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Body Phobias

Fear of Cancer – Carcinophobia

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Conquering the Fear of Cancer

Do you worry consistently about getting cancer? To the point where it changes your daily life?

Now, we don’t mean eating better and exercising—these are healthy living habits. We mean you will not go out in the sun, wear headphones, use a cell phone, or even be in the same zip code with someone who is smoking.

If you take your fear this far, you may suffer from carcinophobia or the deep fear of cancer.

The first step in conquering your fear is to understand why the fear exists. Once that is achieved, work backwards to remedy the fear. We all have fears, but managing the fear is necessary in order to live a normal life. Read on and learn more.

In its own perverse way, there are few things with a greater potential to unify us in our common humanity than cancer. No matter our myriad of differences, cancer is, like the Grim Reaper, a Great Equalizer before whom we are all equally vulnerable.

There is nothing wrong or irrational about fearing something that can affect any one of us. After all, it’s one of the leading causes of death in the world. What’s more, there is nothing wrong with calling attention to particular conditions, such as prostate or breast cancer. Doing so can naturally evoke a general fear of cancer anxiety or particularized fear of either forms of cancer.

However, you should not allow this fear of death to keep you from living your life. Having an overriding fear of cancer can cause you to become closed off, a condition which can lead to terrible consequences.

So, how can you manage your unrealistic fear of getting cancer with, say, a legitimate fear of cancer, and how can you even know the difference between the two?

Exploring and Explaining Your Fear

First, it’s important to distinguish between this and a general fear of illness, which would be classified as hypochondriasis. If you sit around all day paralyzed with a first-person-fixated “fear of cancer taking my life,” it may not just be cancer that is the problem but a greater clash between your sense of ego and mortality. By contrast, the fear of cancer on its own is known as carcinophobia.

One of the biggest problems with diagnosing this condition, however, is the fact that it is a fear which, as stated above, can take several forms. Take a moment to ask yourself: Where does your fear of having cancer come from?

If the answer is a family history with a specific condition (especially one like breast cancer), your fear may be very well-founded. That isn’t meant to alarm you, but simply to be honest, because the best way to fight phobias is with facts. While breast cancer is possible for those under 40, it is far more common for women above that age range.

RELATED POST – THE FEAR OF DEATH

From the age of 40, women should start to consider mammograms, though whether and to what extent this is necessary is a question you should ask your doctor. That said, early detection is critical, and Cancer.org recommends women 45 to 54 receive mammograms every year, while women 55 and older get them either every two years or maintain their yearly regimen.

In the United States, women have a roughly 1 in 8 chance of contracting some form of breast cancer during their lives, but the mortality rate has dropped dramatically in recent years to 1 in 38, decreasing by 1.3 percent each year between 2013 and 2017 alone.

While a 1 in 8 chance may sound scary—and you should definitely get yourself checked at the appropriate ages or if you experience any warning signs—as Cancer.org points out, this also means there is a 7 in 8 chance you won’t get breast cancer.

As such, perspective and how we frame the condition matters greatly in conquering a fear of cancer. This is true not just for a fear of breast cancer but a fear of any cancer.

Causes and Symptoms

The cause here would seem pretty self-explanatory: Cancer is a naturally scary condition, one to which we are all vulnerable, and so fear is a natural response. However, this can be exacerbated by obsessively researching or fixating on any negative news story regarding the condition. While we may have a strong propensity to identify with a worst-case scenario, as noted by Cancer.org in their 1 in 8 chance versus 7 in 8 chance example, perspective can be a huge causal factor here.

Cancer is already a potential problem. You don’t want the added burden of a crippling phobia.

Potential symptoms of this condition typically fall within the range listed above, namely general anxiety and a fixation on negative facts about the condition.

 

 

As per the Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, additional causes of anxiety regarding cancer can include:

  • A fear of painful treatments for the condition
  • A fear of being abandoned with no one to care for them during their cancer battle
  • A fear of leaving one’s family behind and not being able to care for them if they die
  • A fear of losing one’s hair due to chemotherapy treatments
  • A fear of losing one’s livelihood
  • Mortality

Self-Treatment Options

The extent of your phobia will determine whether you can solve it on your own, or need additional assistance. In the former case, the phobia is best treated as a general anxiety. Combatting it with mindfulness, meditation, deep breathing, and other exercises used to fight anxiety can be helpful.

You may also find it therapeutic to consider writing a journal or otherwise giving yourself a creative outlet. Fixation on the negative can be exacerbated when you have nothing else to do. Busying your mind and giving it something positive to work on can help you limit negative thoughts about cancer.

