I'm afraid to go to the doctor what to do. Own negative experience

If you are afraid to go to the dentist, if the fear of the dentist’s office brings you to a state of horror, and at the mere memory of the sound of a drill you are ready to faint, then it is possible that you have dentophobia or a fear of dentists. And that means this article was written just for you: you will find out why people are afraid of dentists, how you can overcome this fear and how to properly prepare yourself for going to the dentist.

What is child phobia - just fear or a disease?

Everyone gets nervous before visiting a dental office.

Some people simply experience slight nervousness and discomfort, while others are terrified of even the thought of visiting a dentist, and the mention of a drill makes such a person hysterical. It is in the latter case that dental phobia occurs (synonyms for this concept are also the terms odontophobia and dental phobia) or panic fear of visiting the dentist.

This serious pathology should be distinguished from the usual fear of dentists, which almost any person experiences in the dentist's chair. It manifests itself in attacks of uncontrollable fear, hysteria up to loss of consciousness. People suffering from hypertension may experience hypertensive crises or angina attacks. Such patients are usually not contactable, and even the most experienced doctor is unable to find a common language with them.

Severe fear of dentists is not a very common phobia. According to statistics, about 5-7% of patients suffer from dental phobia

Most often, people with dental phobia go to the dentist only in advanced cases. For example, when a tooth hurts so much that painkillers do not help, or a decayed tooth prevents you from speaking normally and eating fully.

Why am I afraid to go to the dentist or where do my fears come from?

The very first and most important point that allows you to overcome your fear of dentists is understanding the cause such a problem. Each of those suffering from dental phobia has its own personality, but in general, the factors that provoke the phobia are quite similar.

1. Extremely negative previous experience dental treatment. Representatives of the older generation probably remember the “Soviet standards” of providing dental care: a roaring drill, minimal anesthesia (or even its absence), an unpleasant taste in the mouth after arsenic. At the same time, treatment of one tooth most often took place in several visits, which also did not give patients positive emotions. All this contributed to the development and strengthening of fear of the dentist, and subsequently to the formation of severe phobias.
2. At the present stage, dentistry offers patients a huge number of new services, many of which have foreign and incomprehensible names (for example, Opalescence, White light or Zoom). Exactly this unknown leads to the fact that a person is afraid to go to the dentist. Trying to find information on the Internet can often worsen the phobia due to negative reviews and comments from “experts” that frighten patients on dental resources.
3. Many people are afraid to go to the dentist due to bad teeth. This fear is often fueled by some doctors who criticize the patient’s attitude towards his own health. The result is a vicious circle: the worse the condition of the teeth, the more pronounced the phobia becomes.
4. Some women are afraid go to the dentist for a man. This is due to the fact that representatives of the fair sex are embarrassed to look funny with their mouths wide open. In addition, a visit to the dentist's office implies restrictions on the use of decorative cosmetics, which also confuses some ladies.
5. If a child is afraid to have his teeth treated, then in some cases the cause of this phenomenon should be sought in parental behavior. Moms and dads (who sometimes suffer from dental phobia themselves) tell their children that if they misbehave, the doctor will pull or drill their teeth. This is done so that the child sits calmly in line in front of the dentist’s office. As a result, children begin to fear even the simplest and most harmless dental procedures. And neither a teenager nor an adult can overcome such fear, rooted in childhood.

In addition to the reasons listed above, dental phobia can be caused by mental illness or low pain threshold. Sometimes a similar problem occurs during pregnancy when the expectant mother is afraid that the treatment may harm her baby.

How to stop being afraid of the dentist?

How not to be afraid of the dentist? This is the most important question for a person suffering from dental phobia. It becomes especially acute when it is no longer possible to delay a visit to the dentist.

Advice from a psychologist will tell you how not to be afraid of the dentist and overcome dental phobia forever.

1. First of all, need to figure it out about what exactly you are afraid of. To do this, you can create a table that will help you determine the type of fear. In the first column you need to enter a possible version of the phobia, and opposite each item put a number from 1 to 4, where a four will correspond to the concept “I’m incredibly afraid,” a three will correspond to “I’m very afraid,” a two will mean “I have moderate fear,” and one will correspond to “not I'm completely afraid." For example:

   Fear Option	Fear level from 1 to 4
   I'm afraid to remove a tooth	4
   I'm afraid to drill my teeth	3
   I'm afraid of an injection at the dentist	2
   I'm afraid to remove the nerve from a tooth	2
   I'm afraid of anesthesia	1
   I'm afraid to pull out my wisdom teeth	4
   I'm afraid to get a dental implant	2
   I'm afraid to remove a tooth with a cyst	4
   I'm afraid to remove tartar	1
   I'm afraid to treat my front teeth	2

   
   It is necessary to carry out such a test in a calm environment, honestly writing out all your fears.
2. The second stage is analyze the resulting list and try to figure out what exactly scares you in each specific case and what could have caused this phenomenon.

   For example:

   • I'm afraid to pull out a tooth because I'm afraid of the pain. I already had a tooth removed once without anesthesia, and it was very painful.
   • I am afraid to remove tartar because I am ashamed that my teeth are very neglected. Last time, the dentist lectured me for a long time and reproached me for not taking care of my health at all.
   • I am afraid when my teeth are drilled because the sound of the drill working is unpleasant to me. As a child, my parents always scared me with her.

   Often such a simple technique is enough to get rid of the fear of the dentist. If it is impossible to deal with the problem on your own, then you can visit the doctor with this list from whom you plan to undergo treatment and get advice regarding your fears and their reality.

