Why I am afraid of the hospital

by 105 student

Yesterday, after being told by health services that I would have to go to the emergency room due to an allergic reaction, I immediately started to get nervous and cry and I started to have a panic attack. I could see that my heart rate was drastically increasing because I was hooked up to a monitor at the time. As someone who suffers from Panic Disorder, having panic attacks are not that uncommon. However, due to the fact that I take klonopin to prevent panic attacks, I was surprised by how quickly the onset of my panic attack was at the mere mention of a hospital. It was as though the idea of a hospital was a trigger.

Once I got home, I decided to research what had caused my panic attack. It turns out that there is a specific phobia called Nosocomephobia which is a fear of hospitals. It is a specific phobia, which is particularly difficult given that one would already be upset about their illness or injury which is causing them to go to the hospital in the first place. Nosocomephobia can induce panic attacks which, include symptoms such as shortness of breath, a pounding heart, dizziness, nausea, a feeling of being disconnected from the world and from oneself, and generally a dread that one is losing control and is going to die. [For more about panic attacks, see the post Be afraid, be very afraid.]

While researching I came across the point that most likely, the fear of hospitals is actually a protective mechanism for the individual because of some traumatic event in ones past that involved a hospital. I then realized that, ironically, the last time I had been hospitalized was for my most intense panic attack! At that time, I had no idea what was wrong with me and no doctor had even entertained the idea that what I had was panic disorder. They had assumed that I was feeling these symptoms because of low blood sugar and stress. Clearly, not knowing what was going on with me caused even more anxiety, as one of the main problems for people who suffer from panic disorder is a general need to feel in control, though not necessarily to actually be in control.

I’ve concluded that the panic attack I experienced yesterday was most likely due to nosocomephobia. I associate hospitals with panic attacks, and for people with panic disorder, it is quite often the fear of having a panic attack that will actually cause a panic attack. My fear of hospitals, while it may seem counterproductive, is actually my body trying to avoid a negative situation. It is as if it is saying, “I’ll attach a fear to hospitals in order to steer clear of bad situations and to be safe.”

For me, I believe that I can overcome my fear of hospitals by continuing to take klonopin and to address this issue with my psychiatrist. Many people are prescribed benzodiazepines such as klonopin for their specific phobias. However, there is a variety of other treatment options for those who suffer from nosocomephobia. One such treatment is Systematic Desensitization. Patients are desensitized to their specific fear through the use of virtual reality or imagery exercises. Another treatment is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This also involves a gradual desensitization to one’s fear. In this type of therapy, the patient learns to understand his or her pattern of negative thoughts, and ways to break this cycle. A third option is Hypnotherapy. Hynotherapy tries to reprogram the parts of your subconscious associated with your fear. Hypnotherapy is part of study or practice known as Neuro-Linguistic Practice, or NLP. It is the study of how we create our reality, and holds the viewpoint that a phobia is the result of malfunctioning “programs” that you have created in your brain. NLP finds and “re-programs” these constructs. Through hypnotherapy and NLP, Nosocomephobia can often be greatly reduced or even eliminated.

Social Anxiety Disorder and Substance Abuse

by Katherine Sherman

Social Anxiety Disorder can be an ambiguous diagnosis—what separates someone who is naturally shy and withdrawn from someone with a full-blown anxiety disorder? As researchers and clinicians note, it can be difficult to tell the two apart. Especially among teenagers, symptoms are often dismissed as “normal,” which can lead to misdiagnosis or no diagnosis at all, leaving many young adults completely untreated.
The symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder often appear to describe your typical shy, timid teen—hesitance to engage with others, fear of public speaking, spending a lot of time alone, being soft-spoken, or perhaps having a preoccupation with how others will view you. The key difference, however, is that these behaviors and fears are acute and persistent. If forced to speak in public, for example, a person with SAD may experience sweating, shortness of breath, intense fear, or even chest pains, much like if they were experiencing a panic attack.

What Dr. Schmidt and his colleagues at Florida State University have been studying is how having Social Anxiety Disorder as a teen affects the likelihood of substance abuse in the future. In a study that tracked 1,700 high school students with different types of disorders, researchers found a significant correlation between having SAD as a teen and developing alcohol or marijuana dependence by age 30. This may seem unsurprising, but it turns out that these results are actually quite unique: Although the study also tried to find a correlation between substance abuse and other anxiety or mood disorders, no such link could be found. Those of us who are still teenagers may be best able to understand these statistics—it makes sense that having an anxiety disorder as a young adult must be uniquely challenging, and might lead to significant problems with substance abuse in the future. As Dr.Schmidt’s team proposed, with better screening for this disorder in adolescents, therapists may be able to provide better treatment, and hopefully, prevent future addiction problems.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

by Isabel Vondermuhll

New technologies are enabling researchers and scientists to learn more about the biological, psychological, and social factors that influence the development of an anxiety disorder. With a better understanding of underlying causes, better treatment and even prevention measures will be possible. Panic disorders are more than just being nervous for a test. When a person has a panic attack, they can literally think they are dying, even though they know that their thoughts are irrational. Panic attacks are so terrifying that mostly, people with panic disorder are constantly panicking not because they are having panic attacks, but because they live in a state of fear of an impending panic attack. In between panic attacks, the person worries excessively about when and where then next attack may occur. Panic attacks are includes symptoms such as:

• Pounding heart
• Chest pain
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking
• Sensation of choking
• Nausea or abdominal pain
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Feeling unreal or disconnected from oneself
• Fear of losing control
• Fear of “going crazy” or dying
• Numbness
• Chills or hot flashes
• Physical symptoms that mimic a heart attack

Luckily, scientists have come up with a wide array of very effective medicines to help those with panic disorder cope with these symptoms. The class of drugs which are most helpful for panic disorder are called Benzodiazepines. “Benzos,” for short, are a kind of tranquilizers with hypnotic, anticonvulsant, sedative, muscle relaxant and amnesic properties. The most common benzodiazepines are Xanax, Klonopin, Valium and Ativan. They differ in how quickly they come into full effect and how long they last.