Health & Covid Concerns

Covid-19 and other illnesses can pose a significant threat to your physical health and well-being. However, the stress that's associated with trying to avoid these diseases can be detrimental to your mental health. Discussing your fears and worries regarding health and Covid concerns can help you navigate the world with less fear and anxiety. Fortunately, the team of clinicians at Rappore, a telehealth-based mental health practice headquartered in Manhattan, New York, offers compassionate psychotherapy and psychiatry services to patients in multiple states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Texas.

One of the most common issues we help our clients tackle at Rappore: the fear that they are not healthy. 

Sometimes you can have these worries even in the absence of any external pressures; you can drink too much coffee one day and convince yourself that the rapidity of your heartbeat is a sign that you’re having a heart attack. At the height of the COVID pandemic, many people experienced a touch of hypochondriasis, even if they never did before. 

We understand why. The severity of the illness itself, plus the prospect of trying to manage long-term symptoms, is enough to make even the most hale and hardy among us stock up on N-95s. Despite the fact that the pandemic appears to be receding, some of us still worry that any chill or tickle in the throat or chest is the first sign that we’ve caught COVID — or caught it again. 

Fear of disease can easily metastasize into a disease in and of itself. Hypochondriasis is often as insidious and virulent as illnesses themselves. Without addressing these concerns, the apprehension can infect every aspect of your day-to-day life. Believing every surface is a fomite, every person is a vector and every time someone coughs or sneezes, you’re convinced they just got you sick. These fears can cause you to isolate yourself and stay that way long after any public health emergency has been lifted. It makes you lonely, and it makes you timid, and timidity makes you less likely to take good risks that can improve your life and your relationships. 

Some common symptoms of hypochondriasis are: 

• Excessive Worrying
• Agitation 
• Difficulty Concentrating
• Irritability
• Insomnia 

Effective interventions and treatments for hypochondriasis include:

• Restricting Caffeine & Alcohol
• Healthy Diet & Exercise
• Mindfulness
• Medications (such as SSRIs)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

If you suffer from these kinds of health anxieties — if the contours of these thought patterns are all too familiar — you don’t need to feel alone. There are many people suffering through the same anxieties and health concerns as you.

Rappore’s clinicians are experts in assisting individuals with their health related stress so that it does not interfere with your day to day life.