We have all seen a doctor several times in our lives, and the work of these professionals is essential to our health.

But despite the benefits of dealing with this group, some people suffer from a disorder called iatrophobia, which is the irrational and persistent fear of doctors and, in general, all professionals who relate to them such as nurses. In fact, this disorder can extend to everything related to health. For example, drugs.

Iatrophobia is a serious condition that must be treated. In this article we will review its characteristics, its causes and its treatment.

What is iatrophy

Although going to the doctor could save a person’s life, some individuals are afraid to go to health centers because of the fear they feel in the presence of these professionals. In fact, the vast majority of us were born in a hospital, so the first person we come into contact with in this life, besides our mother, is a doctor and the other health professionals who are at the birth site.

But even though doctors are there to help us, some subjects develop a phobic disorder towards them.

Phobias are irrational fears that cause great anxiety and discomfort and therefore the person tries to avoid the feared stimulus. Fear and anxiety are sophisticated survival systems that have to do with the primitive part of the brain, so they are complex to deal with. However, phobias and anxiety disorders can be overcome with the right psychological treatment.

Differences of this disorder with fear of injections

Another phobia that is related to the fear of doctors is the trypanophobia or fear of injections , which usually affects the person when they have to get an injection and go to the health centre to get it. Therefore, it shares similarities with the phobia of doctors.

However, iatrophobia is more general and affects people regardless of whether they have to get a shot or go to the health centre for vaccination. Iatrophobia manifests itself even by a simple routine visit to the doctor and is a heterogeneous concept, which can vary depending on the person affected.

In severe cases, the iatrophobe may even fear direct contact with drugs or the idea of an auscultation test. Whether due to fear of doctors or of injections, the person may risk his or her life, for example, by not being vaccinated against diseases such as tetanus or by avoiding going to the doctor despite the possibility of suffering from a serious illness.

Causes

Phobias are irrational fears that usually develop as a result of a direct experience lived by the patient. This experience causes a strong emotional impact that leaves a mark on the patient.

Actually, phobias occur because of a type of associative learning called classical conditioning , which was originally discovered by Ivan Pavlov, but made popular by John B. Watson. To learn how phobias are learned, you can watch the audiovisual content below.

As explained in the video, the first research on phobias that was conducted with humans is the one known as the “Little Albert Experiment”, in which the child was conditioned to be afraid of a white rat that he used to love. This experiment could not be conducted today because it was considered unethical.

  • You can learn more about classical conditioning in our article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”

Other causes of phobias

Phobias do not only develop through direct experience, but observation can cause an individual to become afraid of doctors. Therefore, vicarious conditioning is another reason why a person may suffer from a phobia, and consists of observing other people’s reactions to a stimulus that is relevant to both the subject and the observer. You can deepen this concept in our article: “Vocational conditioning: how does this type of learning work?

Some experts, moreover, state that we are biologically predisposed to suffer from phobic disorders . since fear and anxiety are emotions that have allowed us to survive as a species. The problem is that they have to do with the most instinctive and primitive part of our brain, and that is why they are not easily modified by logical arguments. The reason is that these associations are not cognitive, but emotional and primitive.

How to treat this phobia

There is a lot of research on treating phobias, as many patients seek professional help for phobias in psychological therapy.

Scientific evidence shows that to overcome a phobia, cognitive behavioral therapy works very well . The cognitive behavioural techniques that are most commonly used are relaxation techniques and exposure techniques. One method that combines both techniques and has become the treatment par excellence for these pathologies is systematic desensitization.

This technique consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus, but not before having received instruction from the psychologist to develop useful coping strategies for the feared situations. This is where relaxation techniques are mainly included.

In severe cases, pharmacological treatment is indicated; however, always in combination with psychotherapy.

Current treatments

However, today other methodologies are also used to treat phobias and other anxiety disorders, mainly third generation therapies, including Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy.

Virtual reality (VR) becomes a support for psychologists, as it allows the patient to be exposed to the feared situations without the need for the phobic stimulus to be present. In addition, thanks to new technologies, mobile applications have been developed that include VR and augmented reality. We tell you about it in our article: “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”