It often helps to overcome the fear of dentists preliminary consultation with the dentist. Most clinics provide their patients with the opportunity to communicate with a surgeon or therapist, during an appointment with whom existing dental problems are discussed and ways to eliminate them are discussed. You can ask the doctor all your questions, as well as ask for clarification regarding all diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Anesthesia issues are also discussed, as well as possible alternative therapeutic techniques. A trusting relationship with a doctor largely determines success in the fight against dental phobia. If the patient trusts the attending physician, then he will more quickly relax in the dental chair and cease to feel fear.

Don't delay visit to the dental office. Over time, the fear may not become less, but the condition of the teeth will be much worse.

Before visiting your doctor, try have a good rest and sleep. The night before, you can take glycine or use folk remedies with a sedative effect (infusion of valerian or motherwort). Before visiting the dentist, do not plan any important events that could cause additional stress.

How to overcome fear of the dentist - a view from the other side

Dentophobia is not only a problem for patients. This phenomenon also applies to doctors, who must decide what to do with a person who needs to undergo some kind of medical procedure (for example, remove a nerve or pull out a rotten tooth), but he is deathly afraid to sit in a dental chair.

A good surgeon, therapist or dental technician will first talk with the patient to find out the level of his fear, and will also listen to what specifically worries the person and what his phobias are associated with. He will explain in detail what this or that procedure is called and what its essence is.

In general, modern dentistry is aimed at maximizing the reduction of stress in people when visiting the dental office. For this they widely use:

1. A background of light classical music or natural noises that promote relaxation and calm.
2. Some clinics are equipped with video glasses, thanks to which the patient can be distracted by watching an interesting film while the dentist is working.
3. In special cases, dental treatment under anesthesia is used.

Cases of severe dental phobia are corrected by a psychotherapist using various therapeutic techniques.

Dentophobia in children

Dentophobia occurs much more often in children than in adults. This is explained by the lability of children's emotions and the lack of previous experience of visiting the dentist. This phobia manifests itself especially hard in children aged 2 to 5 years, since at this age children are not yet able to control their emotions and actions, they are poorly accessible to contact and cannot fully talk about their experiences and fears.

In most cases, dental phobia in children is caused by the first unsuccessful trip to the dentist.

Children's dental phobia has the same reasons as the adult version of fear:

• fear of the unknown;
• fear of pain;
• negative previous experience of visiting not only a dentist, but also a doctor of another specialization;
• misbehavior of parents.

How to rid a child of fear?

If a child is afraid of the dentist, then most likely the reason will be an unpleasant first interaction with a doctor of this specialty. It is the first visit to the dentist that will shape a little person’s future attitude towards dentistry.

Overcoming dental phobia will be facilitated by:

• Maximum contact between the doctor and the young patient. The level of fear in a child will be significantly reduced if, before treatment, you give him a short excursion, during which you can show him the office, tell him about the instruments, show pictures about his teeth and their treatment.
• Application of anesthesia in dental treatment.
• Use of modern silent therapeutic techniques. The absence of unpleasant sensations, the sound of a drill, and the short duration of procedures are the main enemies of children's fear.
• Using multimedia devices, thanks to which a small patient can listen to pleasant music, an audio story, or watch a favorite cartoon and take his mind off the treatment procedure itself and the negative emotions associated with it.
• Correct behavior of parents. If mom or dad feel nervous and anxious in front of the dentist's office, then this feeling is passed on to the child, and he instinctively begins to be afraid. Sometimes the strengthening of a phobia can be facilitated by harmless at first glance phrases “don’t be afraid”, “it won’t hurt”, “it’s not scary”, which are pronounced with the aim of calming down and which can have the opposite effect. Before the dentist's office, parents' behavior should be natural, and it is better not to make a big deal out of the visit itself. This is necessary so that the child feels from childhood that taking care of the health of his teeth is a common thing.

Fortunately, most children quickly adapt and stop feeling afraid. With the correct behavior of the doctor and parents, for young girls and boys, treatment of baby teeth, and subsequently primary teeth, will be an interesting and exciting adventure.

Are you afraid to have your teeth treated? If yes, then especially for you we have collected the most common fears associated with dentistry, as well as facts that will allow you to overcome them.

