WHEN YOUR BODY FEELS HARD TO TRUST
Health Anxiety & Somatic Fears Therapy in Redondo Beach
From fear to freedom: evidence-based care for health anxiety.
Whether you're constantly monitoring physical sensations, worrying that something may be wrong, seeking reassurance, or finding it difficult to trust what you're feeling in your body, we'll work together to understand the patterns that may be keeping you caught in cycles of fear and help you develop a more grounded relationship with your body.
Therapy for Health Anxiety in Redondo Beach, CA • Online throughout California
OUR SERVICES
How We Help You Heal and Grow
Specializing in EMDR for trauma, anxiety, phobias, and mind‑body healing — including healthy anxiety and somatic fears. We combine EMDR with somatic therapies and mind‑body approaches, attachment‑centered care, and integrative psychotherapy. We carefully assess how your thoughts, emotions, relationships, life experiences, and nervous system influence what you’re going through today, and we tailor treatment to the person sitting with us. Our work recognizes the difference between adaptive (healthy) anxiety that signals risk and motivates self‑care, and anxiety that is overwhelming or body‑based (somatic fears). We help you track bodily sensations, regulate the nervous system, and transform distressing patterns so you can respond with safety, clarity, and connection.
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If worries about illness feel overwhelming, individual therapy can help you reclaim calm and confidence. At Catherine Alvarado Therapy + EMDR we blend evidence-based approaches—EMDR, cognitive-behavioral strategies, and mind‑body techniques—to reduce catastrophic thinking, soothe physical symptoms, and retrain your brain’s threat response.
In a safe, collaborative space you’ll learn practical tools to tolerate uncertainty, interrupt worry cycles, and reconnect with meaningful daily life. Therapy is tailored to your pace and needs, available in-person in Redondo Beach or online across California.
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Therapy for kids and adolescents with health anxiety focuses on reducing excessive worry about illness and helping young people feel safe in their bodies and daily routines. Using age-appropriate techniques—like cognitive-behavioral strategies to gently challenge catastrophic thoughts, exposure approaches to reduce avoidance (e.g., medical settings or body-checking), and mindfulness or grounding exercises to manage physical sensations—therapists help young clients build accurate, balanced thinking and coping skills.
Family involvement is often key: clinicians work with parents to respond supportively without reinforcing reassurance-seeking, to set helpful boundaries, and to model adaptive health behaviors. The goal is increased calm, improved school and social functioning, and greater confidence in tolerating uncertainty about health. Sessions are tailored to developmental level and may include play, psychoeducation, skill practice, and coordination with pediatric providers when needed.
→ Learn more about Child & Adolescent Therapy
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Couples and family therapy for health anxiety offers a safe, collaborative space to address how worries about illness affect relationships and daily life. We help partners and family members understand the cycle of reassurance-seeking, medical checking, and avoidance, and teach practical skills to reduce conflict, soothe triggers, and rebuild trust.
Using evidence-based tools—emotion-focused techniques, communication exercises, and mind-body strategies—therapy supports healthier ways to respond to uncertainty, manage symptoms together, and strengthen connection. Ideal for couples and families who want to support a loved one without enabling anxiety and to restore balance, intimacy, and calm in the face of health fears.
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EMDR therapy offers an evidence-based, time-efficient approach for treating health anxiety by targeting the distressing memories, bodily sensations, and catastrophic beliefs that fuel persistent worry about illness. Through bilateral stimulation and structured processing, EMDR helps desensitize triggers, reprocess stuck memories, and install adaptive beliefs (for example, shifting from “I am doomed to get sick” to “I can tolerate uncertainty and seek helpful care”).
Many people experience reduced rumination, fewer panic symptoms, and greater tolerance of bodily sensations after a course of EMDR, often alongside psychoeducation and grounding techniques to support mind-body regulation. EMDR can be provided in-person or online and is tailored to the individual’s history, symptoms, and goals.
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Intensive EMDR for health anxiety is a short, focused treatment that quickly reduces strong fear of illness. Given in several back-to-back sessions or over a few days, it uses EMDR to work on traumatic memories, upsetting images, and worry-based beliefs that keep health anxiety going. By reprocessing the emotions and body reactions tied to perceived medical threats, people often see fast drops in catastrophic thoughts, checking, and constant bodily alertness.
This approach fits people who want faster relief, are ready for concentrated work, and can do consecutive sessions. Therapy is personalized, includes grounding and body-based tools to ease physical distress between sessions, and is done safely by trained clinicians with preparation, stabilization, and a clear aftercare plan for lasting improvement.
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Adjunct EMDR offers a focused, evidence-based approach to reduce the intense worry, intrusive health fears, and somatic hypervigilance that accompany health anxiety. Used alongside talk therapy and practical coping strategies, EMDR targets the distressing memories, catastrophic beliefs, and bodily sensations that fuel ongoing fear, helping to desensitize triggers and reprocess unhelpful meanings.
Clients often notice quicker relief from panic and rumination, improved tolerance of uncertain bodily sensations, and a greater ability to engage in daily life without constant health-related checking. EMDR can be tailored to brief, targeted sessions or integrated within a longer treatment plan depending on each client’s needs.
Therapists for Health Anxiety
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Catherine Alvarado
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist 134744
EMDRIA Approved Consultant & Clinical SupervisorSpecializing in health anxiety, somatic symptoms, panic attacks, chronic worry, and complex trauma through EMDR, attachment-focused, and somatic therapy.
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Monika Arana
Registered Associate MFT 140548
EMDR Trained TherapistSupporting individuals experiencing health anxiety, somatic concerns, chronic stress, and nervous system dysregulation through trauma-informed, EMDR, and nervous system-informed approaches.
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Arielle Harris
Registered Associate MFT 161691
EMDR Trained TherapistHelping clients navigate health anxiety, anxious thoughts, perfectionism, and self-doubt through EMDR and compassionate, attachment-focused therapy.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Support for when it’s hard to feel at ease in your body.
✓ Health Anxiety & Fear of Illness
✓ Fear of Bodily Sensations
✓ Body Scanning & Symptom Monitoring
✓ Panic Symptoms & Physical Sensations
✓ Fear of Medical Conditions or Diagnoses
✓ Reassurance-Seeking & Repeated Checking
✓ Anxiety Around Medical Appointments or Tests
✓ Difficulty Trusting Your Body
✓ Intrusive Health-Related Thoughts
✓ Avoidance Related to Health Fears
Heal Trauma, Restore Balance, Reclaim Your Life.
THERAPY FOR HEALTH ANXIETY
Taking the first step doesn't have to feel overwhelming.
Not sure which therapist is the right fit? That’s okay. Share a bit about what you’re experiencing and we’ll match you with a clinician whose training and approach best fit your needs. We offer in-person health anxiety therapy in Redondo Beach and online throughout California for worries about bodily sensations, symptom-checking, reassurance-seeking, and difficulty trusting your body. You don’t have to navigate the cycle of fear and uncertainty alone — when you’re ready, we’re here to help.
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RESOURCES
Beyond the Symptoms
Explore articles on health anxiety, somatic fears, panic attacks, EMDR, and nervous system regulation to better understand the patterns that can shape how you relate to and respond to your body.