Health Anxiety and the 'Intolerance of Uncertainty'

"Everyone experiences uncertainty at times, and that's normal. But for some people, the need for absolute certainty can become overwhelming, taking over daily life. This is called the "intolerance of uncertainty" (IU). IU involves interpreting uncertain situations as threatening and assuming that unknown outcomes will inevitably be negative. In other words, if you can't be sure about what will happen, you might feel certain that the outcome will be terrible and unmanageable."

"People with health anxiety often have particularly high levels of IU. They may believe it's possible and necessary to be 100% certain that they won't experience a negative health outcome. In reality, certainty about the future is impossible, and health is no exception. Those with high IU often make three assumptions about uncertain situations: that uncertainty predicts something bad will happen, that the bad outcome will be catastrophic, and that they won't be able to cope if it does."

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) causes people to interpret uncertain situations as threatening and to assume unknown outcomes will be negative. People with health anxiety frequently exhibit high IU and seek impossible absolute certainty about health outcomes. High IU leads to assumptions that uncertainty predicts bad outcomes, that those outcomes will be catastrophic, and that coping will be impossible. These assumptions can transform minor sensations into catastrophic scenarios, such as interpreting a random headache as a brain tumor and imagining treatment will fail. The therapeutic goal is to increase tolerance of uncertainty through gradual exposure and cognitive strategies and to adopt adaptive beliefs that reduce catastrophic thinking and enhance coping.

Read at Psychology Today