In addition, keeping a journal or otherwise writing about your feelings about cancer can make it easier to articulate them to others, including mental health professionals who specialize in dealing with the fear of cancer.

Finally, there are countless cancer support groups. These can help you tackle both the fear of cancer as well as the struggle through the illness if you do indeed have it, and recovery from it. One of the worst ways to exacerbate any condition is to feel as though you are alone. Support groups are one of the best resources in crushing that misconception and empowering you to face your fear head on.

Professional Treatment Options

The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders specializes in combating the fear of cancer, and can be reached via their website or hotline at (561) 496-1094.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common form of treatment used for anxiety-related disorders and phobias. It involves rewiring the way your brain thinks about certain concepts by training you to think about them differently. For example, a CBT therapist can help you stop associating cancer with the worst possible scenario and instead contextualize the risk factor as in the Cancer.org example.

Some professional therapists have also taken to using virtual reality, which can help enhance visualization techniques.

According to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, some of the most effective professional and personal means of battling the fear of cancer include:

  • Finding a doctor whom you can trust and who can help put you at ease during the course of your treatment. Doctors who specialize in treating cancer know how difficult this is for patients, and are given special training to help patients cope.
  • Be careful about how much you Google and research. On the one hand, the Internet can be a great tool for collecting important resources from accredited sites such as the ones listed here. On the other hand, shady and unverified sites can peddle misinformation, and this combined with general anxiety heightened by feeding your fears of the worst-case scenario can exacerbate your condition.

Cancer may be a great equalizer for humankind, but it also underlines our shared humanity. Together we can Stand Up to Cancer, and with the help of support groups or mental health and cancer treatment professionals, you can stand up to your fear of the condition and conquer it.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Fear of Cancer

I started having this fear about five years ago, but it is getting worse. Would you believe I am writing this at 3am? I cannot sleep due to my thoughts of cancer. My grandmother and my sister passed away from different types of cancer. I am constantly looking for lumps on my body even as I scratch my head, I feel for bumps.
If I feel any type of bump, I become so worried that I shake all over and my heart races. I am only 15 and scared to tell my mom. She will just tell me I need to focus on happy thoughts and stop this. She won’t understand that I cannot stop thinking about cancer. I am so scared that I will get cancer. I don’t know what to do.

Brandi

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Your Fear Goes Up and Down

Are you someone who would rather climb the stairs than take the elevator? You call it squeezing in a workout after being sedentary the whole morning. Or perhaps you claim it's a faster route. These are both typical, normal, and acceptable reasons. But what if you need to be in the conference room on the eleventh floor in five minutes, and you're wearing your business suit and wingtips? Would you still prefer to take the stairs? If your answer is yes, then maybe it's time to take a closer look at your reasons for avoiding elevators. Elevators stir all sorts of emotions in passengers. From the discomfort of closeness to strangers to the sensations in our gut, elevators can be a source of the heebie-jeebies for many, but for some, they can also be a source of terror. Let's dig a little deeper into the latter, and see what this terror is all about and what can be done to manage it. To begin with, does being inside an elevator give you chills or the sweats? Or does it trigger an unpleasant memory? Perhaps you remember movies you've watched where something terrible happens inside an elevator. From Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, Final Destination 2, or the king of all elevator horror films, 2010’s Devil, the elevator becomes witness to something sinister and horrible. And you want nothing to do with any of it. You know that you're not claustrophobic. You can deal with heights just fine, too. And you know that you're not going to be trapped inside. All of these contribute to a fear of elevators—but they don't apply to you. Yet being inside one does something to you. It's hard to explain.

What is the Fear of Elevators Called?

What you have is a fear of elevators, which is called elevatophobia. It is most commonly triggered by an experience of getting stuck inside either due to a power outage or technical maintenance. Hearing about other people's experiences or watching a movie about similar circumstances can prompt a fear of elevators getting stuck with you inside. Usually, claustrophobics and agoraphobics may also develop elevatophobia because the triggers and objects of these fears are related. Claustrophobia is the fear of closed and cramped spaces, while agoraphobia is the fear of being trapped without any means of escape. Put the two together, and the elevator becomes the perfect combination of both phobias. The space is limited and closed, with only one means of entry and exit. You can add another point of access if you consider climbing the cables like they do in the movies, but that certainly isn't ideal.

