Fear of Contracting a Disease Counselling

Fear of Contracting a Disease Counselling in Wolverhampton

The Fear of Contracting a Disease is Technically Known as Nosophobia.

People suffering from this problem will undoubtedly have been much worse during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic when the fear is reasonably well founded. It is important to remember though that the majority of people only suffer minor symptoms and make a full recovery.

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of Anxiety and Stress for the sufferer, and the Fear of Contracting a Disease is no different.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Nosophobia knows only too well that the Anxiety that they experience is real enough.

You can read more about phobias in general here.

We completely understand this here at TranceForm Psychology and will treat you and your Fear of Contracting a Disease seriously and with ‘unconditional positive regard’.

It has long been understood within the world of psychology that our minds are more than capable of producing a real biological reaction to any given situation and so as long as the Nosophobia sufferer “believes” that the object or situation they fear represents a real danger to them, then they will experience real fear with all of the associated symptoms.

This ‘reaction’ itself is not ‘faulty’ – the problem isn’t the Anxiety that is experienced, but the ‘idea’ or ‘thoughts’ that go into creating this reaction!

The greater majority of people who suffer with the Fear of Contracting a Disease readily accept that their fear is “irrational” but continue to experience it regardless of this knowledge. It is important to understand, therefore, that despite the severity and strength of the negative emotional experience that the Fear of Contracting a Disease might produce inside you, that it is 100% created by your thinking and not by the external object or environment itself. This idea is known as ‘constructionism’ and is particularly well understood.

Fear of Contracting a Disease Symptoms

The symptoms of the Fear of Contracting a Disease are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Panic attacks
• Inability to Relax
• Problems Concentrating
• Being quick tempered
• Feelings of dizziness
• Prickly sensations like pins and Contracting a Disease
• Palpitations
• Aches & Pains
• Fatigue
• Dry and Sticky mouth
• Sweating Excessively
• Breathlessness
• Migraines and Headaches

Nosophobia Symptoms are generally automatic and uncontrollable and can seem to take over a person’s thoughts which frequently leads to extreme measures being taken to avoid the feared object or situation, what are known as “Safety” or “Avoidance” behaviours.

Unfortunately, for the sufferer, these safety behaviours have a paradoxical effect and actually reinforce the Fear of Contracting a Disease rather than solve it!

Your Fear of Contracting a Disease may be the result of negative experiences that can be either directly or indirectly linked to the object or situational fear.

Over time, these symptoms can become “normalised” and “accepted” as limiting beliefs in that person’s life – “you have learnt to live with it.”

In just as many cases, Nosophobia may have become worse over time as more and more sophisticated avoidance behaviours and routines are developed.

The good news is that the vast majority of people who suffer with a Fear of Contracting a Disease will find that a course of Psychological Therapy will help enormously by helping to change the fundamental thinking contributing to the problem in the first place.

Transform Your Thinking & Overcome Nosophobia

If you’re committed to overcoming your fear of contractin a disease then we highly recommend following either our Advanced Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul, or the Changing Limiting Beliefs (CLB) Programme with Joan.

Tranceformental CBT is available as Online Therapy if required

Both the Tranceformental programme and Changing Limiting Beliefs approach are highly successful & pragmatic psychological training courses, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your unhelpful thinking styles or maladaptive safety behaviours that you may have developed as part of your coping strategies.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an evidence-based, research supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.