1. I'm afraid to treat my teeth during pregnancy - it could harm the baby. This is one of the most dangerous fears, since any rotten tooth, even if it does not hurt, is a source of chronic infection, which can easily penetrate the child and cause serious congenital health problems. Ideally, teeth should be treated at the preconception stage, but if a woman is already pregnant and needs dental treatment, then it is absolutely impossible to refuse it. Modern dentistry has tools and materials that are absolutely safe for the health of both mother and baby.
2. I’m afraid of pain at the dentist, but I’m even more afraid of treating my teeth with an injection - what if the injection itself becomes painful or doesn’t work. This fear originates from a time when anesthetics were extremely imperfect. Previously, the usual Novocaine or Lidocaine was used for pain relief, which required a fairly large dosage, did not act immediately, and the duration of their effect was very short. Modern drugs, such as Articaine (in Ultracaine, Ubestezin, Septanest) and Mepivacaine (in Scandonest) require minimal dosages for treatment, are highly effective and have a long-lasting effect. In addition, they are safe and can be used in people with various pathologies of the cardiovascular system and even in children or pregnant women.
3. I'm afraid to remove the nerve from the tooth, but it hurts. Ignoring the symptoms of pulpitis can lead to serious consequences, including tooth loss. Depulpation or removal of the dental nerve- one of the stages of treatment of such pathology. Until recently, such a procedure lasted for several days and was extremely painful: the doctor opened the dental canals and the cavity of the tooth root, put arsenic in them, put a temporary filling and released the patient until the next visit. In 2-3 days, the dental nerve had to die, and this process was often accompanied by excruciating pain that could not be relieved even with strong painkillers. Today there is no need to carry out such a procedure. Modern local anesthetics allow you to remove the nerve within 30 minutes and without the slightest discomfort.
4. I want to whiten my teeth, but I'm afraid that the whitening procedure is unsafe for the enamel. The fear of treating darkening of teeth using Air flow, Opalescence, White Light or Zoom techniques appeared among the population not very long ago. Many people want to give their teeth a white tint, but are afraid that their teeth will be exposed to chemicals. Modern whitening technologies are safe when carried out correctly. In order to get a guaranteed positive result, you should choose a clinic with extensive experience, which has modern equipment, certified consumables and only positive reviews from real clients.
5. I need to treat caries, but I'm afraid to drill my teeth. Preparation or drilling of teeth using a noisy drill is one of the horrors of Soviet dentistry that many remember. And it is because of this sound that many people put off visiting the dentist. But modern clinics can offer alternative options: chemical and ultrasonic tooth preparation. Such techniques are absolutely silent and do not cause discomfort or pain. They are also effective and allow the doctor to fully clean carious cavities and carry out filling defects dental tissue.
6. The doctor insists on replacing the front tooth with a dental implant, but I am afraid of such a procedure. Dental implantation or implantation of an artificial tooth root into bone tissue is one of the most modern procedures that allows you to restore lost teeth. Implants are highly aesthetic, they are durable (they do not have to be replaced every 5-10 years) and fully replenish the dentition. Implantation technologies are developed very precisely and operations are always carried out after computer modeling - i.e. The approach to each patient is always individual. In addition, the implantation is carried out only under anesthesia and after the engraftment process it is not felt at all.

As can be seen from the article, fear of dentists is a very common phenomenon that can and should be combated. The main thing is not to let everything take its course and not to forget that it is much easier to keep your teeth healthy if you regularly visit the dentist and follow all his recommendations.

Comments and reviews 64

I’m 15 years old and most of my teeth are destroyed, I don’t have a single tooth that’s intact, I’m embarrassed about it, but I’m scared to death to go to the dentist, because I really feel everything. And there was one moment when I had a decayed tooth with inflammation removed, I was given 4 anesthesias and I felt everything, I asked to stop the procedure because I was losing consciousness from the pain, the doctor refused me and for 5 minutes I endured it and eventually lost consciousness. Then, when treating another inflamed tooth, I was given 4 anesthetics and again I felt everything, and we never finished the tooth because I lost consciousness again. And now, after all this, I’m afraid to even walk past the dentist, but I need to treat 2 front teeth and all the others, since soon I will be left without teeth. Please advise what should I do?

Very often, anesthesia does not work well in the presence of an advanced inflammatory process. And also against the backdrop of strong anxiety. During your first examination by a dentist, you need to tell us about your individual characteristics; you will be recommended premedication (this is preparation for dental treatment with the help of specially selected drugs). If the problem is not addressed, it will only get worse. Dental treatment under anesthesia also now exists; it is very often used in such cases when major intervention is necessary.

I’m 13 years old, over the New Year holidays I ate too much sweets, my teeth hurt very badly, it seems that 3 are loose (all my teeth are molars). I am very afraid of teeth, I come to the office and immediately feel bad! Tell me, please, what can be done?

A dental examination is necessary, because the longer you delay the visit, the more problems can accumulate. Perhaps now no help will be needed, and everything will be limited to an inspection. It is necessary to at least take an x-ray in order to make sure whether these teeth are permanent. Mobility of permanent teeth at such a young age is a very rare occurrence and may be a symptom of a general somatic disease (for example, diabetes). A large amount of sweets eaten cannot directly affect the condition of your teeth so quickly. Caries and its complications occur when carbohydrates and microflora remain on the surface of tooth enamel for a long time and destroy it.

Allergic reactions of the body to anesthetics are very important; doctors, without asking anyone about anything, invite them into the chair, and if something happens to the patient, who will help him. I used to have my teeth removed a couple of times under lidocaine, the product helped me a lot, but one day I came to the FGD and before the procedure they sprayed my throat with lidocaine, left me and left for a while, just at that moment I felt very bad, I fell, but then everything was the same It passed quickly, but I still have a fear of anesthesia and it’s not weak, but the doctors don’t want to understand this, which is why there is a desire to subject these dentists to such executions that they themselves faint from horror. I have never seen anywhere where they test for the reaction of anesthesia, in Europe I watched the news - they are switching from anesthetics to hypnosis, until such a practice reaches our clinics, I will definitely prepare my food in a blender and take it through a straw.

In the event that an allergic reaction has occurred, it is necessary to undergo additional examination. In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 380, a dentist does not have the right to conduct allergy tests; these manipulations are performed in allergy centers. There is a ready-made panel for diagnosing tolerance to dental anesthetics. In our country, methods such as hypnotherapy are practiced, but with the help of this method only preventive manipulations are performed (professional oral hygiene, whitening, for example). And since in most European countries all patients are encouraged to undergo regular prophylaxis, treatment with strong local anesthetics is used to a lesser extent. In our country, prevention is used in an extremely small number of patients, and to a greater extent the treatment of already neglected teeth.

I'm very scared to go to the dentist. I can't overcome my fear. If I go to the dentist, I faint and I also have great sensitivity. And now I’m sitting here with a toothache, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what can help either. Doctors don't do it under general anesthesia. What can you offer?

Yes, in case of extreme measures, dental treatment under general anesthesia is possible. Nowadays, medicine has made great strides forward; dentistry uses the strongest painkillers, but the patient does not feel anything. You can also consult a neurologist, he will prescribe medications for premedication. Most clinics have televisions in the office to provide distraction.

