Not to be afraid, but to treat: the dangers of cancer-related anxiety

Someone tells you to relax and calm down, saying that if it were cancer, you would be long gone. Someone is annoyed by your suspiciousness and constant preoccupation with the same topic. But you can’t help your thoughts: “Maybe I have cancer? How can I tell if there is a reason for fear or if it’s just my imagination? How to stop being afraid of cancer? This is all you want to know, because there is no longer any strength to live constantly in this fear.

There is a psychological pathology called cancerophobia. This is the fear of getting cancer. Systemic psychoanalysis, which is carried out at Yuri Burlan’s training “System-vector psychology,” helps to understand the causes of its occurrence and get rid of it forever. Let's use it to outline ways out of the fear of cancer.

Oncological diseases

Cancer is one of these diseases. Despite the fact that doctors can now treat this disease much more successfully than before, a cure for cancer has not yet been invented. People who have overcome cancer, in most cases, undergo a number of complex procedures, operations, undergo chemotherapy, and even after all this, considered officially cured, remain registered with oncologists, since the risk of relapse of the disease is very high.

Scientists have proven that cancer cells are present in the body of absolutely every person, but not everyone activates them, causing damage. Typically, the predisposition to cancer cell activity is inherited. And in such cases, it is impossible to somehow slow down or prevent this activation; it can only be stopped when the disease has already appeared.

How to stop being afraid of cancer: keeping a balance between prevention and cancerophobia

We are all afraid of getting seriously ill and dying. But for some, this fear takes on pathological features. Cancerophobia - panicky fear of getting cancer - as it turns out, is a fairly common problem of our contemporaries.

Thoughts about bad things

If cancer is mentioned in the presence of a cancerophobe, he loses his composure. Horror can even manifest itself physically - a person feels nauseous, feels dizzy, and his pulse quickens. Any mole and minor health problem inspires the most terrible suspicions in him. He can either torment the doctor with endless manifestations of hypochondria, or refuse any examinations, remaining in a frightening unknown.

“Cancerophobia occurs among representatives of all social groups, including representatives of the medical community,” says Rostov psychologist Yuri Kazantsev. – Judging by my statistics, approximately every seventh patient at various times in his life was afraid of discovering that he had cancer. But only a third of them developed this fear to problematic proportions.”

According to the expert, this phobia is typical for almost all ages, from 12 to 80 years. It can manifest itself as soon as a person begins to think that he is mortal, and “sometimes suddenly mortal,” as the classic wrote. That is, when the understanding of death and the possibility of one’s own departure from life has either already begun to worry, as it happens at an earlier age, or has not yet ceased to worry, as in an older age.

Obsessive fear of death

“The main cause of any phobia is an increased level of anxiety, a person’s internal neurotic tendency to the appearance of danger,” explains Yuri Kazantsev. – Often the impetus is the diagnosis of oncology in several of a person’s relatives, and the possibility of getting sick for him becomes a reality. It is rooted in the most primitive neurotic phenomenon - the fear of death. The internal conflict generated by the rejection of the possibility of one’s own death forms images of this phenomenon (for example, cancer). The psyche reacts to them with the most unpleasant feeling. Over time, this unpleasant feeling becomes obsessive and, together with attachment to the image of death, takes on the form of cancerophobia.”

The fear of cancer has nothing to do with the real possibility of getting sick, says the psychologist. The negative consequences, as in the case of any neurosis, consist in completely unnecessary self-restraints, exhausting oneself with problematic experiences, unjustified material costs for tests and doctors.

“Living in fear leads to negative personal deformations associated with the emergence of secondary fears, that is, anxiety in connection with participation in events that indirectly affect the possibility of getting sick. People begin to feel uneasy about being in the sun and become suspicious of food. From the practice of communicating with those recovering from oncology, I note that cases of the disease appearing in patients who seriously suffered from cancerophobia are isolated.”

How to overcome cancerophobia yourself?

In the most advanced cases, it is better for an inveterate cancerophobe to consult a psychologist. But you can try to deal with the problem yourself.

