Fear of contracting coronavirus - mysophobia

Someone tells you to relax and calm down, saying that if it were cancer, you would be long gone. Someone is annoyed by your suspiciousness and constant preoccupation with the same topic. But you can’t help your thoughts: “Maybe I have cancer? How can I tell if there is a reason for fear or if it’s just my imagination? How to stop being afraid of cancer? This is all you want to know, because there is no longer any strength to live constantly in this fear.

There is a psychological pathology called cancerophobia. This is the fear of getting cancer. Systemic psychoanalysis, which is carried out at Yuri Burlan’s training “System-vector psychology,” helps to understand the causes of its occurrence and get rid of it forever. Let's use it to outline ways out of the fear of cancer.

Reasons for development

The main reason for the spread of cancerophobia is that people know little about this disease. In the minds of the common man, cancer is:

• inevitable death;
• a disease that occurs without specific causes, it is impossible to prevent its development, and it is useless to fight it;
• painful treatment. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery are quite difficult for patients to tolerate and have many side effects. But all these methods only in very rare cases lead to healing from cancer.

Many people believe that any other disease can be cured. And when a person is diagnosed with cancer, it is already a death sentence. Often patients “give up”, considering themselves sentenced to death.

The development of cancerophobia is also facilitated by the emergence of traditional healers who claim that only they know how to get rid of cancer. They directly state: it is useless to go to ordinary hospitals, because doctors are powerless against this terrible disease. The same effect occurs after numerous advertisements of “unique” products that can save a person not only from cancer, but also from other serious pathologies.

The common practice of concealing the diagnosis plays a significant role in spreading the fear of contracting an incurable disease such as cancer. Usually doctors hide this terrible diagnosis from the patient until the last minute, in the hope of recovery. This leads to the fact that everyone knows about the huge number of people who have died from cancer, but almost no one has heard about cases of healing from this disease. Recently, much attention has been paid to medical education of the population, since cancer can only be cured if the tumor is detected at an early stage of development.

The fear of death is present in every person; it is inherent in nature and is one of the manifestations of the instinct of self-preservation. However, not all people have a fear of getting cancer. Several types of people have prerequisites for the development of cancerophobia:

1. If a person feels unwell, but numerous examinations do not reveal diseases that could explain the deterioration in health. Everyone has heard about cases of death from cancer, the media reports about this disease every now and then, cancer patients are surrounded by almost every person. Gradually, such a person begins to consider himself a cancer patient.
2. The risk of developing a malignant tumor is much higher in people with a family history of similar cases. But this does not mean that they will definitely get cancer, but they develop cancerophobia more often than other people.
3. If a person himself has once suffered from cancer, then he may also develop this phobia. He may constantly worry that the oncologists did not complete his treatment, which means that the disease will return after a while.

There is another category of people who are prone to developing a fear of getting cancer—doctors. They know about this terrible disease more than other people; they constantly encounter cancer patients in

in their practice, they see their suffering and often transfer this picture to themselves.

Most often, middle-aged people (30-40 years old) who have not achieved great success in their career or family life suffer from cancerophobia. They are distinguished by an increased level of anxiety and frequent depression, often occurring in a latent form. Depressive disorder in this case is not accompanied by low mood; it is characterized by various somatic manifestations, which the patient takes for symptoms of an incurable disease.

All carcinophobes have one common character trait. Almost all of them are easily suggestible and need a person to lead them through life (leader dependence). Therefore, they believe various folk “healers”, gurus and other charlatans who promise their healing. People who are afraid of getting cancer are the leaders in the consumption of dietary supplements, but they also use products that are harmful to their health.

Such methods of “recovery” do not lead to getting rid of cancerophobia. The patient, on the contrary, becomes dependent on such treatment, and the health problems arising from this are treated in the same ways. This doesn't lead to anything good in the end.

Symptoms of cancer phobia

If the fear of cancer becomes chronic, then psychosomatic diseases begin to develop against this background. In this case, the patient’s “confidence” in the presence of cancer is significantly strengthened. Against this background, the appearance of the patient may change, with poor facial expressions or constant tension.

In severe cases of the phobia, delusional ideas may develop, a narrowing of consciousness may develop, and mental activity begins to suffer, that is, it decreases. In this case, symptoms of mental disorders in the patient begin to appear. Symptoms of cancer phobia develop gradually and can manifest in various forms.

