Wise people say that fear is considered a fundamental feeling that helps to survive. In many ways, this statement is true, so you do not need to try to completely eradicate the ability to fear in yourself. Many are haunted by the fear of getting sick, the intensity of this fear can vary from reasonable to hypertrophied, seriously impairing the quality of life and interfering with normal socialization. How to get rid of this phobia in order to regain a normal perception of life and the world?
Why are people so afraid of getting sick?
This fear can be considered one of the most ancient. If we consider the historical context, then in the ancient world, and in the early Middle Ages, the disease was the easiest way to become an outcast of society. And the number of various ailments simply could not be calculated. What is now treated with antibiotics or disappeared altogether thanks to vaccinations, successfully mowed down entire cities. Not surprisingly, the fear of getting sick took on global proportions.
For example, any skin disease, notidentifiable. In the vast majority of cases, the diagnosis was made by a healer, and even a local priest. A person suffering from psoriasis ended up in a leper colony - it's the same as in the realm of the dead, only with continued torment and violent rejection of society.
Now, when a huge number of diseases are still treatable, people can be afraid intuitively, out of habit, or solely out of their own impressionability. Of course, there is nothing pleasant in violations of the body, but sometimes the forms of fear take on truly bizarre forms.
Hypochondria: simulation or illness?
If a person is suspicious to such an extent that he considers any bodily manifestation as a possible symptom of a terrible disease, he is usually called a hypochondriac. This word has received a dismissive and mocking emotional connotation, because the fear of getting sick has been known for many centuries, and even millennia. If a person is he althy by all indications, but sincerely considers himself ill or at risk, then sooner or later the annoyance and irritability of those around him accumulate in critical volumes.
If you are called a hypochondriac, and you really feel somehow unhe althy, then guilt may also be added. How to fight against this phenomenon? Doctors recommend, first of all, not to try to overcome your obsessive-painful condition. It is quite possible that there is a diagnostic error, and there is some kind of disorder in the internal systems. Sometimes level analysis helpshormones. A case is known when a young man's feeling of soreness reached critical nervous breakdowns against the background of relatively stable he alth. An analysis of the level of hormones showed that he had a serious hormonal imbalance, and the right therapy in just a month turned a nervous and weak person into an absolutely happy and he althy man. But what if fear reaches its limit?
Nosophobia as a serious psychiatric diagnosis
Sometimes people are interested: "Fear of getting sick - what kind of phobia is this?" How to understand that it is time to go and surrender to a psychiatrist? In most cases, such questions do not arise from the victims of panic fear themselves, but from their loved ones. If one of the relatives behaves inappropriately, suspects insidious microbes everywhere, then sooner or later the thought of a diagnosis will appear.
In As Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson played a man who suffers from mysophobia, the panicky fear of germs. This phenomenon can be considered an integral part of nosophobia. His character washes his hands only with a new bar of soap, which he then throws away, because germs can settle on a once-used bar. Perhaps this is the most striking example of pathological fear.
Nosophobia can lead to panic attacks, provokes obsessive states. It is she who makes you continuously boil and iron the linen on both sides, wash every centimeter of the floor with bleach, and so on. Don't get annoyed if someonefrom relatives shows such excessive cleanliness, it is better to contact a specialist for help. Remember, you can't just pull yourself together and stop, it's beyond reason.
Preliminary self-diagnosis
What to do if you suspect yourself of having a phobia? Perhaps you should make a preliminary diagnosis for yourself, take care of yourself and, without waiting for the condition to worsen, go to a psychiatrist. Not to a psychologist, but to a psychiatrist, if there are no problems in his profile, the doctor will recommend you another specialist and prescribe all the necessary tests and examinations. You already know what the fear of getting sick is called - this is nosophobia, which can be fundamental or consist of a complex set of other minor phobias in common.
An illogical search for the source of fear, even where it is absent, can be considered a sign of a phobia. For example, you may find yourself trying to diagnose each of the people around you to make sure that there is no potential danger to yourself. If you have a frightened pulse quickening due to the fact that someone nearby sneezed, and at the entrance to the clinic you only think that you will certainly catch something terrible from other patients, you should be on your guard.