“The first and most important thing is to reduce your own level of anxiety,” recommends Yuri Kazantsev. – To do this, it is necessary, firstly, to separate in your own understanding the anxious feelings and the objective factor (the real possibility of getting sick). That is, begin to perceive anxiety as independent feelings, and the objective factor as a secondary matter. Secondly, we must always remember the iron psychological law: the experienced feeling disappears. Therefore, in order to reduce the level of anxiety, you must not suppress it in yourself, but experience it. Thirdly, the best way to experience without the participation of a psychotherapist is self-observation. Observe, pronounce, describe, draw, compare your feelings with something. And this will have a positive effect.”

The expert considers the use of sedatives to be completely useless and even harmful in the case of cancerophobia, since they, while giving a temporary effect, are addictive. And this further leads to a transition to stronger and more expensive drugs.

“The most damning thing in this matter is turning to fortune tellers, astrologers, psychics and other charlatans. It’s better to just live and be happy!” – concludes Yuri Kazantsev.

Who should get tested?

According to the expert, there is no need to endlessly undergo new and expensive examinations to make sure that everything is in order. And that's probably right. Without a certain direction and understanding of the risks, it is a waste of money, time and nerves. A competent oncologist or other specialist can determine whether a patient is at risk for any type of cancer, what the percentage of this risk is, whether it is necessary to undergo examination now and what kind of examination. You can roughly estimate your chances of getting cancer, for example, on the website of the Cancer Prevention Foundation. But in any case, the necessary tests and examinations should be recommended by a doctor, and not by a neighbor or a friend on a social network.

It makes sense to visit a doctor:

• women and men over 55 years of age;
• frequent drinkers and smokers;
• those who are overweight;
• excessive exposure to the sun;
• having a hereditary (genetic) predisposition to cancer.

Perhaps the doctor will recommend the necessary examination. For example, doctors advise women over 40 years of age who are at risk to have regular mammograms to exclude the possibility of developing breast cancer.

Virus that causes cancer

Another test that a woman’s doctor will most likely recommend is detection of the human papillomavirus (HPV). The fact is that, as scientists are sure, HPV often causes the development of cervical cancer. 98% of cases are the result of infection.

“The basis of any oncological process is genetic changes in cells – mutations. Mutations occur in the body under the influence of physical, chemical and biological factors. Some viruses have a strong potential to cause mutations in cells, one of the most insidious is HPV,” says Olga Dekhtyareva, chief physician of the Gemotest laboratory.

It takes a long time from the moment of infection with the human papillomavirus to the development of cancer - sometimes up to 15 years. Over the course of several years, cervical cells infected with HPV go through several stages, from mild dysplasia to cancer. According to the expert, with the right approach to your own health, this period is enough to identify changes in the early stages and take action. Cancer cells are dangerous because, actively multiplying, they penetrate into other organs through the blood or lymph flow, where they give rise to a new tumor. The main task in cancer prevention is to detect HPV infection and dysplasia at the initial stage. In this case, the cure rate is close to 100%.

How is HPV detected?

“For research, a biomaterial is taken - a smear for cytology. The main thing is that the biomaterial is taken with high quality - for this, special cytobrushes are used to collect all the cells in the danger zone. The second task is to preserve the cells. There is a “traditional” method that has been used for 90 years: a smear is applied to the glass, and the brush with the remaining cells is disposed of. In this case, more than 40% of the material is thrown away and the diagnostic accuracy is significantly reduced. A more modern method is liquid-based cytology: during this study, a cytobrush is lowered into a special liquid, where 100% of the cells settle. Another advantage of liquid-based cytology is that the same solution can be used to test for HPV without repeating a smear.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is detected by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). This is the most modern method, in which the genetic molecule of the virus is “taken apart” and examined in a special laboratory,” explains Olga Dekhtyareva.

Which study should you choose?

