Fear of hospitals and doctors

J

Jade

Member
I thought I’d make a thread on this topic because this is a very common phobia. I can name a few people that avoid the hospitals and doctors like the plague and I myself used to have a phobia of doctors surgeries. This could be a potential health damaging phobia because you will find yourself avoiding medical care when you may really need it. The important things to remember is that these doctors, nurses, surgeons are there to help you and assist you with your health.

I’m going to break down some of the causes of these phobias and what we should keep in mind when our fear kicks in so please feel free to add to the list if I’ve forgotten any:

Fear of diagnoses-If you are afraid of getting a diagnoses in this case ignorance is not bliss, avoiding a detection of a health problem is not going to make it go away.

Fear of contracting germs from other patients- This is a popular one but its helpful to keep in mind that going into a medical environment is not going to expose you to germs anymore than going outside in a crowd of people is.

Fear of surgery- Some people put off going to the doctors or hospital because they have a crippling fear of medical procedures. For instance if you have a lump or bump that you think may require surgery you may avoid being referred for an operation. Please keep in mind that in the rare case you did need surgery it could be life saving so it’s vital you co-operate. Operations and medical procedures are treat very delicately and the medical team will do all in their power to make sure you are safe and comfortable. You will be in very good hands.

Lack of understanding from your GP- This one is a personal one to me after I had a doctor that basically made me feel like an idiot after i spoke to him. He dismissed everything I was saying and just didn’t seem to believe or understand me and this made me worried to go back to the doctors for a while. I solved the problem by making an unoffical complaint and seeing a GP that understood me and listened to what I had to say.

Horror stories about corrupt doctors and bad NHS services- We see this in the news alot, NHS failings resulting in deaths and further health issues and years ago the case of Harold Shipman. Please remember these are very rare cases and the news itself is rather one sided towards disaster and tragedy. The news reports these rare awful cases but does not mention the thousands of doctors around the country that save millions of lives each year.

As I said please add others to the list that I’m sure i’ve left out and provide a helpful bit of advice if you can :)
 
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