Oncophobia in some cases occurs as a typical vegetative attack, developing against a background of panic fear and accompanied by the following symptoms:

• tachycardia develops, that is, the number of heart contractions increases;
• there is an increase in blood pressure;
• trembling throughout the body;
• pain in the chest and abdomen of unknown etiology;
• a feeling of “lack of air”, a feeling of a “lump” in the throat;
• passing large amounts of light-colored urine;
• cold sweat;
• disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract, accompanied by the appearance of loose stools or vomiting.

In any case, patients suffering from a disorder such as oncophobia begin to attract attention with inappropriate behavior or actions, expressed in the following form:

• panic fear of cancer makes some patients regular visitors to medical institutions, both clinics and hospitals, making a lot of complaints and undergoing numerous examinations from various specialists;
• other patients, on the contrary, withdraw into themselves. Fearing contracting cancer, since, according to various sources, the malignant disease is of a viral nature and can be transmitted like a regular flu, the patient stops leaving the house. Does not visit the store or doctor under various pretexts. But the main motive for such behavior lies in the fear that the specialist will make a “sentence” about the last stage of cancer;
• a change in the patient’s behavior in the form of infantilism becomes noticeable not only to relatives, but also to strangers. The patient seems to begin to fall into childhood. Constant complaints about health, tearfulness, night terrors or fear of being alone make the life of household members next to someone with cancer a problem;
• A lot of different literature on cancer appears in the house, which the patient studies in order to diagnose himself with cancer. Begins to listen to his inner feelings, looking for disturbances in the functioning of the organ “affected” by cancer;
• The patient’s social life changes due to his inappropriate behavior. The production process begins to suffer. After some time, the patient completely stops going to work;
• oddities in behavior are complemented by various diets, taking nutritional supplements, medications without a doctor’s prescription, various traditional medicines, on which significant financial resources can be spent;
• mention of cancer can put the patient into a depressed state or cause unexpected aggression.

Manifestations of cancerophobia

This type of nosophobia can manifest itself in different ways.

In some cases, this phobia is in a reactive state (the mildest form), in others it develops into a persistent neurosis, but sometimes oncophobia turns into psychosis, accompanied by delusions and hallucinations.

There are several degrees of manifestation of this type of phobia:

• The patient has oncophobia, but he is able to control his actions. The life of such a person does not come down to constant attempts to identify a non-existent dangerous disease, although thoughts about it still arise regularly;
• a person with this type of phobia constantly undergoes special examinations. He understands that his fears are unfounded, but he cannot do anything about them. Cancerophobia in this case is manifested by insomnia and increased anxiety. The patient constantly thinks about his death, worries about his children and other relatives;
• The patient, against the background of fear of getting cancer, develops a fanatical desire to maintain health and lead a healthy lifestyle. He is not only constantly examined, but also uses various means that, in his opinion, prevent cancer;
• a person who is confident in his illness believes that doctors simply cannot identify it. He may feel intense hatred towards others because they do not have the disease and are unable to understand the suffering he is experiencing. Sometimes such people may think that doctors have found a tumor on him, but they are simply hiding the truth from him.

Sometimes carcinophobes are so afraid of discovering cancer that they simply avoid contacting specialists and undergoing appropriate examinations. Often the fear is so great that they do not go to the doctor even if they have real symptoms of the disease.

The behavior of people with this type of phobia is rarely aimed at actually protecting their health; most often it is intrusive, exhausting and limiting activity. This behavior is aimed at reducing anxiety. First of all, a carcinophobe will avoid danger in every possible way. In his understanding, anything that can lead to the development of cancer is dangerous.

From the pages of the “yellow” press they regularly report that malignant tumors arise from mobile phones, solariums, power lines, etc. The patient will try to move away from power lines and refuse to use telephones and visits to the solarium. But, in the end, he finds himself backed into a corner, because in his mind literally everything becomes dangerous: household appliances, food, medicine and even clothing.

To avoid danger, a cancer phobe may refuse a medical examination and avoid communicating with people who actually have cancer. He is not always able to avoid situations that are in one way or another connected with cancer. Then the carcinophobes will make efforts to reduce anxiety. He will try to learn as much as possible about the disease that frightens him, find information about new research in the field of oncology, etc. Such an individual will obsessively seek support from loved ones; their assurances that he will not get cancer or die will slightly reduce the degree of anxiety, but after a while it will increase again.