Traditional cytology (without HPV testing) is now available in almost any laboratory - public or private. But liquid cytology with a full-fledged computer analysis - the “gold standard”, which is used all over the world when a patient is suspected of having cancer or dysplasia, is available only in some laboratories in Russia. Hemotest Laboratory is the only networked commercial laboratory where equipment is installed and a full cycle of BD ShurePath liquid cytology with an automated BD FocalPoint GS cytological slide viewing system is installed. HPV testing can be performed from the same biomaterial simultaneously with liquid cytology.

A joint project

Cancerophobia

Unfortunately, cancer affects more than just a few. Therefore, many people are very afraid of getting cancer.

Basically, an illness such as cancerophobia, the fear of getting cancer, appears in people who have relatives with this diagnosis, especially if one of the relatives suffers from cancer. A person develops a panicky fear that the disease will overtake him too.

Fear of getting cancer in most cases leads to serious mental problems, such as depression, aggression, people become irritable, whiny, and their emotional state is unstable. People suffering from cancerophobia do not understand that an unstable psychological state can provoke the disease that they are so afraid of.

Cancerophobia or concern for health - how to understand?

How can you tell whether paying close attention to your health is a normal concern for it or a phobia? To do this, let’s look at how this fear arises and what symptoms appear.

Remember how it all began, what was the impetus. It could be:

• a constant flow of information from the Internet and television about incurable diseases of stars and fundraising for the treatment of cancer patients;
• reading books, watching films about cancer patients;
• the news that one of your loved ones or acquaintances has received a terrible diagnosis;
• People who have undergone a complex cycle of cancer treatment may develop a fear of recurrence of the disease.

The following symptoms may occur:

• constant worrying thoughts about the possibility of getting cancer. Any spot on the body, minor pain is perceived in panic;
• increased background anxiety prevents you from living normally and concentrating on solving problems;
• A lot of effort is made to identify the disease, make a diagnosis - visits to doctors, tests, medications. Or, on the contrary, a paralyzing fear of being examined so that, God forbid, a terrible disease is not discovered;
• even in the absence of a confirmed diagnosis - the inability to relax. Fear does not let go, even if you understand with your mind that there is nothing to be afraid of;
• The phobia can manifest itself physically - dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, increased heart rate, tremors, sweating - and even turn into a panic attack.

This is how victims of cancerophobia describe their symptoms on forums: “How to stop being afraid of getting cancer? After all, I have bad heredity - all my grandparents died of cancer. I’ve watched all sorts of programs about cancer on television, and now I’m paranoid - as soon as something pierces somewhere, my stomach hurts, my thoughts immediately start racing in panic: “Maybe it’s a tumor?” I went to the doctor and got tested. The tests are normal. The doctor prescribed sedatives. But all the same, bad thoughts creep into my head. I'm afraid to leave my children orphans. My husband doesn’t want to listen, he says that everything for me is because I’m sitting at home... I’m already climbing the wall.”

"I am 26 years old. I feel dizzy all the time, feel weak, and suffer from nausea. Doctors diagnose VSD. But I do not believe. I always think it's a brain tumor. Although I’ve had this condition for five years now, I’m terribly afraid of getting cancer.”

This is what cancerophobia looks like.

It is quite natural to think about your health when you hear about a terrible illness in your loved ones or friends. It is normal if periodic ailments or chronic diseases force you to undergo routine examinations. It’s good if anxiety goes away after a frank conversation with a loved one and after his advice to relax and not worry, the tension goes away. This indicates temporary stress that has aggravated the emotion of fear.

But if thoughts about cancer constantly torment you - day and night, causing insomnia, preventing you from living a full life, and normal test results do not convince you of anything, you become hostage to an anxiety disorder - cancerophobia. The consequences of such a life are easy to predict. You will constantly impose unnecessary restrictions on yourself, go on diets, try the latest anti-aging and cancer treatments. Dramatically enrich the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Your life will turn into an endless struggle with windmills. And this struggle can really affect your health.

Therefore, we need to get out of this fear. How to stop being afraid of getting cancer? To begin with, understand the reasons for its occurrence.

