Welcome to the Health Anxiety Podcast, I’m Dennis Simsek, your host, and together we are going to navigate the four stages of the health anxiety healing process, replacing fear with knowledge and transforming uncertainty into strength. Let’s embark on a path towards a healthier mindset and a healthier life. Let’s go.
Table of Contents
Stage 1: The Frantic Stage
The first stage in the health anxiety healing journey is the frantic stage.1 This is where a lot of people find themselves initially. The frantic stage means you are completely enthralled with your anxiety symptoms and led by your body. You wake up in the morning and feel something in your physical body, and automatically, unconsciously, you start to play out images and movies of how the day will go. You’re constantly setting yourself up for failure because you’re so in tune with your sensations and your body that you don’t give yourself the opportunity to connect with anything outside or anything inside that’s working properly. You only focus on what can and will go wrong.
Admitting that you are in this stage is crucial for healing. When I admitted I was a hypochondriac, it was a turning point. Recognizing that you are suffering from health anxiety is the first step towards creating something new. Remember, whatever we can create consciously and unconsciously, we can move away from and recreate.
Stage 2: The Exploration Stage
After the frantic stage, we move to the exploration stage. In this stage, we are open to new perceptions, root causes, actions, and directions. We start to see what our body is screaming out differently. This stage is about introducing ourselves to new perceptions, realizing that our anxiety symptoms can be viewed from a different perspective. It is a time of flexibility, where we start to become more flexible in how we approach life.
In the exploration stage, we also tap into root causes and explore new actions and ways of life. We begin to understand that we may be mirroring some of our parents’ personalities and that this has become unconsciously driven. We explore new directions, even though they are not yet ingrained habits. It’s important to keep moving forward into this world of exploration and not revert to the familiarity of franticness.
Stage 3: The Becoming Stage
The becoming stage is where the process and implementation of new mindsets and skill sets start forming. These new processes bring us out of the ego and into our higher selves. It feels like being on a bridge, with anxiety on one side and your higher self on the other. In the becoming stage, you are three-quarters of the way towards your higher self. You are becoming someone else, and as you do, the shackles from your past start to come off.
This stage is where spontaneous remissions can occur. You begin to detach from irrational fears and societal pressures. Energy starts to come to you, and you start to thank your anxiety symptoms for the messages they bring. You are no longer a slave to anxiety but are becoming someone new.
Stage 4: The Arrival Stage
The final stage is the arrival stage. This is a wholehearted arrival into a new identity and all that comes with it. It feels like living through an afterlife, seeing through childhood and present fear-centered beliefs and systems. In the arrival stage, you no longer spend as much time on anxiety as you used to. You start to see your body and yourself differently, from a more energetic standpoint.
You become more aware of the programming coming from the outside and start to think and feel at a deeper level. The arrival stage is about raising your consciousness and living in a completely different dimension from the frantic stage. It’s about transforming your life and maintaining a healthier mindset.
Remember, the journey through these stages is not linear, and it’s important to be patient and compassionate with yourself as you navigate through each one.