Cancerophobia may seem like a harmless disease, but this is far from the case. A person not only cares about his health, he has a severe mental disorder, which can be accompanied by generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hypochondriacal disorder and other mental problems.

Cancerophobia or concern for health - how to understand?

How can you tell whether paying close attention to your health is a normal concern for it or a phobia? To do this, let’s look at how this fear arises and what symptoms appear.

Remember how it all began, what was the impetus. It could be:

• a constant flow of information from the Internet and television about incurable diseases of stars and fundraising for the treatment of cancer patients;
• reading books, watching films about cancer patients;
• the news that one of your loved ones or acquaintances has received a terrible diagnosis;
• People who have undergone a complex cycle of cancer treatment may develop a fear of recurrence of the disease.

The following symptoms may occur:

• constant worrying thoughts about the possibility of getting cancer. Any spot on the body, minor pain is perceived in panic;
• increased background anxiety prevents you from living normally and concentrating on solving problems;
• A lot of effort is made to identify the disease, make a diagnosis - visits to doctors, tests, medications. Or, on the contrary, a paralyzing fear of being examined so that, God forbid, a terrible disease is not discovered;
• even in the absence of a confirmed diagnosis - the inability to relax. Fear does not let go, even if you understand with your mind that there is nothing to be afraid of;
• The phobia can manifest itself physically - dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, increased heart rate, tremors, sweating - and even turn into a panic attack.

This is how victims of cancerophobia describe their symptoms on forums: “How to stop being afraid of getting cancer? After all, I have bad heredity - all my grandparents died of cancer. I’ve watched all sorts of programs about cancer on television, and now I’m paranoid - as soon as something pierces somewhere, my stomach hurts, my thoughts immediately start racing in panic: “Maybe it’s a tumor?” I went to the doctor and got tested. The tests are normal. The doctor prescribed sedatives. But all the same, bad thoughts creep into my head. I'm afraid to leave my children orphans. My husband doesn’t want to listen, he says that everything for me is because I’m sitting at home... I’m already climbing the wall.”

"I am 26 years old. I feel dizzy all the time, feel weak, and suffer from nausea. Doctors diagnose VSD. But I do not believe. I always think it's a brain tumor. Although I’ve had this condition for five years now, I’m terribly afraid of getting cancer.”

This is what cancerophobia looks like.

It is quite natural to think about your health when you hear about a terrible illness in your loved ones or friends. It is normal if periodic ailments or chronic diseases force you to undergo routine examinations. It’s good if anxiety goes away after a frank conversation with a loved one and after his advice to relax and not worry, the tension goes away. This indicates temporary stress that has aggravated the emotion of fear.

But if thoughts about cancer constantly torment you - day and night, causing insomnia, preventing you from living a full life, and normal test results do not convince you of anything, you become hostage to an anxiety disorder - cancerophobia. The consequences of such a life are easy to predict. You will constantly impose unnecessary restrictions on yourself, go on diets, try the latest anti-aging and cancer treatments. Dramatically enrich the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Your life will turn into an endless struggle with windmills. And this struggle can really affect your health.

Therefore, we need to get out of this fear. How to stop being afraid of getting cancer? To begin with, understand the reasons for its occurrence.

Treatment options

The fear of contracting an incurable disease can and should be treated. It doesn't matter what kind of disease is the object of fear. Someone suffers from a fear of contracting rabies, someone is afraid of tuberculosis or cancer, but in each of these cases the same methods of cognitive and behavioral psychotherapy are used. But the exact treatment regimen is drawn up individually after assessing the patient’s condition.

A qualified psychotherapist must first make sure that his patient really does not have cancer. To do this, you need to undergo a detailed examination. If during the examination no organic pathologies were identified that could explain the origin of the symptoms troubling the patient, then the doctor’s efforts are directed to assessing his psychological state.

During the conversation, the psychotherapist must find out exactly when the patient had thoughts about the appearance of cancer, whether this was preceded by traumatic situations, what measures he took for healing, etc. Diagnosis of cancerophobia must be differentiated; this is necessary to exclude schizophrenia, psychopathy and neurotic disorders.