I'm 12 years old now. I am afraid of dentists because 2-3 years ago I was treated for gumboil. I was in a lot of pain and scared. I was given several painkiller injections. It was scary because I myself saw how large syringes were poking me in the mouth. It was painful because the flux had already started. I decided to read articles like this because I will soon have to go treat caries. I'm very afraid.

I read the article and it didn’t make me any less scary. My fear is that I’m afraid of running into a bad dentist, so I always go to one and spend a lot of money. And the fear is that she doesn’t like it when they pick at the canals; the dentist is still reluctant to administer anesthesia, saying that she needs to understand sensitivity or something like that. Everything else is tolerable. I generally perceive the little injection as a wonderful miracle!

I am 15 years old. I am very afraid to treat caries, I am afraid that it will hurt. Everyone writes about modern clinics that dental treatment there does not hurt. Does this apply only to dental clinics or does this also apply to regular children's clinics? It’s just that the last time I went to a children’s clinic for dental treatment (it was about a year ago) it was very painful.

As a rule, private clinics provide more comfortable conditions for patients, in whose rooms there is a TV and you can while away the time by watching a movie, TV show or listening to calm music. It shouldn’t hurt, because strong anesthetics are currently used that completely block pain sensitivity.

I am 29 years old and ashamed to admit that I am AFRAID of everything that happens in the dentist’s office, every time I approach the office, everything suddenly stops hurting and I have a very strong desire to escape from there.....! What’s most interesting is that until I was 18 I was not afraid and could tolerate Soviet methods with a buzzing drill without anesthesia at all. At the age of 18, I was given 2 crowns, the doctor refused to give anesthesia and did everything for profit and it was VERY painful! After this I am AFRAID! For all dentists and for me, going there is a disaster! Now I need to remove the crown, treat the tooth underneath it and put in a new one, but I’m AFRAID! How to overcome fear! I’m even afraid to remove tartar (I’ve never had this done before and will have to do it on Saturday). How to overcome this fear. By the way, I am also afraid of anesthesia, since it is difficult for me to tolerate it and the injections themselves are painful.

I have already treated and removed teeth many times. And each time I was convinced that it was more unpleasant than painful. Although once they did 4 injections in order to fill a VERY small hole. Probably the adrenaline eats up all the anesthesia. As a child, I once had to undergo general anesthesia to fill 11 teeth at once! The roots lie in the low pain threshold and Soviet school dentists, who scared me for the rest of my life, very high quality. It’s already 34 years, and I’m shaking like a boy just thinking about them. I'm afraid of everything, except maybe an injection. And drill, and remove, and even more so, cut something in the mouth and DRILL the bone. The words “suturing”, “increasing bone material”, “removing”, “pulping” cause trembling not only in the legs, but even in the head! And now we need to remove the seven, under which there is a cyst, and immediately install two implants, instead of the seven and six, which have been missing for a long time. Besides, I just left on a flight and I understand that this problem will remain with me for the entire next month. The maximum that I can do here before arriving home is to remove the seven, which doesn’t seem to bother me, but I know about it! As a condemned man rushes execution and at the same time wants to avoid it, I live here in fear. It's funny to me! And scary at the same time... I understand that I am not the first and not the last. But I often remember Bulgakov with his Notes of a Young Doctor and a soldier’s tooth pulled out with the bone. All I can think about is what awaits me at home. A friend had an implant installed in the best clinic in our city in 4.5 hours! Anesthesia was added three times, despite the fact that it removes nerves without anesthesia! I'm very embarrassed, but I can't help it. Thank you, I spoke out. But this won't help for long. Help!

Hello! You yourself understand perfectly well that medicine has now stepped forward and all manipulations carried out in the office under the guidance of a qualified specialist are painless. Try to undergo sedative therapy before your appointment; it is better if the appointment is carried out by a neurologist. Also, in most dentistry there are televisions, you can take your mind off the procedure by watching a movie; if there is no television, you can listen to music, including your own music on headphones.

The tooth has been hurting for two weeks, yesterday I finally plucked up the courage and went to one of the most expensive clinics in the city. I sat down in a chair, and I began to shake like a “transformer” booth, my vision went dark, etc. They sent me for an x-ray, and from there I ran away. It was funny at the reception - I refuse to have it removed, kids are playing around, laughing, waiting in line to see the doctor, and then a forty-year-old uncle runs from the clinic in horror))) Legs grow from the army (20 years ago) when, without anesthesia, they tore out the upper one for an hour seven, and then again seven on the other side. I can’t even imagine what to do, but I can’t overcome this fear.

Don't be afraid. It is better to treat the tooth at the level of caries, before caries develops into pulpitis (inflammation of the “nerve” of the tooth), periodontitis (inflammation of the tooth ligament) and other complications of caries. Currently, very good anesthetics are used, thanks to which you will not feel pain.

Why hasn’t anyone written about the frantic fear of not the treatment itself, I’m not afraid of it, not the removal - disgusting, but tolerable, but namely anesthesia?! I’m terribly afraid of the body’s reaction to the anesthetic and I’m afraid that they won’t provide help, that the ambulance will take a long time, and when it arrives, the doctor will make it even worse. A vicious circle. Our body is miserable, with its eternal problems and sores, teeth, pancreas and other things that can kill you. They would have already come up with pills - I took them and they fell out on their own.

In the previous article " I'm afraid of doctors: about the reasons for the fear of white coats“We talked about the reasons for the fear of doctors, about the mechanism of operation of these fears. And now we’ll talk about what to do with these fears, how to stop being afraid of going to the doctor.

