Fear of ill health is also called illness anxiety disorder, which is more or less a health anxiety that is caused due to worrying in excess that you are already or may in the future become seriously sick. Although at times, you may not have any physical symptoms but your fear will make you think that you are no longer healthy and make you sick mentally as well. Psychologists try to give exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy to people who have this fear of ill health. This makes the person feel safe and come to terms with the reality that they are not that sick and don’t suffer from any major health problems.
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Medication is also given if the person is suffering from excessive worrying over health-related matters. The fear of ill health is also called Nosophobia. People with this disorder or disease have a constant fear that they are going to suffer from a serious or life-threatening disease despite having no or few symptoms. For example, a woman decided to give up her job because she had this fear of ill health. When her manager asked her the reason, she started giving an example of how her father had diabetes and passed away due to a heart attack and she thinks that working in the workplace will make her diabetic and die sooner getting a heart attack.
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Although the woman was healthy, lived a healthy lifestyle, and suffered from no major health issues physically, she had developed a mental illness that cut her communication skills with others. She developed low self-esteem that she will die soon due to a major illness and thus, she quit her job, stayed back at home, and even decided to not do any household chores fearing that she will fall sick if she works day and night. She also decided to not go out as she was afraid that she would fall down and probably get hospitalized for major treatments.
This fear of ill health was actually killing her mind and eating her up from the inside. She ruined all her relationships with others by accusing them of cooking foods that are not suitable for her health. She was also cut off from her friends because they were advising her to come out of her fears and a comfort zone that she had built for herself. Although the attempts by her family and friends failed drastically, eventually a counselor intervened in her life and asked her to step out to see the life of other disadvantaged groups.
When she saw the poor and needy on the streets, and sick patients in the hospital, that’s when she realized that she was healthy and every negative thought about her health was cooked up by her mind to make her live in the fear of ill health. She was given CBT and regular counseling sessions that helped her come out of this health anxiety. She became carefree in the coming days and thus, decided to again take up a job and live a normal life.
