Fear of Contracting a Disease Counselling & Therapy

Fear of Contracting a Disease Counselling in Wolverhampton

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

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On this Page:

• Fear of Contracting a Disease Symptoms
• Fear of Contracting a Disease Treatment

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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!

Fear of Contracting a Disease Treatment

TranceForm Psychology is able to offer a range of different psychological treatments for your Fear of Contracting a Disease including both ‘cognitive’ (thinking) based talking therapies as well as therapies based on ’emotional’ content such as EMDR & Analytical Therapy.

If your Fear of Contracting a Disease has become very ‘pervasive’ then we might suggest a psycho-dynamic approach to therapy where an emphasis is placed on the ‘relationship’ between the therapist and client as the fundamental ‘vehicle’ for change.

Cognitive Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the Changing Limiting Beliefs (CLB) Programme tend to regard the symptoms of Nosophobia as being due to ‘unhelpful thinking styles‘ or patterns of thinking that directly ‘create’ the ‘feelings’ of anxiety and stress when encountering the phobic object or situation. These types of therapy are often referred to as ‘incremental’ therapies and tend to focus on building a set of ‘coping skills’ and mechanisms that are very much focused on the ‘present day’ experience rather than any ‘past traumas’.

This relationship between thinking (cognition) and feelings (behaviour) is the central pillar of these types of therapy and is supported by a substantial body of scientific evidence.

Psycho-Dynamic Therapies such as Psychoanalysis take a different approach to the the incremental therapies as they consider that events and social influences experienced in the earlier formative lives of the person can cause, or at least “pre-dispose”, a person to ‘process events’ in a specific way in later life.

The aim of psychodynamic therapy is to help a person to explore, develop personal insight and resolve these causative issues following the doctrine of “cause and effect”.

You can read more about Psychodynamic Therapy V Directive Therapy approaches here.

FREE Initial Consultations for Fear of Contracting a Disease

We offer all prospective clients a FREE initial assessment to chat about your Fear of Contracting a Disease.

During this 50 minute consultation we will discuss the various options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

At TranceForm Psychology we understand that therapy is a collaborative process between therapist and client so it’s very important to be able to meet PRIOR to agreeing any kind of help.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking therapy for Fear of Contracting a Disease, including both the financial and personal implications.

Contact TranceForm

For all psychological interventions please contact either:

Paul on paul@tranceformpsychology.com – Tel: 07434 776125 or

Justina on justina@tranceformpsychology.com – Tel: 07880 491106

For Analytical Therapy or Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT) please contact:

Joan on joan@wolverhamptonhypnotherapy.co.uk – Tel: 07434 776504