What can you do if the reason was parental educational measures?

How did you feel when your parents frightened you, for example, with a painful injection? Surely there was fear of doctors, helplessness, inability to change anything. But I wanted a different attitude towards myself – attention, care.

This is how it was in childhood. But you cannot return to childhood, but you can change the present. First of all, you should understand: now you are not that little child, you are already an adult, and your parents will no longer give you what you wanted as a child. Now you are responsible for yourself, which means you can give yourself what you want. You can tell yourself now what you would like to hear from your parents then.

For example, as a child you were sick and had to undergo painful procedures. And the parents then said: “Well, come on, it doesn’t hurt at all.” What did you want to hear? “What a great fellow you are, it was painful, but you did it!” Why not say these words to yourself now after an unpleasant procedure?

When going to see a doctor, you can prepare questions and ask them at the appointment, clarifying what is not clear. After all, you have the right to know about your health status. You can collect information about your disease from other sources - these could be encyclopedias, forums of people with the same disease. You can also consult several specialists.

In short, collecting as much information as possible can help you. The more information you have, the more focused you are on your problem, the less fear of doctors, since you understand what can be done with this disease and how. That is, your competence can help overcome fears: you imagine a problem, have information about it, fear decreases.

You can also find your own doctor, that is, one whom you will trust, with whom you will be more or less comfortable communicating. Why is it more or less comfortable? Because you still go to the doctor not for pleasant communication, but for quality treatment. It is better to have pleasant and comfortable communication in the company of friends.

But if fear of doctors is so strong that you force yourself to go to an appointment with a specific doctor, with great difficulty enduring his manner of communication, then the benefits of treatment may be outweighed by moral harm.

And no doctor can be more competent in your body than you: he will never be able to feel exactly the discomfort or pain that you feel. Therefore, the choice of a doctor and the treatment method he proposes is your choice.

Own negative experience

Once upon a time in childhood, for example, a stay in the hospital turned out to be traumatic for you. Therefore, now, when it comes to possible hospitalization, there is fear of the hospital, fear of doctors. Think: fear of what exactly? Can't cope with something? With what? Therefore, try to understand what you are afraid of not being able to cope with, and purposefully look for options on how to still cope.

If this is, for example, the fear of being left alone in the hospital, you can agree with someone who can visit you or be close to you at some moments. If you are afraid of an incorrect attitude towards you, think about how you can declare this, how you can defend your rights, your boundaries.

Agree, for example, with relatives who can support you in this or study the laws.

External causes of fear

If the fear of doctors is based on the fear of hearing a serious diagnosis, and because of this, a visit to the doctor is postponed for a long time, then this is a question of how I manage my life. Is there something in my life that depends on me that I'm afraid I can't handle? Behind this may be helplessness learned in childhood: I can’t do anything, nothing depends on me. Once upon a time, your parents deprived you of this right to control yourself, doing everything themselves, not allowing you to make your own decisions. Now you can regain this right.

Sometimes people transfer other people's negative experiences onto themselves. For example, someone gets cancer. Thoughts appear: “what if I have cancer?” You can think critically about this: is there really any reason to think so? Are there any signs of illness? Or did a relative get cancer and then you assume heredity?

Maybe there is no place for death in your picture of the world, there is no acceptance of it, but there is an internal resentment towards it. Or perhaps you are afraid of losing your normal life, afraid of a deterioration in the quality of life, long excruciating pain and suffering without the prospect of a full recovery.

Or you’re used to, or rather accustomed to, not trusting your feelings, you don’t know how to hear your body’s signals, which are always present when you’re sick.

The main thing is to at least begin to answer these questions for yourself, and perhaps seek help from a specialist in order to understand the source of internal anxiety, look for options for accepting what you cannot control - on the one hand, and on the other - look for options for what you are not satisfied with now, where you feel a lot of helplessness, lack of support, and where you can cope and change something, making your life safer.

Fear of doctors. How can a psychologist help?

If you try to support yourself on your own, but it doesn’t work, you slide into childhood, resentment towards your parents grows, which means that a more detailed study of that traumatic experience is required. Then you will have to go deeper into the problem, look for a resource to cope with the situation today.

A psychologist can help you find the chain along which the fear of doctors develops and functions within your psyche.

• If this is drawing a picture where there is an expectation of pain, then you can draw another picture - where you can cope with this pain, how you can cope.
• If it is fear at the bodily level, you can work with the body. For this, breathing techniques can be used, for example: a short inhale, then exhale twice as slow, a short pause, and a short inhale again...
• If questions arise in your head: “what if...”, “what if...”, then you need to work with these thoughts. For example, is there really any reason to believe that what you thought could happen? And, of course, returning yourself from that childhood to the present.

How to prevent a child from being afraid of doctors, what to do if he already has it?

Some people scare children with characters from folk tales (Koshey the Immortal, Baba Yaga), others with a wolf, a woman, a policeman. And someone sick with an injection that the doctor will give. Parents use children's fear as an educational measure.

If you use such measures in relation to your own child, it turns out that you yourself cannot cope with the child’s behavior? Without attracting something scary?

Yes, now you have dealt with the situation. The child became quiet and calmed down. But he calmed down due to fear. And a connection between the doctor and the patient’s injection appears in the child’s head. And in the future, when you need to go to the doctor, this fear of doctors will appear.

Therefore, the first thing you should not do is to scare a child with a doctor, an injection, or, indeed, other horror stories.

If your child has already developed a fear of doctors, including as a result of his own negative experience, you should buy your child a toy doctor set and be sure to play with it. First he will be a doctor, he will treat you: listen to your lungs, look at the neck, give an injection with a syringe, bandage the wound, then the doctor - you, treat him.