Symptoms of Elevatophobia

If for some reason an elevator stops due to an outage or some technical difficulty, passengers with elevatophobia may go into full panic mode. Even if the maintenance team advises that it will just be a matter of minutes, by then, the person's mind has become irrational with the fear of the elevator falling, being stuck for hours, or other unpleasant thoughts. You would expect a person to exhibit the following physical symptoms: Additionally, you would be filled with that overwhelming anxiety where you feel that you have zero control over the situation. You start fearing the unknown and are filled with negative thoughts about death and imminent doom. You become irrational and unresponsive.

Possible Complications of Elevatophobia

When the panic sets in, the possibility of emergencies related to pre-existing conditions may make themselves known. This might include serious health crises like heart attacks or asthma attacks. When this happens, fear becomes a medical emergency. Elevator rides do not last long; it's just a matter of minutes or even less. But the fact that a person can escalate from panic to a near fatal medical situation classifies the fear of elevators as a 'hard phobia.'

Trying Some Self-Help Methods

Your fear of elevators can likely interfere with your social and work life and relationships. Not everyone understands that elevatophobia, like most phobias, can be crippling. But don't be disheartened. Depending on the level of your fear and level of control, you can gradually face and manage your phobia. Here are some recommendations you can try:
  1. Make a List of Everything that Entails Riding in an Elevator This is a systematic approach to getting over your anxiety. By following a step-by-step process, you can identify where the fear kicks in at its strongest. You can write a list of steps like pressing the topmost button and waiting to arrive on that floor, watching as the door closes and opens, being alone inside the elevator, or having delays with the doors opening. Now try doing the opposite. For example, face away from the door or occupy yourself with your phone so that you are distracted.
  2. Create Your Fear Ladder Although the name says fear of elevators, it is not the whole process that scares you. There are just phases and parts of the elevator riding experience that cause you to panic. So go back to the list you initially created and label the fear level you feel. You can do it numerically, too, like ten being 'really scary,' six, 'manageable scary,' and one, 'not scary at all.' You can put the corresponding fear levels so you can focus more time and effort into activities that are more scary to you.
  3. Face Your Fear By now, you have identified what scares you the most. You can try repetitive action to minimize your fear and increase your sense of ‘normalcy’. Remember that the longer you expose yourself to your fear, the better you get at handling your emotions. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stop. Pushing yourself too fast and too soon can backfire. Modify your pace and go slower instead.
  4. Talk About Your Fear People by nature, unfortunately, are not quick to offer understanding and support. You need to tell them what's wrong before they can empathize. Talk to someone who you trust and ask for their support, especially in the initial phase of overcoming your fear. If you are too afraid to ride the elevator alone, you can ask them to go with you, and before you realize it, you are on your floor, and there was no indication of panic.
  5. Learn To Be Patient Be patient with yourself and your predicament. This is, after all, your fight against fear. It might take hundreds of elevator ride practices before the fear gets under control. Even then, there might be some hesitations and episodes of nervousness. These are acceptable and expected, so cut yourself some slack and congratulate yourself for every progress.

Seeking Professional Help

Along with self-help, you can always enlist a medical professional's aid to support you with your elevatophobia. Talking to someone who has experience with similar cases can be comforting, because you know that you are not alone, and this situation can get better. Talk to your doctor about the severity of your fears and the symptoms that you experience. Explain how you deal with it in an attempt to control it. An exam and a health history are made to ensure that there are no unrelated or underlying problems that your symptoms might mask. Usually, phobias like this are approached with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Your doctor will talk about these options with you, and it's entirely up to you, with your doctor's recommendation, what you want to pursue. For psychotherapy, the most common type is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help you find different ways of behaving, thinking, and reacting when about to step inside an elevator or when already inside it. With medications, there are beta blockers and benzodiazepines, but note that these can have side effects. Whatever these side effects are, you should promptly share it with your doctor.

Simple Tips to Overcome Elevatophobia

Elevators are not perfect, but their likelihood to malfunction, fall, or get stuck is very low. If you are not fully confident with this information, you can help overcome your elevatophobia by learning common elevator safety tips and basic elevator operations. These should help curb your mild fear until you become more self-assured. In addition to that, here are some of the things that you can do to gradually overcome your fear of elevators—both in getting on and riding one.

Conclusion

Yes, elevatophobia can be a challenge in today's world, but don't allow the elevator to win. Don't let it stop you from taking a job on the top floor or attending a social gathering on the rooftop. Sure, you can take the stairs if you insist and arrive winded and sweaty, with the party about to wrap up. But is this the quality of life you seek? Elevators are designed to make life easier. There are guaranteed ways to help you overcome elevatophobia. Take the first step and seek help. Soon, you’ll see yourself breezing through the floors with those arduous stair climbs little more than a memory.
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