The features of the therapy used largely depend on the severity of cancerophobia and the presence of concomitant mental pathologies:

1. Drug treatment of cancerophobia may involve the use of tranquilizers, antidepressants, anxiolytics, etc. Modern psychological care centers often practice monotherapy, during which the patient uses only one drug throughout the entire course of treatment.
2. If cancerophobia is a manifestation of an anxiety disorder, as well as with panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive neurosis and other mental disorders, the efforts of doctors will be aimed at curing the underlying pathology.
3. If a patient with cancerophobia experiences somatic pain, he may be advised to take antispasmodics and analgesics. If a somatic pathology is identified, the patient will be referred for consultation to a specialized specialist (therapist, neurologist, surgeon, cardiologist, etc.).

All of the above methods are often used in the treatment of oncophobia and other irrational fears, but still the main method of various phobias is psychotherapy. Correction of the mental state requires identifying the underlying causes of the development of such fear. Quite often, behind the fear of cancer lies a panicky horror of premature death. But why the patient is really so afraid of dying is often difficult to discover, since the reasons for the fear are hidden very deep in the subconscious.

It is normal to be afraid of death, and this is inherent in all life on the planet, but the fear of a carcinophobe has nothing to do with this. The fear of developing malignant tumors may be based on childhood psychological trauma, persistent irrational beliefs, fears that a person experienced in childhood, but then outgrew them, but they passed into the unconscious. Using the techniques of classical psychoanalysis and Jung's depth psychotherapy, problems of this level can be solved. Individual patient consultations can be supplemented with family therapy sessions, this is necessary to resolve problems in relationships between family members.

A technique called therapeutic storytelling may also be used. It is most effective when working with children. After a conversation with the patient, the doctor composes a story whose characters are inspired by the patient’s fears. A tale about the fear of getting cancer will help you understand that there are no hopeless situations.

What is cancerophobia?

To begin with, let us note what it is - cancerophobia, what this fear represents. This is a pathological fear of getting cancer, which manifests itself psychologically and physically.

Obsessive panic about oncology is the most common in the group of other nosophobias (fear of disease). On forums about cancerophobia, various manifestations and causes of the disease are actively discussed - let’s talk about them in detail, too.

How to solve the problem yourself

Today, there are many techniques that can relieve the fear of cancer. But most of them require special knowledge and skills that psychotherapists acquire during study and practice. However, there are ways you can overcome your phobia yourself.

The most effective technique for dealing with fears is a method based on a simple mechanism. When you are in a stressful situation, whether positive or negative, the brain forms a close connection between your emotions and what you see, hear and feel at the moment. That is why the smell of tangerines takes us back to childhood, when we were looking forward to New Year's gifts from Santa Claus, and the smell of incense makes us feel elated, as if we were visiting a temple. A pleasant emotional state can be caused by the sounds of your favorite music, to which you danced with your loved one, etc.

This mechanism can be used to combat irrational fear. Try to attach positive emotions to a specific action, such as pinching your earlobe or rubbing your hands. If you feel that a phobia attack is about to begin, simply touch your ear or elbow. Pleasant pictures will appear in the brain, and the intensity of fear will be reduced. Gradually, the manifestations of the phobia will become less vivid, and after a while they will disappear altogether.

Today, a very common theory is that cancer occurs against the background of accumulated grievances and negative emotions. Therefore, for self-healing it is very important to find inner peace. If you love yourself, forgive old grievances, and enjoy life at the moment, then the phobias will recede.

Symptoms of fear

If a person says to himself: “I’m afraid of getting cancer,” then he is subject to basic human fear, based on the instinct of self-preservation. This is quite natural. In the case of carcinophobes, the perception of information is deviated from the norm. Medicine has not yet established the true causes of oncology. Prevention in the form of a healthy lifestyle will not harm anyone, but even the most ardent supporter of a healthy lifestyle is not immune from a fatal illness.

Autonomic symptoms of cancer disease phobia:

• rapid breathing and irregular heart rhythm;
• tremor in the limbs;
• vomiting, nausea, diarrhea;
• changes in blood pressure.

Obsessive ideas about an imaginary disease do not leave the individual. All possible scenarios are mentally worked through after the terrible diagnosis is announced. This includes an idea of ​​how the person will gradually pass away.

Cancer phobias provoke two behavioral personality traits: hypochondriasis and avoidance. The person ignores any somatic symptoms and refuses treatment. In addition, he avoids watching plots, films, stories in which there is an oncological diagnosis. Such “exceptions” are not very effective; at an early stage of cancer, most types of the disease can be treated. But for this it needs to be diagnosed promptly and correctly.