When you go to the clinic with your child, you can take his favorite toy with you. While waiting for a doctor's appointment, you can read a book or play a game to distract your child. It is important for adults to behave calmly. If you are nervous, but try to hide it, the child will still feel your anxiety, and since he does not understand the reason, he will begin to get nervous.

For example, if a child has to visit the dentist, one of the parents can take him to his visit to the doctor. Ask the doctor to allow the child to be present in the office during the examination, and maybe treatment, if you are not afraid of the dentist yourself or can avoid showing your fear to the child. I saw this in a dental clinic, where the doctor allowed the child not only to be present in the office, but to sit in the mother’s arms in the dental chair and watch the doctor work.

So, what can you do on your own if you have a fear of doctors in order to reduce it?

1. If you are afraid of doctors and want to cope with it, you can learn to support yourself on your own, to become for yourself the same parent that you once lacked in childhood.
2. Remember that knowledge of the problem, understanding it, that is, competence and awareness of the problem will reduce fear.
3. You can become aware of your chain of fear and learn to break it.
4. Understanding what exactly I am afraid of not being able to cope with will help me prepare in advance for such situations.

Since the problem of fear of doctors is psychological, but concerns medicine, it is advisable that this issue be dealt with by a psychologist who also has a medical education (and I have one). Then it will be possible to consider the situation from the points of view of both psychology and medicine, which will help to more accurately comprehend your task. If you have difficulties around this topic, I will be glad to see you for a consultation and comments on the article!

PHOTO Eric GIRIAT for PSYCHOLOGIES MAGAZINE France

“We have to wait, maybe it will go away on its own,” 40-year-old Yulia says to herself when she has abdominal pain again. “I hate going to the doctors and always put it off until the last minute,” she admits. – Although I am a passionate fan of TV series about doctors and, it seems, have watched everything, including “ER” and “Interns,” I myself only go to the doctor if my husband forces me. And the night before I couldn’t sleep, imagining everything that would be found on me”...

I'm afraid of what my body might tell me.“A medical consultation really causes anxiety and disrupts everyday life,” clinical psychologist Alexander Manukyan comments on Yulia’s story. – After all, a meeting with a doctor often makes obvious what we preferred not to notice. Besides, any disease changes us.” Some changes are temporary, but when the disease is serious, it affects our lifestyle. “In the structure of each person’s personality, three parts coexist: the feeling, the thinking and the desiring,” explains the psychologist. – These three parts are not always in agreement. During a visit to the doctor, the feeling and desiring parts meet each other.” This meeting is fraught with conflict: we want to go diving, but we are forced to treat our osteochondrosis... And we avoid meeting with the doctor as much as possible.

Alisa, 33 years old, project manager

“I never liked going to the doctor. Every time there was a feeling that I was to blame. I’m guilty of getting sick because of my negligence, or of wasting time from a specialist who could take care of more seriously ill patients. Therefore, I preferred to endure illnesses on my feet and joked that as long as I could walk, there was no point in going to the doctor. And then my doctor quit, and I immediately established contact with the new therapist. She listens carefully, takes her time, and we talk for at least 20 minutes. And I feel respected and not judged. It turned out that this is exactly what is important for me.”

I feel like a helpless child. A doctor is one who has knowledge. And it can be perceived in two ways. “As calming, but also as threatening,” believes Alexander Manukyan. – The patient’s self-esteem suffers doubly: “Not only my body fails me, but also my mind: the doctor’s thought is incomprehensible to me.” We are faced not only with our symptoms, but also with our incompetence. And at best, we feel like a schoolboy who is being scolded by a teacher: “You can’t smoke,” “You need to eat less.” In the worst case, it’s like a child who thinks that his mother knows better what he needs. At a doctor's appointment, we seem to be deprived of our adult status and the ability to take responsibility for our body and soul. Our reluctance to face our helplessness makes us put off visiting a doctor.

My symptoms are part of me.“My” cholesterol. “My” rheumatism. “A symptom is something on which we greatly depend,” notes the psychologist. “It’s a way to differentiate ourselves from others, but also to unite with others.” What patient has not been comforted by meeting another with the same illness and discussing with him the symptoms common to both! To lose one's suffering would be to lose some part of oneself. Especially if the symptoms allow us to attract the attention of loved ones. “As a child, many of us had working parents who began to pay attention to us only when we were unwell,” reminds Alexander Manukyan. “And some still need illness as permission to receive care and love.”

A hand on the forehead, a carefully adjusted blanket, a gentle question: “How are you?” – perhaps we are waiting for the affection we are missing, and effective treatment seems to deprive us of the right to it, so we do not go to the doctor.

What to do?

Choose your specialist

If you feel uncomfortable at the thought of going to the doctor, it may not be you, but the fact that this particular doctor is not right for you. Then you can change it. Consider your preferences. What should be the person with whom it will be easier for you to communicate? Man or woman? Young or older? With what manner of communication, friendly or purely professional? Discuss it with your loved ones or friends to find someone who matches your desires. Trust in a specialist is half the success in treatment.

Prepare for the visit

Once in the office, do you forget what you were going to talk about? Think through the questions you want to ask. You can even write them down in advance, as well as the doctor's answers, so that anxiety doesn't make you forget half the information.

Communicate freely

At the doctor's office, we are not obliged, like a schoolchild before a teacher, to answer strictly the question asked. Take the initiative, talk about yourself and don’t be afraid to go beyond purely medical topics. The doctor will be able to guide your story, and your feelings will help him make a diagnosis and reassure you.

