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Digital Seminar

When Health Anxiety and Chronic Illness Overlap

$69.99 Standard

Of course, clients with chronic pain or chronic illness, or who have experienced medical trauma, live with real, ongoing symptoms and legitimate health concerns -

But many also have health anxiety that can worsen distress.

You’re left wondering – how much worry, preoccupation, and vigilance is expected in this case, and how much might be disordered anxiety that I should be treating? 

And how do I talk about health anxiety with my clients without minimizing their lived experience?

In this session, Taylor Ham – author of The Health Anxiety Workbook – will give you the tools you need to differentiate expected anxiety in the context of chronic illness from illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder and then treat it. You’ll learn:

  • CBT and ACT interventions to reduce fear-driven behaviors, tolerate uncertainty, and engage with life despite ongoing pain and medical symptoms
  • A framework to avoid both overpathologizing and unintentionally reinforcing clients’ anxiety 
  • How to helpfully respond when medically complex, anxious clients seek reassurance or hyperfocus on their symptoms

Here's What You'll Learn

Health Anxiety vs. Reasonable Medical Distress

  • Why make a distinction?
  • Illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder
  • Health anxiety in the context of chronic illness, pain, and medical trauma
  • Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral markers that point to co-morbid health anxiety
  • What about OCD?
  • Common assessment traps

The Health Anxiety Cycle: How Well-Intentioned Care Can Reinforce Health Anxiety

  • Reassurance, symptom analysis, and accommodation as unintentional safety behavior reinforcement
  • The role of intolerance of uncertainty and mortality fears in maintaining health anxiety
  • Manage therapist and client discomfort with uncertainty and “both/and” realities (real illness + health anxiety)

CBT and ACT Interventions for Clients with Chronic Pain or Chronic Illness

  • How to provide thoughtful psychoeducation on health anxiety and the pain/anxiety feedback loop 
  • Cognitive interventions to avoid invalidating real symptoms or medical uncertainty
  • Address reassurance-seeking and safety behaviors while maintaining appropriate medical follow-up
  • Adapt behavioral experiments and exposure work to account for physical limitations and fluctuating symptoms
  • Integrate ACT-based values work to help clients build meaning
  • Limitations of the research and potential risks

Everything You're Getting

  • More than 1 hour of video content
  • Up to 1.0 CE credits
  • Certificate of completion
  • Handouts and resources

Meet Your Experts

Taylor M. Ham, LMFT, CCATP

Toggle speaker biography

Taylor M. Ham, LMFT, CCATP, is a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional and author of the book The Health Anxiety Workbook: Practical Exercises to Overcome Your Health Worries (Rockridge Press, 2021).

Ms. Ham specializes in treating a range of anxiety and mood issues, as well as stress and relational issues. In her practice, she uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based techniques to help clients leave their health-related anxieties behind so they can live the lives they want. Ms. Ham earned her MS degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from Virginia Tech University and has been designated a Clinical Fellow by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Taylor Ham maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Octave Behavioral Health. She receives royalties as a published author. Taylor Ham receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Taylor Ham has no relevant non-financial relationships.

More taught by Taylor M. Ham, LMFT, CCATP

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We’re that confident you'll find this learning experience to be all that's promised and more than you expected.

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Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

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Additional CE Info

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.

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Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Product Code:
POS150878
Duration:
1 hour, 5 minutes
Copyright:
Jul 16, 2026
Closed Captions:
Available
Format:
Audio and Video

ADA Needs

We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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