Cancerophobia .. When the fear of disease becomes sick!

News from the island

• "Israel needs him." Netanyahu presses Trump to save Mohammed bin Salman
• Red jackets .. Tunisians imitate French demonstrators
• A new change in Trump's management .. The White House chief of staff leaves the end of the year
• Far from Paris .. How are protests "yellow jackets" in the French south?
• Haaretz: Israel authorized the sale of advanced spy programs to Saudi Arabia

"I did not choose what I was afraid of. My mother was very sensitive to cancer, and I watched her carefully. She kept her clean, clean and clean of the house and the food. I do not remember that we ate fruit one day without going through the stages of washing with water, I was a child and had to share with her the rituals she used to do, including frequent medical examinations and tests, and it was impossible for us to shake hands with a cancer patient or a member of his family. We were afraid of infection even though doctors assured us that I did not inherit anything from my mother Like the fear of cancer, it is the horror that did not leave me, the horror and acute anxiety, which increases the more I read about him and the more I did I felt his symptoms sometimes in my head and the other in my stomach and sometimes in my heart. (s).

"My father had lung cancer, he was a smoker, he was not interested in his health, cigarettes were his disease and his drug until we discovered his cancer, and soon spread to other parts of his body and I wish his life, the death of my father shocked me, I did not think a cigarette can cause My father's disease is still between my eyes, I see him suffering every time, I am gripped by those medical instruments, the rush of nurses and doctors whenever his illness worsens, signs of regret on their faces at the last moments of his life , Everything .. everything, I'm afraid of death like that, I'm afraid of cancer so much that I am prevented from visiting medicine B and to examine whenever you experience a health crisis, and the more strongly thought about ethnic and cause incidental my heart beat and my hands trembled, I was afraid to hit him genetically ordered as passed by my father. " (Dr).

"I was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, and luckily, the detection was early. I was able to overcome the crisis and recovered from it, but I am afraid of getting it again. I am afraid of pain and I am afraid to go back. I can not believe that I am still alive. I check my chest more than 20 times a day, just a headache that turns my mind, my visits to my doctor are almost endless, I spent all my money on repeated tests, I do not feel comfortable in my life, my whole life has become anxious and terrifying, I know my fear is abnormal My situation is unbearable but it is beyond my control. " (C).

"I was a teenager who showed me one of my friends to watch a movie inspired by a real story. His heroine had leukemia, which I had seen before hearing that our neighbor, who was two years older, had the same disease. Everyone was talking about how dangerous he was to me, especially after she died. , Her period of illness was like a nightmare. I came back from school and found the ambulance in our street. At night I saw the window of her window. Her mother's tears did not stop. Her father's sadness was evident in his face, shape and walk. I avoided her visit, get close to their house or even communicate with her family. I was very much afraid of infection and was the first time I saw it My family tried repeatedly to convince me that nothing I thought was true, but I could not convince myself that I was okay and I had to remove the idea of ​​cancer from my mind. The aspects of my life, I see it everywhere, in my head, in my stomach, in television ads, in awareness campaigns, in signs, in movies and in reality. " (to).

Are realistic stories and testimonies of people who have decided to join the mutual support group in the hope that they will emerge from a crisis called science called "Carcinophobia," which the medical dictionary defines as "the irrational fear of cancer and other tumors." This phobia is classified as an anxiety disorder characterized by natural, chronic fear. Cancer is accompanied by psychological and physical problems and problems which impede the individual's life and cause him to be under chronic stress and constant anxiety despite his awareness that his fears are abnormal and illogical. Which accompany him and be in constant whispers and fear of falling into the disease Hypochondriasis. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5), the latter is classified under specific phobia as the patient suffers from chronic fear of a particular disease.

Causes of Cancerophobia:

Through the above examples we can identify the causes of cancerophobia in a set of points as follows:

* Acquiring fear of illness from the formation of a person who is already infected with cancer phobia, and moves his behavior to his child without the attention of what makes the phobia here unconsciously educational behavior due to childhood experiences and misconceptions that are planted in his mind about the disease.

* Test the individual to experience cancer in a family member or other persons close to him and living for the period of illness and suffering experienced by the patient.

* Pre-cancer and fear of return after the patient is recovering, which makes him in constant anxiety of testing again and death because of it.

* Misconception of the disease and the spread of misconceptions about it due to lack of awareness as the idea of ​​transmission of infection.

* Inflating the image of the disease and its seriousness to the extent that the individual believes that the disease is untreatable and infection means the end of life.

* The incidence of a disease or a combination of diseases that make the patient in anticipation of the development of cancer to make him in constant fear of actually happening.

Infection may be less harmful than fear, fear makes the individual in a state of mental instability and anticipation of what does not exist and may not come

communication Web-sites

Symptoms of cancer phobia:

- Severe fear, panic attacks and anxiety without logical justification.

- Persistent thinking in cancer to the extent of the emergence of a range of physiological changes on the individual such as sweating, heart palpitations, trembling and shortness of breath, and sometimes nausea and fainting, especially when they received the news of their knowledge of cancer, and other changes associated with insomnia and loss of appetite and continuous thinking about disease and death.

- Fear of falling into the disease and excessive care for health safety, and taking precautionary preventive and permanent precautions whether it is related to the habits of food or dress or cleaning excess and refrain from eating foods and the use of substances that can cause cancer.

- Avoid medical tests for fear of diagnosis of cancer, or frequent medical follow-up to ensure that the individual is free from the disease and spending huge money on them.

- Avoid hospitals and contact with patients with cancer and talk about it and sometimes addiction to read about him and collect all the information that concerns him.

- Excessive care and attention to family members and influence them.

- Return all pain and physical injury to a tumor or cancer according to the pain.

- When the actual infection of a disease, there is a state of denial or intimidation of the disease for fear that it is cancer.

- Depression, sadness, isolation or fear of loneliness.

- Exposure to health problems caused by stress.

- The disruption of the social and practical path of the individual and the deterioration of relations and the decline of performance.

Treatment of cancer phobia:

The disease may be less harmful than fear, fear makes the individual in a state of psychological instability and anticipation of what does not exist and may not come, the methods of prevention by some are in themselves reduce the possibility of falling into the disease, but the phobia makes him in constant concern It may actually lead to disease. The wrong idea is the first enemy of the cancer patient and is therefore the key to treatment.

The doctor may prescribe a variety of antidepressants, sedatives and other medications that relieve anxiety and depression. Psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and rational affective behavioral therapy (REBT), is most effective in addressing these fears resulting from irrational thoughts As well as cognitive distortions reflected on behavior and emotion, changing the negative idea to another positive through cognitive reconstruction and training helps to change behavior gradually and stop ideas, as well as emotional discharge sessions and mass therapy and relaxation and duties Home Ajah, training and problem-solving and other techniques and modeling roles as toys and self-dialogue and technical imagination and self-control.