There are different fears. Some are quite harmless and usually do not pose any complications or negative consequences. Fear of going to the gynecologist is a completely different matter. Women's health means family happiness, the health of newborn babies and decent physical shape. Sacrificing such values ​​for the sake of fears? No way.

Are fears justified?

The phrase “I’m afraid to go to the gynecologist” is heard quite often from women’s lips. Many people try to postpone the visit indefinitely. Is this normal, how can it turn out as a consequence and how to remove the internal prohibition - this is what a modern girl or woman needs to know.

Indeed, there is nothing exciting or pleasant about visiting a gynecologist, just like in a regular visit to any other doctor. It is much more pleasant to spend this time reading, walking or watching a TV series. But strong resistance appears only in special cases if:

1. A visit to a gynecologist should be the first, but there is no information about how the examination is going, or it was received from friends in a sharply negative context.
2. Rejection of one's body, femininity, and hence a strong feeling of embarrassment in front of the doctor.
3. There is a persistent feeling of a health problem that at the moment there are no means, strength or other opportunities to solve.
4. The previous visit caused a sharply negative reaction.

If you think about it, each of the reasons can indeed become negative as a consequence, but it is not so significant that it is impossible to cope with it on your own.

First visit

Fear of the unknown is the most natural phenomenon. The only method to remove it is to obtain complete and objective information on the issue raised. It is worth considering frequently encountered doubts and clarifying details about them.

1. Let's start with the biggest fear of young girls - the doctor will turn out to be a man. In front of him you will have to climb onto a chair, demonstrate intimate parts of your body and share details of your personal life. However, the patient has the right to choose a doctor. You entered the office, and there was a man there or just an unpleasant-looking person? You can turn around and leave at any time. There are a huge number of friendly doctors in the world, who are also high-level specialists. You only need one, the problem is completely solvable.
2. I don’t want to disclose some details of my personal life, especially to my parents, but I’ll have to go to the doctor with my mother. But from the age of 14, the presence of parents is not at all necessary. Of course, they can read your patient chart in a regular hospital, but the doctor will not specifically provide details of the examination. As a last resort, you can always go to a private clinic and avoid even this possibility.

Under 14 years of age you will have to go with one of your parents. In this case, you will have to muster up the courage and express the whole problem to adults. It is advisable to choose for this person whom you trust as much as possible. This could be a mother, grandmother, older brother or sister, a school teacher or a psychologist. In any case, this will have to be done over time, so it’s better to preserve maximum health and nerves.

1. There is a suspicion of a disappointing diagnosis, which is aggravated by the possibility of information leakage. Let's say the nurse at the local gynecologist is the mother of your classmate. Indeed, sometimes doctors, in a fit of passion, can exclaim at home the phrase “You’ll get pregnant like your classmate!” or something like that. There is another doctor, private clinics and, to be sure, clinics in other cities. The peace of mind is worth the effort. You have to go. But an examination by a gynecologist is necessary, your health must be protected.
2. Fear of catching an infection. If present, take precautions. Buy a one-time examination kit from a gynecologist, which includes a diaper for the chair, a set of examination instruments, sterile gloves for the doctor, and go quietly to your first examination.
3. It might hurt. A common misconception among women who are going to see a gynecologist for the first time. We must face the truth: it is difficult to experience a pleasant sensation in a gynecological chair. Rather, they can be called strange. But we are not talking about pain, unless you have a serious illness that will cause pain during examination. If the state of the body is so neglected, you should not go to the gynecologist, but urgently run. Otherwise, the pain will become not imaginary, but real and without any examination.
4. A friend said it was terrible. It is unknown for what reason she visited the gynecological office for the first time. Perhaps she had good reasons for this, related to serious health problems and an unsuccessful choice of a doctor. Similar options have already been considered. But the girl could give herself a little importance by sharing the events that were turbulent, from her point of view. Having stood out and demonstrated her maturity in this way, her friend might not understand how much she embarrassed you and what her emotional speech could mean for your health.
5. There have been no intimate relationships yet, which means there is no need for a gynecologist. Of course, after the start of sexual activity, an examination by a female doctor should turn into a regular procedure, however, there are reasons to go to the doctor even earlier. Pain, discharge, itching, absence of menstruation before age 16 are indications for consultation. An annual check-up after the start of your period is also recommended. If sexual activity has not yet begun, the examination is external or anal.

You shouldn’t make problems out of something you haven’t tried before in your life. It is much more pleasant to feel satisfaction from a completed task, for example, a visit to the doctor.

Let's accept ourselves

Personal insecurity is often the cause of various complexes, including dissatisfaction with one’s appearance. Some consider themselves fat, others thin. Some people rush to a plastic surgeon to have their nose reduced or their breasts enlarged. Intimate areas also become a target for attack. “What if I’m not like everyone else? Is everything bad there? Ugly, scary?

Everything is fine there. It's bad in a completely different place. You need to work a lot on yourself, read and visit a psychologist in order to get rid of obsessive ideas about your own ugliness. They lie in childhood, neglect of loved ones, difficult situations, and possibly stress. In any case, the problem has little to do with visiting a gynecologist.

If you can’t look at the problem from this angle, remember how many women’s bodies pass before the doctor’s eyes every day. Is this the first time you've seen something like this? How many of these “firsts” did he have? One more, one less. Definitely, he will not remember your features after you close the office doors. He is much more interested in the health condition with which you came.

Bad feelings

Often women feel that not everything is in order with their intimate health. Periodic pain, irregular periods, discharge, itching - all this prevents you from living a full life. But what kind of doctor can he be if he’s busy at work, the kids squeak every second they’re not being looked at, and there’s only money in his pockets for groceries until payday.

