Health Anxiety, also known as hypochondria, is defined by the HSE as a period when “you spend so much time worrying you’re ill, or going to get ill, that it starts to take over your life”. In a written exchange with the University Times, Psychologist Dr Elaine Ryan, who specialises in OCD and anxiety-related conditions, explains how health anxiety initially presents within the body.
“You notice a sensation or change in your body, interpret it as possibly meaning something serious, and then try to get certainty by checking, Googling symptoms, seeking reassurance or asking for further tests.”, she explained. “That usually brings relief for a little while, but the doubt returns and the whole process starts again. It is that cycle of fear, checking and temporary reassurance that people get stuck in.”
Like other forms of anxiety, health-related anxiety is not a monolith, and may manifest itself in a variety of forms. Psychiatrist and Co-author of ‘OverComing Health Anxiety’, Professor David Veale, outlined via email why health anxiety is considered a spectrum.
“Not everyone has the same experience of health anxiety – it partly depends on the severity of your problem and the culture you are from,” he said. “Individuals may have difficult experiences of illness in themselves or their loved ones when they were younger that contribute to the development of the problem…… the main [factor] is the intolerance of uncertainty (the not knowing) whether something is true”
This is echoed by Chuck Rashleigh, Psychologist, Research & Outcomes and Outreach & Prevention Manager for Trinity College Dublin Student Counselling Service, who offered his own clinical impressions based on student presentations of health anxiety (not to be confused with formal service data).
“Health Anxiety exists on a spectrum, and concerns about health are a normal part of being human”, Rashleigh stated. However, these concerns can quickly shift to become a detrimental, destabilising and constant worry. According to Rashleigh, symptoms of health anxiety can include (but are not limited to): “frequently worrying about having or developing a serious illness despite reassurance from healthcare professionals, spending significant amounts of time researching symptoms online (or with an AI chatbot), and finding that worries about health interfere with concentration, study, relationships, sleep, or enjoyment of daily life.”
Jules Nati, a final-year English student, began suffering from health anxiety after she began taking the contraceptive pill during the summer of 2026. Although she does not believe that health anxiety can be fully attributed to technology and social media, she feels that excessive googling of symptoms “definitely worsened” her situation.
“I don’t think these kinds of things [social media] are bad if you can rationalise them,” Nati points out. “But I think if you are already experiencing health anxiety, then they can absolutely [contribute to it]”.
An important factor to remember, Rashleigh emphasised, is that “health anxiety can be maintained by behaviours that initially feel helpful but provide only short-term relief. For example, repeatedly checking symptoms online or constantly seeking reassurance may reduce anxiety temporarily, but can unintentionally reinforce the underlying fear over time.”
Similarly, Ryan believes that attempts to reassure the self can further the cycle of health anxiety. “What often keeps health anxiety going is the attempt to get rid of the uncertainty — checking, Googling, monitoring the body and repeatedly asking for reassurance”, she writes.
Nati explains the exhaustion of living with health anxiety while trying to maintain a normal routine. “I started considering with every headache if I was going to die…with every single bite of food I ate, that I cooked myself…I was sure there was going to be a tragedy. I started to be very concerned about getting pregnant. There was a period right before classes started, where I was genuinely afraid of going to sleep if I got a headache during the day.”
Further, Nati notes that the Trinity Health Centre “really did not help.”
Nati was prescribed the contraceptive pill by a doctor at the Trinity Health Service, and was told that she may experience “mood swings” as a side effect. Having had a history of anxiety, when she began her medication and started to develop symptoms of health anxiety, she was quick to seek help. After completing the registration form with the College Health Service Contraceptive Clinic, Nati was called in for an appointment. Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication between the reception and healthcare staff, Nati was informed that College Health was “very busy” and would not have an appointment available for her on that day.
“I reached out [after this experience] over the phone,” Nati added. “But both lines were busy…and sometimes nobody picked up at all.” After attempting to make an appointment on multiple days without success, Nati was left feeling unsupported by the service.
“I would just hope that they would be more responsive…because this is a campus that is full of international students, and being an international student means we are away from our families, our doctors and a health system that we know…it feels like it’s not taken into consideration that they are the only medical point that [international] students can reach for months,” Nati stated.
According to Nati, the issues she experienced with accessing help from Trinity College Health stem from a systemic shortcoming rather than that of individual staff. “I hope there will be changes in the administration”, she emphasised.
Without access to medical support, it is no wonder that many students may turn to technology. Technology has long since been linked to an increase in anxiety and other mental health conditions. As Ireland enters a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is becoming clear that an overexposure to AI chatbots may pose a similar, if not more severe, threat to mental wellbeing. A 2024 study on the link between ChatGPT usage and anxiety confirmed that a “compulsive” use of the software “directly correlates with heightened anxiety, burnout, and sleep disturbance”.
Veale, Ryan and Rashleigh all believe that technology plays a role in the sustainment of health anxiety.
“We now have instant access to symptom searches, health information on social media and devices that can monitor our bodies all day”, Ryan says. “Those things can be useful, but with health anxiety they can also feed the belief that if you just check one more time, you will finally feel certain. The difficulty is that health anxiety can never get the absolute certainty it is looking for.”
Rashleigh explains that technology may be a double-edged sword in researching health concerns. “On the positive side, students have unprecedented access to reliable health information and support services. But the internet also makes it very easy to search symptoms repeatedly, encounter worst-case scenarios, or consume alarming health-related content.”
“AI can be an unreliable source of information, as it may hallucinate or try to agree with the user’s bias (e.g., I fear I am unwell)”, he notes.
With April 2026 seeing over six thousand people waiting for a counselling appointment with the Health Service Executive, it is unsurprising that many now consider Ireland in a mental health crisis. As questions arise about the availability of timely medical care on campus, can Trinity really expect students experiencing health-related anxiety – alongside other mental health concerns – to feel supported?
Director of TCD College Health Service Dr David McGrath was reached out to for comment, and did not respond at the time of publishing,
If you or a loved one is experiencing anxiety of any kind, please contact TCD Student Counselling for support.