In other cases, carcinophobes behave differently. They visit doctors regularly and persistently. Permanent checks only protect the psyche for a short time. Often, even after exclusion by an oncology specialist, the client conducts several repeated examinations in order to avoid medical errors.

The fear of getting cancer provokes a person to explore different and innovative methods of treating the disease. Hypochondriacs examine in detail every new formation on the body (moles, spots, lumps). This phobia leads to social phobia and depression.

Mechanisms of cancerophobia

All the symptoms that are characteristic of this type of phobia are the result of various processes occurring in the psyche. According to psychologists, the impetus for the development of such a phobia can be two factors:

• thinking (cognitive schemes),
• behavior (reaction to what is happening).

The first factor includes beliefs, principles, values, the ability to correctly perceive the information received about the disease and draw the right conclusions based on it.

The second factor is self-control, the ability to control one’s behavior (breathing, body position, movement of the arms and the whole body).

Together, both factors are the basis for the formation of a general emotional state. Based on these signs, you can easily recognize a person with depression or a certain phobia.

Based on this information, two conclusions can be drawn:

1. Fear of cancer is a result of human behavior. Cancerophobes create a feeling of fear for themselves on a subconscious level.
2. The fear of such a disease can be overcome.

Fear of cancer can be overcome

Fear of getting cancer: how to get rid of it?

Cancerophobia is diagnosed after a comprehensive examination. This is necessary to exclude other psychological abnormalities and real oncology. The main treatment in this case is psycho- and hypnotherapy.

Medicines for fear of getting cancer are used only in emergency cases, accompanied by developed hypochondria and depression. Medicines themselves are ineffective, and long-term use of them causes addiction.

Psychotherapy sessions are considered the most productive ways to combat cancerophobia. Various techniques are used here, including hypnosis, to find out the root cause of fear. Then the specialist builds the most suitable treatment regimen for a particular client. The introduction of cognitive manipulations is productive, since individuals do not realize that obsessive thoughts about oncology are formed due to a number of misconceptions.

Many people ask the question: “I’m afraid of getting cancer, what should I do?” Carcinophobes attach fatalism to the disease. They focus on a possible illness, forgetting about other incurable diseases. For example, schizophrenia also has a painful and severe manifestation, although it does not lead to immediate death. Not all people imagine the second option, given how difficult it will be for them and their relatives during moments of psychosis. But pictures of baldness and other side effects from chemotherapy are clearly and often drawn in my head. Individuals suffering from a fear of cancer do not consider the percentage of people cured of a serious illness; they are exclusively interested in fatal statistics.

You can get rid of cancerophobia with the help of cognitive and behavioral therapy. The best result is shown by an integrated approach, including immersion in a trance and observation of further behavioral reactions. As a result, the client is able to control thoughts and manage his emotional state.

Drug treatment

There are different methods of combating this disease, both traditional and non-traditional. In modern medicine, to cure this disease, specialists use anxiolytic drugs. Let's look at how to eliminate a disease that has developed using these means.

Benzodiazepines

The most effective and popular drugs in this group are Gidazepam, Diazepam and Alprazolam. These medications have a sedative, hypnotic and anti-anxiety effect. Under the influence of active substances, pronounced emotional manifestations are suppressed in a person: breakdowns, irritability, anxiety and panic. The nervous system calms down.

With long-term use of drugs, this disease is suppressed, and a person may become addicted and physically dependent on the drugs. Treatment should be supervised by a doctor.

Gidazepam has a sedative effect

Beta blockers

The drug Anaprilin is recognized as the best remedy in this group. It suppresses the effect of adrenaline in the blood, the cancerophobe’s heart rate normalizes, tremors and anxiety go away. Beta blockers affect physiological factors more than emotional and mental ones.

Antidepressants

These powerful medications cause many side effects, one of the most common being addiction.

It is almost impossible to overcome the fear of cancer with medication. As practice shows, drugs provide only a temporary effect and relieve symptoms. After completing the course of treatment, all symptoms of fear of cancer resume.

Medications poison the body, cause psychological and physiological dependence and do not change mental and behavioral patterns.

Some experts argue that you can get rid of cancer phobia if you completely abandon drug treatment. If you have already started a course of treatment, you should consult a doctor before stopping it. Abruptly stopping treatment may be dangerous to your health.

Antidepressants do not cure a phobia, but eliminate its symptoms