What to do in such cases? Immediately go to the gynecologist. Problems of this kind do not go away. On the contrary, they are layered. Why? Because you are sick. The illness prevents you from performing your job duties effectively. Children feel that they don’t want to play with them now, but want to fall into bed motionless. In such cases, you will not be able to get pleasure from sex, which has a doubly effect on family life. How much money will you have to pay for the treatment of an advanced disease? Definitely many times more than what happens with a mild form. What do we end up with? A snowball that can cover you completely if you don’t take immediate action - start treatment.

Preparing for the visit

What can you get from space by constantly sending into it the thought “I’m afraid to go to the gynecologist”? You can start to feel bad just by repeating such phrases, especially when going to the gynecologist for the first time. In order to confidently enter the gynecological office, you need to do several preparatory procedures that will help you get ready for the upcoming test and even make it entertaining:

• Physical training. In the evening, wash thoroughly, tidy up your hair and get a pedicure. You need to present yourself at your best in any environment. Why not in a gynecological chair?
• Material condition. Exam kits, cute socks for walking to the chair.
• Internal comfort. Fresh pleasant music for your phone or a new ladies' magazine? Definitely your favorite perfume. Waiting for an appointment should put you in a state of peace and bring only pleasant impressions.

It’s not necessary to do all this, but... Please yourself, thank yourself for your courage and support, who knows how to do this better than women themselves? Wonderful and unique? Walking into a doctor’s office in a good mood, the patient even sets the space itself in a favorable mood. The little adventure will have a good ending.

She can't go to doctors.
Previously, this was expressed in postponing visits:
a lot of work, later next week.
Still, she decided to undergo a full examination.
I thought I could. I thought I had matured.
I thought that these fears had passed.
But I couldn't.

In the hospital department...

Every morning she came to the hospital department, she was given an injection, and she took the pills. It’s okay, but, going down the stairs, she quietly sobbed, not understanding what was wrong. She came home and walked around the apartment for a long time as if lost, then went to bed.

About fear

Fears have a strange and common feature: they can easily change, transforming from one to another. Today a person may be “afraid of the dentist,” and in a week, he may be “afraid of the surgeon” or even a simple therapist.

As Yuri Burlan’s Systemic Vector Psychology explains, unreasonable fears in huge quantities can only form in people with a visual vector. These are unique people. By nature they have a wide range of emotionality. Emotionality combined with imaginative thinking easily allows the viewer to draw a picture of supposedly upcoming events. These pictures, like videos, depict situations with a “bad ending” - this is what viewers call a “bad feeling.”

About goodness, sincerity and beauty

Fears, self-pity, panic attacks and, at the other pole, empathy, compassion, love - this is the range of states of a person with a visual vector. The common basis of these states is fear of death, which can be both the cause of suffering and the guiding internal force for development.

As System-Vector Psychology of Yuri Burlan says, Fear is the root emotion of any viewer. But when fear is brought out into fear for another, we feel empathy and compassion. At this moment we are completely freed from fears for ourselves.

It is important to understand that the viewer cannot help but experience strong emotions, because this is the only way he feels that he is living. We enjoy when we experience a strong experience. The only question is what quality the experience is. We swing between the poles of “scary” and “not so scary.” Or between the poles “I am filled with feelings for others” - “I feel sad.”

Fears make life very difficult. Sometimes it seems that they are impossible to cope with, impossible to overcome. Often we see no escape from this suffering. But this, fortunately and with great joy, is not so.

When we systematically realize our nature and understand the unconscious mechanisms that move us through life, we are freed from the most severe fears and begin to live a qualitatively different life. The pictures and videos that the brain generated in the head go in an unknown direction.

The first problems that students of Yuri Burlan's classes on system-vector psychology get rid of are various fears, panic attacks and phobias. Here's what they themselves say about it:

“...Before, the fear of dying from some disease periodically appeared. During such periods, with the least pain in any of the organs, it seemed that it was incurable. As it later turned out, these types of fear of dying are called hypochondria. Just by realizing this, the fear of death decreased significantly. In addition, thanks to the knowledge of SVP, we understand that “we do not have a soul, but the soul has us.” That is, our stay here and now in this body is initially temporary. The soul, for some reason, was placed in my body for a certain time to develop. Again, awareness of this truth significantly changes the attitude towards death... »
Anatoly I, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, specialist in the development of agricultural technologies, Skvira, Ukraine

« ...Already during the training, all sorts of psychological “anchors” that I had “earned” throughout my life began to disappear. After the training, the depression and thoughts of suicide that had been with me for about three years disappeared. I finally began to live with ease: a burden was lifted from me that was not allowing me to live. I started going out and started doing something. Before the training I didn’t have a job, after the training I found a job that, at the moment, brings me pleasure. I am very glad that after listening to the introductory lectures, I still gave myself the opportunity to grab onto them and took the full course. Otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened to me..."
Andrey T., social worker, Krasnoyarsk

“...It was very difficult for me to overcome grief - the loss of a loved one. Fear of death, phobias, panic attacks did not allow me to live. I contacted specialists - to no avail. At the very first lesson of the visual vector training, relief and understanding immediately came to me of what was happening to me. Love and gratitude are what I felt instead of the horror that was before. The training gave me a new outlook. This is a completely different quality of life, a new quality of relationships, new sensations and feelings - POSITIVE! My resentment, depression, and anxiety are gone. Physical condition has improved. Systems thinking is as essential to humans as air. People are the biggest and most amazing discovery! I understand them and do it with pleasure! If we compare it with a fairly prosperous past, then the 2 years I lived after the training were the happiest! meaningful! the brightest and most fulfilling in my life. I thank Yuri Burlan from the bottom of my heart!..."