Treating Health Anxiety with Exposure-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This course is designed for social workers and other mental health professionals who want to feel equipped to help their clients improve health anxiety. These techniques can be implemented from within a variety of different professional roles and in many different contexts. Mental health professionals in a any setting can implement these techniques, such as schools, universities or other educational settings, private practice, community mental health, hospitals, clinics, in-home health services or other medical settings, child welfare, the Veteran's Administration, substance abuse treatment, correctional facilities or corporate employee assistance programs. 

This course is a good fit if you are a social worker or mental health professional who wants to learn evidence-based techniques to help your clients manage their health anxiety, whether you see them just once or twice or on an ongoing basis. 

Please see below for a detailed breakdown of the learning objectives for each module in the course. 

Module 1: Understand the Cycle of Health Anxiety

1. Identify the key components in the vicious cycle of health anxiety, including core beliefs, body vigilance, internal and external triggers, thinking errors, and problematic behaviors.
2. Define specific thinking errors related to health anxiety, maladaptive core beliefs and about health and the avoidant and safety behaviors that maintain health anxiety.
3. Describe an overview of key CBT strategies for treating health anxiety.

Module 2: Help Clients Reduce Errors in Estimation

1. Describe the connection between situations, thoughts and reactions in health-related situations and recognize the presence of thinking errors related to overestimating the likelihood of catastrophic health situations.
2. Apply cognitive restructuring techniques (e.g. Socratic Dialogue, the Pie Chart Technique, the Examine the Evidence exercise, the Content Cleanse) to reduce the tendency to make estimation errors in health-related situations.
3. Differentiate between relative and absolute statistics and explain how misunderstanding them contributes to health anxiety.

Module 3: Help Clients Recognize Ability to Cope with Disease

1. Describe the connection between situations, thoughts and reactions in health-related situations and recognize the presence of thinking errors related to underestimating coping in health-related situations.
2. Identify core beliefs related to a perceived inability to cope with disease and deconstruct and reshape these problematic beliefs with core belief exercises.
3. Apply cognitive restructuring exercises (Socratic Dialogue, Interview Experiment, Health Spectrum Exercise) to reshape problematic assumptions about inability to cope with disease and strengthen beliefs about resilience and coping.

Module 4: Help Clients Live More Comfortably with Body Sensations and Symptoms 

1. Describe common sources of ‘body noise,’ including a detailed breakdown of the ‘mind-body connection’ and how normalizing ‘body noise’ can reduce fears of symptoms.
2. Explain the relationship between body-focused attention (i.e. the ‘body vigilance trap’) and symptom amplification in health anxiety.
3. Identify how to use cognitive exercises (e.g., Socratic Dialogue, Survey Experiment, Twist & Finish Out the Image technique) to challenge distorted interpretations of physical symptoms.
4. Demonstrate the use of interoceptive exposure tasks to systematically reduce fear of bodily sensations as well as use of attention redirection and relaxation strategies to reduce intensity of anxiety.

 Module 5: Help Clients Stop Using Safety Behaviors and Avoidance

1. Describe how problematic behaviors maintain health anxiety and identify an alternative, more adaptive approach to managing health.
2. Use cost-benefit analyses to evaluate the impact of safety behaviors and avoidant behaviors on clients’ lives.
3. Design and implement exposure hierarchies to gradually reduce avoidance and reliance on safety behaviors.
4. Describe step-by-step strategies for using behavioral experiments to reduce avoidant and safety behaviors.

Module 6: Help Clients Live More Comfortably with Uncertainty

1. Explain the role of intolerance of uncertainty in health anxiety and its relationship with excessive worry.
2. Apply cognitive strategies to reshape assumptions about uncertainty (e.g. identifying and reshaping thinking errors with Socratic Dialogue, recognizing the benefits of uncertainty, harnessing existing skills).
3. Apply the Waiting Experiment to build tolerance for uncertainty about symptoms.

Module 7: Help Clients Build a Sense of Hope in Medical Resources

1. Identify common unhelpful beliefs about medicine and explain how clients' beliefs about medicine, doctors/providers, and testing contribute to health anxiety.
2. Describe how experiences with ‘medical trauma’ can contribute to the development of health anxiety. 
3. Utilize cognitive interventions (e.g., Socratic Dialogue, Content Cleanse, Interview Experiment, Core Belief Exercise) to reshape unhelpful beliefs about medicine/healthcare.
4. Discuss strategies to improve client-provider relationships (communication, interactions) that promotes positive health behaviors and offers opportunities to provide ‘whole patient care.’
5. Describe the process of implementing exposure hierarchies to help clients reduce avoidant behaviors and attend screenings/check-ups and/or seek medical care as necessary.

Module 8: Help Clients Become Less Afraid of Death

1. Identify a few major domains of death anxiety (e.g., fears of dying process, fears of separation from loved ones, fears of the afterlife) and their relationship to health anxiety.
2. Apply targeted cognitive restructuring to challenge thoughts and beliefs that exacerbate fear of death or dying (Socratic Dialogue, core belief exercises, review of research in key areas).
3. Describe how to use imaginal and in-vivo exposure exercises to help clients systematically reduce fear of death. 