Symptoms of the problem

Cancerophobia is considered a psychological disease, and this illness is not limited to simply the phrase “I’m afraid of cancer.” In fact, almost every person is afraid of getting cancer, and this is normal; the self-preservation instinct of an individual who is afraid of losing his life works here. But in the case of carcinophobes, everything is much more serious.

The main symptoms of cancer fear are:

1. Fear of doctors. A person is afraid to go to the hospital because he is sure that he will be given a terrible diagnosis and will not be able to recover.
2. Increased interest in medical examinations. A person tries to undergo as many different examinations as possible to make sure that he is healthy.
3. Depression or apathy. A person drives himself into a trap of his thoughts and fears, he begins to feel depressed, based on the fact that in his head he simulates situations in which he gets cancer. Also, an individual can be overtaken by apathy; he unconsciously tries to alienate all close people from himself, as people with cancer usually do, trying to protect everyone from pain.
4. Aggression and refusal to help. People with cancerophobia react very sharply to the topic of their problem, they do not want to accept help and react very aggressively to all advice and requests.
5. Frequent phantom pain. Starting to study the symptoms of the disease, carcinophobes begin to look for them with all their might, and they develop phantom pains or false symptoms. The brain, concentrating on a symptom, projects it onto the body. For example, if a person has found a symptom of frequent nausea, it will seem to him that he is constantly vomiting, etc.

How to attract other thoughts

When we see others die of cancer, we tend to identify with them. We ourselves are terribly afraid of dying. It is unbearably painful for us to come into contact with someone else’s suffering, and then we drive away thoughts of illness, try not to watch films and videos on social networks, not to read articles and books that talk about cancer patients. We are unable to show empathy and compassion, which has a healing effect on our soul and relieves fears. When we don’t feel someone else’s pain, we fear for our lives.

We do not allow ourselves to cry so as not to upset our loved ones. We cannot tell our loved ones how much we love them, how afraid we are of losing them and how we experience this pain together with them. We keep our distance not only physically, but also emotionally. We try to be persistent and not become limp. But in the end we live a joyless life and shake with fear.

Experiencing feelings of a different kind: compassion, empathy, love and light sadness, a person does not experience fears, is not afraid of getting sick or dying. He does not think about how to stop being afraid of getting cancer, because the lover becomes fearless, and therefore psychologically strong. His body is less susceptible to the negative effects of stress, and therefore diseases.

When we know what makes us afraid, we are able to change our emotional state. Conquering fear certainly takes effort. If you do not know how to express your emotions, cannot talk about feelings, and sometimes even be aware of them, then you will have to learn this. Each time the skill will be developed, causing more and more joy in the soul.

This naturally happens in the training “System-vector psychology” by Yuri Burlan.

When we allow ourselves to cry for others, to feel other people’s pain as our own, to empathize, then any fear goes away.

A soul that is open to other people is not afraid of anything, it is full of love and compassion. Speak your feelings, track them, live them. Put them on paper: write about them, draw them. Express your emotions through creativity.

Give the world what is inside of you. When a person creates, thoughts about how to stop being afraid of cancer do not bother him.

Fear of leukemia

Leukemia is one of the most uncertain types of oncology. Doctors still cannot determine the causes of this disease.

Blood cancer is quite difficult to diagnose if you rarely get sick and have almost no tests, and tests often do not show abnormalities that can serve as a signal.

It is this type of cancer that is very often covered in the film industry, and since the disease is poorly understood, there are many stereotypical symptoms about the presence of this oncology. Basically, these two factors are the reasons for the fear of leukemia.

Especially often, cancerophobia, related to blood cancer, overtakes people who have stereotypical symptoms: poor blood clotting, frequent nosebleeds. All it takes for a person to hear someone say: “Your bleeding hasn’t stopped for so long, just like with leukemia,” and fear immediately appears. And then the fear develops into a phobia, since the person cannot find enough information about the disease to reassure himself. Also, for many, carcinophobia arises due to the fact that a person suffers from frequent nosebleeds, although in most cases this is not caused by cancer, but by overwork, poor routine, or some disease associated with vascular disorders.