How the fear of getting sick affects the quality of life
A person suffering from nosophobia can be a prisoner of self-deception. Indeed, taking care of one’s own he alth cannot be dangerous, people around are incredibly irresponsible about themselves, do not follow the rules of hygiene, eat the wrong food, havemany bad habits, neglect the regime of the day. You just need to fix it all, and then everything will be fine, not a single insidious virus will get close! A person may think that his relentless battle with windmills improves his quality of life, but in practice everything slides into the grotesque.
Panic fear of falling ill with an incurable disease can lead to psychosomatic manifestations, when the symptoms really indicate a disease that does not really exist. A frantic attempt to bring the amount of vitamins in the diet to the ideal will never achieve a result, since this is impossible - doctors openly say that it is worth adhering to the concept of a norm, which is very blurred between excess and deficiency. As a result, life turns into a painful confrontation between an illusion spiced with fear and a reality that stubbornly refuses to submit to the framework of your personal fears.
Justified and unjustified phobias: logical thinking as a way to fight
Anyone can pull themselves together to some extent and weigh all possible options to separate the real risk from the far-fetched. For example, it is well known that tuberculosis can be contracted if you communicate with a person who has an open and active form of this disease. But to suspect every person who accidentally coughed in this diagnosis is already speculation. In fact, the fear of getting sick is a natural phobia, not as bizarre as anatidaephobia (when a person is afraid of whatduck watching him).
If you think logically and accept that fear in this case is not childish or funny, then it becomes a little easier. It remains only to learn to separate the real from the far-fetched and ephemeral.
Awareness of cancerophobia and how to deal with it
Separately, the fear of getting cancer can be considered as a fairly strong phobia that has a shade of doom. Even despite the rapid development of medicine, which quite successfully copes with various types of cancer, this diagnosis continues to scare.
We have to admit that relatives of those who died of cancer are most affected by cancerophobia. Doctors recognize that a predisposition to cancer can be inherited, but this is so individual that each individual case must be considered separately.
So that cancerophobia does not deprive oneself of self-control to such an extent that it becomes difficult to exist in society, it is best to follow the recommendations of doctors. Namely, if possible, exclude carcinogenic factors from your life, quit smoking, undergo regular medical examinations. The main thing at the same time is to remember that early diagnosis allows you to count on the most positive prognosis even if a tumor is detected.
Awareness: a way to ease nosophobia
As mentioned above, the correct information allows you to cope with unfounded fears. At the same time, it is desirable to carefully choose the sources of information -dubious websites with unprofessional articles can only fuel fears.
Try to protect yourself from scary information, this allows you to maintain self-control. During epidemics, the media starts to whip up hysteria, and it's good to know that this is done for the sole purpose of provoking a flurry of drugs with untested efficacy that fills the pockets of pharmaceutical corporations. This does not mean that you need to hide in an apartment and not trust anyone - doctors, as a rule, prescribe effective drugs. But it’s not worth diagnosing yourself and “being treated on the Internet”
Professional medical care
Why is it recommended to consult a psychiatrist? There are two main mistakes that people who suspect themselves of having a phobia make: self-medication and non-core help. It would seem that if the fear of getting cancer is tormenting, how to deal with it, is it just fear? So, you need to pull yourself together and stop - this is how people think and fall into a trap, because without professional treatment the condition can worsen. Psychology is also of little help, because a phobia, especially a neglected one, is a serious problem that needs to be treated comprehensively. Ordinary soul-saving conversations are not enough here. The doctor will help reduce general anxiety, and only if it is really necessary, will refer to a psychotherapist.
It's okay to be afraid of getting sick
Not every fear is actually a phobia. In fact, fears are absolutely normal, and if the fear of getting rabies isonly in refusing to pet an unfamiliar stray dog or a cute fox that seems completely harmless is not yet a phobia. It's just a reasonable fear that helps keep you he althy.
