Therapy & Counseling
Health Anxiety Therapy in the South Bay
Health anxiety is persistent, consuming worry about being seriously ill, often despite reassurance and clean test results. It can take over your attention with symptom-checking, googling, and doctor visits, or send you avoiding healthcare entirely. Therapy helps you break the worry-and-checking cycle and get your peace of mind back. It is common, and it responds well to treatment.
- Licensed clinicians
- In person and virtual
- Free 15-minute consultation
- Accepting new clients
We see clients in person at our Hermosa Beach office and virtually across California.
What health anxiety can look like
- Frequent worry about having a serious illness
- Checking your body, googling symptoms, or seeking reassurance
- Brief relief from reassurance, then the worry returns
- Over-attention to normal bodily sensations
- Either frequent doctor visits or avoiding them out of fear
Our approach
We use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the approach with the strongest evidence for health anxiety. It targets the worry, the checking and reassurance habits, and the way attention fixates on the body. Because health anxiety overlaps with anxiety and sometimes OCD, we treat the whole picture within your wider individual therapy. We also encourage staying connected to appropriate medical care, neither over-checking nor avoiding.
As Jack Foley, LMFT, puts it:
"Reassurance is like scratching an itch, it feels good for a second and makes it worse. The work is learning to tolerate uncertainty, which is where the real relief lives."
What to expect
Care begins with a free 15-minute consultation. From there we match you thoughtfully and build practical tools to quiet the worry, at a pace that feels manageable.
Where we are
One South Bay office.
All of California.
Our office is in the heart of the South Bay. Warm, private, and a world away from the clinical waiting room. For clients throughout California who can't make it in, we deliver the same uncompromising standard of care virtually.
2200 Pacific Coast Hwy, Ste 308, Hermosa Beach · Telehealth statewide
How it works
Starting is simple.
Book a free consultation
A confidential 15-minute call to understand what you need.
Get matched
We pair you with the right clinician for your goals.
Begin care
Start in person or online, at a pace that feels right.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is health anxiety?
Health anxiety is persistent, excessive worry about having or developing a serious illness, often despite reassurance and normal test results. It can drive constant checking, googling symptoms, or avoiding doctors altogether.
Is health anxiety the same as hypochondria?
It is the current, less stigmatizing way of describing what used to be called hypochondria. Clinically it overlaps with illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder. It is real and treatable.
Why does reassurance not help?
Reassurance calms the worry briefly, then it returns, often stronger. Therapy helps break that cycle so you are not dependent on constant checking or reassurance to feel safe.
What treatment works for health anxiety?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has strong evidence. It addresses the worry, the checking and reassurance habits, and the way attention locks onto bodily sensations.
Do you offer health anxiety therapy online?
Yes, in person in the South Bay and via telehealth across California.
When you're ready, a conversation is the place to begin.
Book a complimentary 15-minute consultation, confidential, and without obligation.
Book a free consultation