Manifestations of cancerophobia

Typical manifestations of a carcinophobe:

1. Endless medical examinations, during which a person presents new “evidence” of his disease.
2. The opposite situation is when an individual is terrified of going to a specialist, because he is sure that he will definitely receive a serious diagnosis, which will inevitably be followed by death.
3. Cancerphobes cannot find an intelligible answer to the question: how to stop being afraid of cancer. They are suspicious of the hospital staff, independently study specialized literature and the Internet, after which they make a fatal diagnosis for themselves.
4. Adults develop tearfulness and regular complaints of poor health.
5. Sometimes aggression towards others, increased demands, and pickiness manifests itself.

Having studied all sorts of theories, the carcinophobe is afraid of contracting cancer, since there is a version that it is a viral disease. Potential cancer patients avoid communicating with real patients and bypass specialized centers and dispensaries.

People who have diagnosed themselves continuously monitor the “problem” organ. During examinations, they do not concentrate on following recommendations, but focus on the negative feelings that accompany them due to self-hypnosis. Such individuals often self-treat, choosing a variety of diets and body cleanses.

Well-advertised dietary supplements become the companions of carcinophobes. They are taken for healing from a fictitious disease, sometimes without knowing the composition and side effects.

Individuals with a fear of cancer often fall into depression, sometimes turning into attacks of self-pity, hopelessness, and a complete lack of faith in recovery. The mere mention of a fatal disease can throw a person off track in life, especially if the situation happens to friends or relatives.

Fear of cancer manifests itself superficially or in the form of a deep phobia. The level of fear depends on the individual psychological characteristics of a person. Internal anxiety of an imaginary illness develops inhibition, disrupts logical thinking, and leads to a sharp narrowing of the individual’s range of interests.

Fear of stomach and intestinal cancer

These are the types of cancer that we are often warned about. It’s not surprising that you can hear this exact phrase from many cancerophobes: “I’m afraid of intestinal/stomach cancer.”

Often these types of cancer can be triggered by poor diet or chemical additives in foods. This is enough for a person to develop a fear of these types of cancer. With this type of cancerophobia, people begin to diligently eat healthy and try to teach everyone around them to do so.

Causes of cancer phobia

Fear of cancer arises due to the presence of a similar diagnosis in relatives or friends. The closer and more often such experiences existed, the higher the likelihood of the active development of fear. Similar diseases of blood relatives are complemented by a genetic risk for the individual. Taking into account modern research, the last factor accounts for about 25% of the predisposition.

The development of fear of cancer also includes the presence of a cyst or other benign formation in a person, or postoperative syndrome to remove it. Any illnesses such as erosions, which are considered “harbingers” of oncology, cause panic in the individual. Naturally, people diagnosed with cancer expect the worst, even after remissions.

Sometimes the fear of getting cancer can be seen in citizens with various mental disorders. The risk group for cancerophobia includes:

• people with generalized, obsessive, compulsive, panic manifestations;
• psychasthenics, neurotics, hypochondriacs;
• schizophrenics;
• impressionable individuals who received news of the difficult death of loved ones.

Fear of respiratory tract cancer

With this cancerophobia everything is very clear. It is usually caused by the stereotype that smoking inevitably leads to lung cancer. People with fear of respiratory tract cancer are especially susceptible to developing psychological abnormalities. This is usually expressed in a fanatical desire to isolate yourself from any contact with nicotine smoke and cigarettes. A person forces loved ones to quit smoking; with particularly strong fear, a person may even stop communicating with a loved one if he does not make concessions. He stubbornly blocks his access to oxygen when he is near a smoking person, so as not to become a passive smoker. Very often, carcinophobes become aggressive and can cause a scandal because of smoking to any passerby.

How to overcome the fear of cancer recurrence

Cancerophobia after treatment and remission is almost inevitable. If a carcinophobe without an oncological diagnosis is afraid of the unknown, then for someone who has already experienced all this “in his own skin”, the situation is more acute.

The report talks about people who have gone through a difficult rehabilitation process after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer, as well as cancerphobes who do not have tumors.