Module 9: Help Clients Manage Health Anxiety in the Face of Medical Conditions

1. Describe the ‘Common Sense Model of Illness’ and the impact of ‘constraining illness-related beliefs’ on health anxiety while managing medical conditions. 
2. Describe a few strategies to differentiate between (a) anxiety-driven concerns and valid medical concerns; and (b) productive worry and unproductive worry to guide appropriate behavioral responses.
3. Apply cognitive techniques (e.g., Socratic Dialogue, thought records, Twist and Finish Out the Image, Dialing Down Catastrophic Thinking, Gratitude Journaling, Core Belief Exercise) to reduce catastrophic thinking patterns related to managing medical conditions.
4. Describe key behavioral strategies (behavioral experiments, exposure tasks) to reduce problematic behaviors when experiencing health anxiety while managing medical conditions.
5. Describe key strategies for managing health anxiety during the testing and treatment processes.

As mental health experts, we know that no one can guarantee this. There are many factors that contribute to how much (and how quickly) your clients improve their health anxiety. Some factors include the severity of their health anxiety, how long they've been living with it, their personal life circumstances, and the amount of time and effort they are willing or able to put into changing problematic thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. All that said, if they practice the skills you teach them a little each day and put in the work as recommended, they will likely see improvement. As we know, the goal shouldn’t be to become “anxiety free.” This is an unattainable goal, given that anxiety is a normal part of the human experience. Instead, we want your clients to reduce health anxiety enough so that they can live more comfortably and regain a sense of control over their lives.  

Absolutely. CBT is designed to help people with health anxiety, whether they have a medical condition or not. Although living with a medical condition can be incredibly challenging, it doesn’t mean your clients must live with severe health anxiety for the rest of their lives. Disease and debilitating anxiety are not synonymous. All of the techniques you will learn are relevant for your clients, both with or without a medical condition. In addition, I have an entire bonus module specifically designed to help people with medical conditions improve their health anxiety.

You will get access to the course the moment you purchase, and can start right away! 

All of those who purchase the course will have access to me via 2 options: (1) You may email me your questions (my contact info will be located on the supplemental materials); and/or (2) You may ask me any questions you have in the comments section of each video lesson.  

There are a total of 9 core modules (and 1 bonus module). The required modules for continuing education credit include 13 hours of instruction. I designed each module to take 1-2 weeks, depending on your availability. Of course, you can tailor this to fit your situation and availability. You can certainly complete this course more slowly or quickly than I suggest. But I do have a couple of recommendations.

First, try not to let too much time pass between modules, as you are building these new clinical skills. You will be more likely to retain the information if you work on this a little each week.

Secondly, if possible, try not to complete too much too quickly. I would suggest not consuming more than 1 module of content per week. It is important that you give yourself time to complete the exercises in the lessons in order to further solidify the concepts and practice new clinical skills.

With all of that said, if you need to complete it more quickly because your license renewal is due, that's perfectly fine. I would just recommend you revisit the content periodically to reinforce concepts and practice your new skills. 

Due to the digital nature of our products, we do not offer any refunds.

If you have any questions or concerns about your order or the course, please reach out to Dr. Britney Chesworth (contact info is listed in your learning objectives document, under the introduction video tab). 

This course was created and recorded in June of 2025. As such, it is up to date with the latest evidence for treating health anxiety. In your supplemental materials for each module, you can find a detailed list of citations. 

This course is a self-paced online course. As soon as you purchase the course, you will be emailed a link to create a password so you can login into the course. You may begin the course immediately. The course is designed for you to work at your own pace. 

You will be able to login to your online course for 6 months after purchase date. However, you will be able to download all of the materials (including the PDFs and all video clips and audio companions). I allowed this so that you can have access to the materials forever. It is important to me that you have ongoing access to everything so that you can return to the materials and brush up your skills as you work with your clients.  

Yes, if you are a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), you will be able to earn 13 clinical continuing education credits for this course. 

Treating Health Anxiety with Exposure-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (course number 6415), is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by Dr. Britney Chesworth Courses, LLC, as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: dates 10/17/2025 to 10/17/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 13 clinical continuing education credits.

In order to earn CE credit, you must complete the 9 required modules for this course (the bonus module is not required). After each of the 9 modules, you will complete a quiz. You must pass with a 70% or higher on each of the quizzes. You may retake the quiz as many times as necessary to pass. Once you complete all 9 modules, you will be prompted to complete a course evaluation form. Once you complete the evaluation form, you will be issued your completion certificate for CE credit. 

Yes. Depending on your specific profession and regulatory board, you may be able to earn credit for this course. For example, Marriage and Family Therapists in California are allowed to take ASWB ACE approved courses for continuing education credit. I would consult your specific regulatory board. 

I am committed to creating an inclusive and accessible learning environment for all participants. If you would like to request accessibility accommodations, please scroll to the bottom of this page and complete the form below. Once I receive your request, I will follow up with you to discuss your needs and collaborate on reasonable accommodations to support your full participation in the course.

If you haven't yet purchased the course but have questions or concerns, please scroll to the bottom of the page and submit your questions. I will get back to you within 2 business days.