Cancerophobia more dangerous than cancer

It is said that cancer is a scourge of developing societies. This is not entirely true. There is another disease entity that is taking the world by storm – the fear of cancer itself, or carcinophobia. Interestingly, in some cases it is as dangerous as real cancer.

1. Global cancer rates are staggering. After a large study in 2013, specialists published a report on the number of cancer cases.
2. They considered 188 countries around the world as not all of them agreed to share the information. It turns out that in the audited year, nearly 15 million new cases and 8,2 million deaths were registered. Lung, stomach and liver cancer kills us most often
3. Moreover, these numbers are increasing every year. Does this mean that we are getting more and more sick? On the contrary. The bars are getting bigger as people’s life expectancy is increasing, and as a result, more and more elderly people suffer from the disease, who, a few decades ago, would not even reach the age when they are particularly susceptible to cancer. Researchers emphasize that when this factor is taken into account, the number of cancer and mortality in each age group decreases.

The innocent symptoms of tumors

However, this does not convince many people. Information about the frequency of cancer affects people’s subconscious mind and deeply fears it. Cherished by media reports, it sprouts willingly and spreads like couch grass, quickly preventing normal functioning and turning into a classic carcinophobia.

Obsession as old as the world

Panic fear of catching a particular disease is nothing new. In medicine, such fear is called nosophobia, and carcinophobia is one of its subtypes. Fear in society is obviously shaped by the epidemics that happen to plague them. At the end of the last century, it was the fear of AIDS or cardiovascular diseases. Even before that, the main concern was tuberculosis and venereal diseases, especially syphilis.

Now is the time to fear cancer. In addition to carcinophobia, bacteriophobia, from which detective Monk suffered, and misophobia – fear of contamination in various forms, such as smog, are also very popular.

The media plays a large role in driving the spiral of fear. Interestingly, social campaigns to encourage us to preventive measures have an impact on us much more than statistics. When Angelina Jolie underwent preventive mastectomy, laboratories actually saw some increased interest in genetic testing for mutations that promote cancer. Usually, however, the effect is quite the opposite. Cancer awareness campaigns are perceived in the mass consciousness as threatening.

Two faces of fear

More and more people are afraid of cancer, so it seems logical that we should see a doctor more and more often. An image of a typical hypochondriac appears in the head automatically, who goes to the dermatologist to examine all suspicious moles in one week, the next time he tries to force the doctor to refer him for a CT scan because of suspicious headaches, and then he treats the pain in the leg after too strenuous training as a harbinger of bone cancer . Patients with carcinophobia tend to doubt the results of the research. They spend hours online linking their plague symptoms to a potential cancer. They sleep badly, lose their appetite, and are nervous.

On the Internet you can find dozens of threads on forums where patients exchange experiences and seek mutual support. Interestingly, when reading their statements, it is clear that most of them are aware that fear is exaggerated, but are unable to fight it.

However, this is only one side of the coin. Much more often, anxiety paralyzes and makes people suffering from cancerophobia… not get tested at all.

Disease prevention in Poland is generally low. Despite the fact that most of us declare that health is the greatest value in life, we do not test ourselves. The problem is especially big with men. The word cancer only acts as an additional blockage here. Almost everyone knows the story of the person who saw the doctor, and the cancer was so advanced that treatment did not bring any results. The association is simple – he went to the doctor and later died. Few, however, think about the fact that very often in such cases patients report when the symptoms are already so severe that they do not allow them to function normally. Routine screening once a year could help reduce the number of these cases.

This type of cancerophobia is much more difficult to spot, it is less spectacular, but for obvious reasons much more dangerous. It can make the body develop for years when a mutation actually occurs.

Don’t think about cancer because… you will get cancer

We know more and more not only about genetic mechanisms or environmental factors that favor carcinogenesis, but also about the role of our consciousness in this. Research on effects such as placebo and nocebo clearly show that the strength of our self is strong enough to heal or, on the contrary, worsen our health. Psychologists warn that carcinophobia, like any severe fear, should be controlled with therapy. Untreated, it is associated with chronic stress, which not only adversely affects our psyche, but can also cause irreversible changes in the body.

It’s not such a terrible cancer

Instead of cultivating fear, it is worth realizing that our health rests largely in our hands. Health, diet and physical activity are one thing, but most of all – let’s test ourselves. How much early diagnosis can do is clearly seen on the example of colon cancer. This cancer takes years to develop asymptomatically. In its early stages, it can be easily detected by colonoscopy. Minor lesions are easily removed and cancer development is often completely stopped as a result. Colonoscopy is unfortunately considered an embarrassing examination, which means that Poles find out about colorectal cancer when the tumor is large enough to give strong symptoms.

Let’s do our best not to confirm the misconception and not be the next person who went to the doctor but it was too late to do anything.