Oncology dispensaries very often have psychological assistance departments, and this help is needed both by incurable patients and by those who have coped with the disease, and for whom the constant fear of the return of cancer prevents them from fully functioning in life.

For severe carcinophobia, the most effective way would be to visit a psychotherapist. A specialist will help you work through the fear of death, which, one way or another, lies at the core. It is worth noting that for some patients, cancer phobia may be a fear of agony and pain. However, no one will deny that dying from cancer is the most scary thing. So, working through the topic of death provides the resource to live today, without postponing anything, without feeding on illusions about the “future.” For former cancer patients, this is the main task, the solution of which makes their life complete, regardless of how long it will last.

Fear of breast cancer

A common type of cancerophobia in women. This type of cancer is one of the most common, and very often leads to serious consequences that are difficult for women to accept. This type of cancerophobia arises mainly due to maternal instinct, when a woman is afraid of losing her mammary glands, or because of the fear of losing her beauty.

What is the name of the phobia?

Carcinophobia (from the ancient Greek καρκίνος - crab and φόβος - fear) and synonymous cancerophobia (from the Latin cancer - cancer) is an uncontrollable, irrational, obsessive fear of getting cancer. A phobia disrupts a person’s normal functioning and subjugates a large number of his thoughts and actions.

Liver cancer fear

Another fear of getting cancer, caused by the stereotype that drinking alcohol is 100% likely to activate cancer cells. Sometimes this cancerophobia is a side effect of treatment for alcoholism. First, the individual stops himself with the thought that alcohol abuse can lead to such consequences, and then this develops into serious fear. As with the fear of respiratory cancer, a person with a fear of liver cancer begins to wean everyone around them from drinking alcohol and becomes very aggressive about this topic. Also, carcinophobes of this type are characterized by the symptom of constant examinations against a background of fear.

Fear of getting cancer: how to get rid of it?

Cancerophobia is diagnosed after a comprehensive examination. This is necessary to exclude other psychological abnormalities and real oncology. The main treatment in this case is psycho- and hypnotherapy.

Medicines for fear of getting cancer are used only in emergency cases, accompanied by developed hypochondria and depression. Medicines themselves are ineffective, and long-term use of them causes addiction.

Psychotherapy sessions are considered the most productive ways to combat cancerophobia. Various techniques are used here, including hypnosis, to find out the root cause of fear. Then the specialist builds the most suitable treatment regimen for a particular client. The introduction of cognitive manipulations is productive, since individuals do not realize that obsessive thoughts about oncology are formed due to a number of misconceptions.

Many people ask the question: “I’m afraid of getting cancer, what should I do?” Carcinophobes attach fatalism to the disease. They focus on a possible illness, forgetting about other incurable diseases. For example, schizophrenia also has a painful and severe manifestation, although it does not lead to immediate death. Not all people imagine the second option, given how difficult it will be for them and their relatives during moments of psychosis. But pictures of baldness and other side effects from chemotherapy are clearly and often drawn in my head. Individuals suffering from a fear of cancer do not consider the percentage of people cured of a serious illness; they are exclusively interested in fatal statistics.

You can get rid of cancerophobia with the help of cognitive and behavioral therapy. The best result is shown by an integrated approach, including immersion in a trance and observation of further behavioral reactions. As a result, the client is able to control thoughts and manage his emotional state.

Fighting cancerophobia

“What should I do, I’m afraid of cancer?” many ask. You can get rid of this fear on your own only at the earliest stages of its occurrence, when a person is still able to pull himself together or listen to the words of other people. When fear develops into a phobia, he can no longer cope on his own.

The most effective way to stop being afraid of cancer is to seek help from a psychotherapist and understand the causes of this phobia. Typically, psychotherapists practice hypnosis so that a person’s brain begins to perceive the information given to it. As soon as a person begins to gradually adapt and interact with the doctor, the specialist begins regular psychotherapy sessions, where, together with the patient, he finds the other side of fear, focuses his attention on all aspects of life, and comes up with and performs special trainings with the patient.

