Nosophobia Or Fear Of Getting Sick

Nosophobia or the fear of falling ill, like the fear of death and madness, are ancestral and atavistic fears. Who is not afraid of suffering from a serious illness? Are we not, by any chance, afraid of going crazy? Are we not afraid of death?

In this post we will talk about nosophobia, which involves suffering an excessive and irrational fear of the disease. However, the person does not think that he is sick in the present. This is a crucial difference between nosophobia and hypochondria.

Patients with hypochondria are not afraid of getting a disease in the future, like nosophobic patients. Hypochondriacs are afraid of the disease at present and of not being correctly diagnosed.

What do we mean by phobia?

Phobias are defined as an intense and irrational fear of a person, object or situation that involves little or no danger. The word comes from the Greek term phobos, which means “panic”. In Greek mythology, Phobos was also the son of Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love, and personified fear. Alexander the Great prayed to Phobos before each battle to ward off fear.

According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), specific phobias, such as nosophobia, have the following characteristics:

• Intense fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation (eg flying, heights, animals, taking an injection, seeing blood…)
• The phobic object or situation almost always causes immediate fear or anxiety.
• The phobic situation is actively avoided and causes fear or intense anxiety.
• Fear or anxiety is disproportionate if we analyze the real danger posed by the specific object or situation and the sociocultural context.
• Fear, anxiety or avoidance are persistent and typically last for six months or more.
• Anxiety, fear, or avoidance cause clinically significant discomfort and damage to the social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

It is common for people to have multiple specific phobias. In fact, approximately 75% of people with a specific phobia fear more than one situation or object. People with a phobic life are said to have a characteristic shadow: the feeling of anguish.

Nosophobia: the irrational fear of getting sick

As we said earlier, nosophobia can be defined as the irrational fear of suffering from a specific illness or any other condition in general. People with nosophobia develop an exaggerated fear of the disease and are often impressed by a particular case or pathology.

The symptoms of nosophobia are diverse, but quite similar among those who suffer from this phobia. These symptoms are as follows:

• Exaggerated nervousness about any minor infection.
• Extreme care to avoid contact with germs.
• Frequent and repeated visits to different doctors, although in some cases they also avoid them.
• Intense fear that the doctor will confirm the illness he thinks he has.

Concern for health can be a dominant issue with manifestations at the cognitive level (frequent ruminations about health status). There are also frequent symptoms of the emotional type (anxiety crisis or dysphoric mood in relation to fear) and behavioral (medical appointments not justified by the objective health status).

Anxiety caused by the fear of getting sick

Nosophobia is often classified as a somatic symptom disorder. However, in a minority of cases, it is more appropriate to use the diagnosis of anxiety disorder caused by the fear of becoming ill.

The preoccupation with the idea that one is sick is accompanied by considerable anxiety about health and illness. People with anxiety about illness are easily alarmed by illness. This happens when they hear that someone has been sick or when they read news stories about health-related stories.

As we have already said, nosophobia or the fear of falling ill is a disorder similar to hypochondria. In the nosophobic patient, there is an irrational, intense and uncontrollable fear of suffering a serious illness in an indeterminate future. He suffers in advance for fear of falling ill.

In nosophobia, the appearance of a physical symptom causes an indefinite postponement of the visit to the doctor and the carrying out of tests. The nosophobic has such an intense fear of having a problem that he avoids any circumstances that might confirm it. The nosophobic prefers to close his eyes and live without knowing.

As we’ve seen, nosophobia and hypochondria are not quite the same thing. However, they are related concepts. So if you are experiencing intense fear related to the disease, it would not be a bad idea to see a psychologist. No matter what we call the disorder, the important thing is to overcome it.