What do you fear?
Heights? Dogs? Water?
Out of all the fears well known to us, there’s a fear we might have especially adopted during pandemic times. It is the fear of disease. And this causes several other problems both for our mind and body.
Nosophobia is a condition where a person fears catching a disease and develop unusual anxiety around it. Relating it to the recent condition of the covid-19, many people were terrified to be victims of coronavirus. That was also because of the excess of information. While it was important to be aware of what is happening around the world bringing in cyberchondria. It caused a phobia in the minds of people in the name of being cautious.
Cyberchondria is when the fear takes place because of the easy access to information, mainly through television or the internet.
The ones having this condition either become completely ignorant about the situation thinking they will get the disease anyhow or do the extreme level of research to avoid being the patient. They want to know tits & bits and constantly think about it causing their mind to indulge in deep overthinking and anxiety attacks. A combination of physical and mental imbalances is sure to be expected by someone having nosophobia.
It can cause,
- Feeling of dizziness
- Slight Nausea
- Regular Sweating
- Rapid breathing
- Trouble sleeping
- Increased pulse rate
Hypochondria is also a similar condition but slightly different. While in nosophobia you fear catching a disease, in hypochondria you might already be having some slight symptoms. The person feels that these are the signs of something serious that might come or is already there. Now again if we related that to the pandemic time, every person who had flu or a slight cough, used to think that they caught corona. Even seasonal ill health due to weather changes was misunderstood as the deadly virus that can lay you to death.
This resulted in overthinking and panic. They’d be constantly thinking and were afraid of something that they don’t even have. This fear also results in constant reassurance that it’s all in the mind. I am sure we know atleast one person who showed these symptoms in 20-21.
Hypochondria doesn’t include people having general concerns about the disease and their health. It’s called being cautious and careful which everyone should be especially since the virus could be caught anytime anywhere and from anyone. Hypochondria is when the concern increases its level and reaches a level of fear where you are unable to think normal and are in constant worry about what will happen to you and your health. You might even start thinking that you are about to die. It begins to affect your daily life, emotional health, or your ability to function as you usually would consider reaching out to your healthcare provider.
It could due to the following reasons-:
- You are unable to differentiate the symptoms or have a poor understanding of the diseases.
- Your family history forces you to think through these lines
- Your family member/members are extremely concerned about their/your health unconsciously building fear in your mind.
- You’ve had past experiences related to this particular disease or any other life-threatening disease that has settled in your brain and is frightening you.
What to do in both these conditions?
Stay busy in something productive so you allow your mind to wander less.
Take all precautions but don’t keep thinking about it
Watch positive data for the recovered cases
Do daily meditation and yoga
All these steps would definitely help to lower your fear to a certain extent.
Read my next blog for more details on how to cope with this fear forever.