Sometimes, if the phobia is caused precisely by the illness of a loved one, the psychotherapist conducts joint sessions to force the person to look his fear in the face and help him understand that he should not hide from what is happening, but support the patient and help him fight the problem. Just after such sessions, a person who has almost gotten rid of fear can benefit from visiting cancer hospitals. By seeing how people fight for their lives, how they continue to smile despite their problem, the individual will stop associating illness with death and will begin to perceive it as difficulties that need to be overcome.

You can also get rid of cancerophobia if it is not caused by a loved one’s illness if you undergo a comprehensive examination. Having eliminated all the risks of the possibility of disease, the carcinophobes themselves will begin to slowly get rid of their fear. This will take a lot of time, but the fact that no cancer has been detected will be the starting point for a person to reconsider his views.

Since the fear of cancer often entails psychological deviations, often when getting rid of a phobia a person will have to resort to medications prescribed by a doctor. Minimizing the instability of the psychological state will speed up the process of getting rid of the problem, but long-term use of such drugs can cause addiction, so in such cases the desire of the person himself to get rid of the phobia is very important.

Causes of cancerophobia

Cancerophobia is a derivative of the fear of death. No one is born with this fear, except for the 5% of the population who have a visual vector in their psyche. Their fear of death is a much stronger emotion than most people have.

In visual children, this fear most often manifests itself as a fear of the dark. After all, they feel safe only when their most sensitive analyzer—sight—is working. And in the darkness it begins to seem to them that invisible dangers lurk everywhere.

If this emotion in children is not developed into empathy, love, and other strong and positive experiences, fears can evolve and multiply - from fear of insects to cancer phobia. That is, cancerophobia can only occur in people with a visual vector in the following cases:

• when in childhood parents did not pay attention to the development of feelings or the child was intimidated;
• when there are feelings, there are a lot of them, but in life there is nowhere to put them - no one to love, no one to communicate with, no impressions, “I sit at home, don’t work, don’t see anyone”;
• in a situation of extreme stress, for example, the death of a loved one, divorce, separation.

Watch a fragment of the training in which Yuri Burlan talks about the emergence of the fear of death:

Visual people are also distinguished by an extremely developed imagination, which, if directed in the wrong direction, can cause excessive impressionability and suspiciousness. Such a person, when faced with news of a threat to life, tries the situation on himself and experiences it so strongly that he may even feel the symptoms of a disease that does not exist in reality.

Therefore, it is first important for the victim of cancerophobia to understand that fear is irrational and has no basis in reality. Its causes lie in the unconscious. And then take action.

Reviews

Lilia, 47 years old

I didn't know how to get over my fear of getting cancer. The suffering lasted for years. When my dad died from this disease, my life gradually turned into hell. For a long time I tried to cope on my own, but the obsessive thoughts were stronger. I constantly thought that I was sick and that the torment would soon begin. Before my eyes was the image of my dying father.

I gathered my strength and came to a psychotherapist. I felt better only after the seventh session, but I felt final relief after four months. She no longer took tranquilizers and did not interpret the cough as a symptom of dying lungs. I won’t say that healing the disease was easy for me, but the result was worth it.

Ivan, 27 years old

I worked as a volunteer, helping in shelters and hospitals. One day we were sent to the children's oncology department. I will never forget this terrible day. The eyes of the dying children turned everything inside, their condition changed. I realized that I was afraid of getting cancer. But the fear grew so strong and rapidly that I did not notice how I quit volunteering, switched to a raw food diet and abandoned my previous environment.

Six months of therapy with a psychotherapist, group classes and regular work on Louise Hay’s books brought me to my senses. Prevention was no longer required; I accepted the illness as part of myself.

Oleg, 35 years old

I am very afraid of cancer, but I have never been able to recover. My maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather, and dad himself died of cancer. I am 100% sure that I will suffer the same fate. Psychotherapists, psychologists, group and individual sessions did not bring any results. Tried to go through the stages of accepting cancer, sought hypnosis. But all the symptoms returned after a few months.