New Big Brother presenter Will Best has revealed he suffers from terrible health anxiety and constantly fears getting cancer – but admits therapy failed to help him.
Will, 38, who will host the re-launch of Big Brother alongside AJ Odudu on Sunday, said he has been unable to find the cause of his crippling mental health issue – but admitted he was too impatient to see if therapy sessions could get to the root of it.
Speaking on the Private Parts podcast, he said: ‘I’ve tried talking therapy and it didn’t do it for me. I think I’m impatient.
‘So when it comes to something like therapy I just want to go to someone with a problem and say ‘just tell me how to fix this’ – like instant relief, boom.
‘I’ve always struggled with health anxiety. I always have in my head most of the big cancers.
Candid: New Big Brother presenter Will Best has revealed he suffers from terrible health anxiety and constantly fears cancer – but therapy failed to help him
Help: Will, 38, who will host the re-launch of Big Brother alongside AJ Odudu (pictured) on Sunday, said he has been unable to find the cause of his crippling mental health issue
‘And then people say stuff like ‘the only thing that will actually give you cancer is stress and worrying’.
‘So now I’m worrying about cancer, so I’m obviously going to get cancer.
‘I just wanted somebody to be like ‘here’s how you stop worrying about that thing’ – not say ‘what about your father, what did your father do?’
‘It works very well for some people. I’ve got friends who it saved them. They’ve struggled with depression and anxiety and going to somebody every week has saved their lives. And they still see that person. It didn’t work for me.
‘I would walk out feeling like ‘I’ve just talked to somebody for an hour and I’ve made myself a bit sad and I still think I’ve got knee cancer’.’
The former T4 presenter further explained his anxiety around health and disease, recalling one instance where he convinced himself he had leukaemia.
He said: ‘I once had a thing where I was brushing my teeth before bed and I noticed these weird bruises on my shoulders and my upper arms.
‘I was like ‘that’s odd, I haven’t bashed myself’. Googled unexplained bruising – you’ve got leukaemia mate, serious quite late stage leukaemia’.
‘I didn’t sleep one second that night at all.
He said: ‘I’ve tried talking therapy and it didn’t do it for me. I think I’m impatient’
Will said: ‘I’ve always struggled with health anxiety. I always have in my head most of the big cancers’ (pictured with AJ Odudu)
‘I’m just there all night waiting for the doctor’s surgery to open. 8am phone up. The doctor was like ‘unexplained bruising, it’s never a good sign. If any more bruises appear just come back’.
‘That afternoon one of my flatmates comes back ‘do you mind just checking’. She was like ‘did you have these bruises down your sides?’
‘I cycled straight back to the doctor. They were like ‘it will be quicker if you cycle to the hospital’.’
After Will and his girlfriend suffered a tearful wait for the hospital test results, a specialist told him ‘there’s nothing wrong with you – sometimes the body just does weird stuff’.
Will added: ‘Next day I go to the gym. I’m using this thing where you’ve got the weights, you’ve got the wires, and I’m doing this exercise and the wires are really rubbing my shoulders and just above my hips.
He said: ‘It works very well for some people. I’ve got friends who it saved them. They’ve struggled with depression and anxiety and going to somebody every week has saved their lives’
‘I was like ‘because of this machine, it rubs you there, and it kind of burst the blood vessels a bit. So it was that all along’.’
Will said he may now try a form of light-based psychotherapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), which reprogrammes neural pathways and washes away experiences that trigger worry.
He added of his health anxiety: ‘It’s a sludge within me – I do need to get it sorted out.’
Big Brother returns on ITV2 at 9pm on Sunday.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com
