced thought. No one, in
this entire world, knows who is going to be affected next. Neither is it possible to know how
worse this situation can get. In purview of this unforeseen fear among people across the world, it
is understandable that the pandemic will take a toll on the mental health, just as it is threating the
physical health. To this end, the present study seeks to assess what effect the anxiety and fear of
getting affected by coronavirus will surface on the people having anxiety related disorders.
Hence, it explores a news article published in the Washington Post that discusses the effect of
coronavirus fear has on the patients of anxiety related disorders. Further, the study will try to
corroborate the claims made in the article by scholarly literature that deals with health anxiety
and anxiety related disorders.