Am I Not Afraid Of Injections? Fear Of Doctors

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Another story about a 3-month-old girl who was not provided with timely assistance due to the mother's unwillingness to turn to official medicine. Everyone can remember a couple of horror films from life about how "one aunt went to the doctor and she was killed almost healthy." If, in general, many people believe that this is exclusively related to the Russian healthcare system, then I can say that this is not the case. Even before the revolution, doctors who came to help in villages where there was an outbreak of cholera, were subjected to rather aggressive attacks by the peasants. Some doctors died at the hands of those who were being rescued because people believed that it was the doctor who brought the cholera. Indeed, before his appearance there were only a few cases of the disease, and after his appearance, cholera spread. In other countries, too, a lot of people are afraid of doctors, regardless of their health care system. This, in general, is not surprising. Jatrophobia (fear of doctors) is widespread. It is estimated that 8 out of 10 people have this disorder. The emergence of this phobia is due to the fact that visits to the doctor, no matter how wonderful he is and no matter what wonderful goals he pursues, is associated with unpleasant experiences. This can be pain, the touch of a cold stethoscope, the inability to resist (they give an injection and the parent holds), discussion of unpleasant topics. Different doctors are afraid in different ways. Dentists often cause the most negativity; women, as a rule, do not have warm feelings about visiting a gynecologist. Few people are happy about the prospect of going to an oncologist, proctologist and psychiatrist. Different people are afraid with different intensities. Some simply feel dislike and anxiety at the prospect of visiting a doctor, some need to really muster up their will to go to the doctor, others feel fear equal to panic and can escape from under the door of a specialist, and some flatly refuse to see a doctor under any circumstances. For the latter, this fear is so great that they are ready to die rather than see someone in a white coat. As with every phobia, people tend to lower their anxiety threshold with various rituals. This is actually a modification of ancient forms of behavior in front of objects and phenomena that cause fear. They create the illusion of being in control of the situation. Why an illusion? You can, of course, control the doctor's actions, but rituals cannot control the course of your illness. Microbes, for example, do not care at all whether you are familiar with the regional attorney. Rituals can be of different "severity" (this is not an official classification): - lungs - go to the doctor only in the morning or in the evening; do not go to male doctors / women doctors; do not walk on odd numbers; before, during or after the holidays; bring the doctor a chocolate bar (make a "sacrifice" to make him kinder) - moderate - to intimidate the doctor in different ways (shake the spear in front of the enemy) - immediately promise to complain if something goes wrong; call the lawyer / prosecutor / minister of health / UN immediately; threaten that you will damage and evil eye; call the brothers; say that you have a gun; immediately say that your great-great-grandmother was a midwife and therefore you all know what the doctor will do (well, or generally say that you yourself know how what is treated, and if the doctor makes a mistake, you will immediately catch him on a mistake and start shaming him) - severe degree - develop an activity and lifestyle that completely excludes the possibility that the subject of a phobia could in some way affect you. For example, to join a certain community or settle in the taiga, where people live without the intervention of doctors at all, and, as they say, are quite happy.

In general, for a general understanding of the problem, I want to note that a phobia is a rather strong emotional mental structure. It is so strong that it constantly sits in a person's head. Thinking works under its influence. Namely, everything that confirms it is inflated by the brain to obscene proportions, and everything that denies is passed by the brain. This happens according to a rather ancient mechanism. The amygdala, a formation in the brain, is our inner watchdog. It turns on if a danger is detected. After that, the amygdala gives an enhanced impulse to other parts of the brain "to recognize, classify, remember, avoid." If the almond sees the harmless, then it passes it by. The brain is not getting enough activation. The good is remembered worse. If a person is mentally balanced, then the signals of the amygdala are still included in the processing by the frontal divisions and are creatively evaluated. Those. strategies are being developed on how to really avoid troubles in life, how to correct behavior, and in general, how much the object really threatens you (perhaps the information does not concern you). A return signal is sent to the amygdala - it will calm down. This process is pretty subtle and polished. This is critical thinking. If the frontal cortex is weak - immature and infantile, damaged, etc., or there are dominants (unresolved conflicts) that distort the process of accurate assessment of information from the amygdala and something completely different from what it really is reaches the cortex, then the amygdala gets enough a lot of will. She starts constantly giving alarm signals. It goes so far that a single signal causes a persistent and prolonged circulation of excitation in the brain. This charge is worn in a circle, not reaching the frontal lobes for comprehension and does not give feedback to "calm" the amygdala. Whether we like it or not, there are people with such a vicious circle in their heads in society. These are their "brain problems" in which society is not to blame. What is spinning in this circle depends on the person. He may be afraid of heights, lightning, tall blondes in a boot, aliens, etc. How real and how much he is afraid of them, again depends on the person. In principle, a phobia is a condition that a person is able to assess and manage, i.e. pull yourself together and, for example, step into a meeting bor-machine. But again, we have a question in the frontal cortex. How much she can take control of the amygdala. There are people who wait for their teeth to rot to the roots. The amygdala can sway the frontal cortex if it works too often and too much. The main fuse and key holder of the hippocampus feedback loops quickly becomes unusable if the amygdala pulls on it too often. Or the cortex receives such information, which it perceives as real, and itself gives the go-ahead to the amygdala to signal an alarm. For example, you live in the Yenisei Delta and are afraid of piranhas. Well, it's just that the story about these creatures in childhood somehow influenced you. And therefore, you will never, ever travel to the Amazon delta from your Yenisei delta. Phobia does not interfere with your life, because where are you, and where are piranhas. And then you start to see in the media reports that piranhas have been spotted in the Yenisei. And they are not just noticed, but gnaw at gawking moose and polar bears. Moreover, rumors are beginning to creep that piranhas are not only in the Yenisei, but also jump out of the toilet during their natural needs … It is all around, people you trust and people endowed with authority are talking about. Those. your brain immediately marks this information as correct and unverifiable. What about the dynamics of your phobia? From a little dislike for tropical fish, it will grow into clinical horror when you are afraid to go to the toilet. And if at this moment a person is asked whether he agrees to give a million to fight piranhas in the toilet bowls, he will give the money if he has a million. And he will also be happy to go to paid classes on defense against piranhas. But this again, not with everyone and not with everyone, but those whose bark was initially weak against the amygdala. They quite easily fall into phobic and various neurotic disorders. And they represent a very manageable mass of the people, and I would like to ask the question why hysteria with piranhas in the Yenisei is being inflated with doctors in Russia? No words piranhas are damn dangerous (medical errors do happen). But there is a huge difference in the prevalence of the phenomenon in real life and in what concentration of this phenomenon is created, for example, in the media. And phobias (especially those directed against certain social and professional circles) are very useful disorders in the national economy. Why, I'll write a thread after.