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Phobias A-Z: Cancerophobia or Carcinophobia

« H E » email
posted Sunday, 1 January 2006


Cancerophobia or Carcinophobia - An abnormal and persistent fear of cancer

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1. golightlymuse left...
Tuesday, 8 August 2006 9:58 pm

I have a client who has a fear about getting cancer and dying from it. He was once a smoker, but quit many years ago. He comes from a family in which he wasn't able to develop his own sense about himself. The family was insistent about maintaining an image of the "all American family". His father was cruel to him, his mother overly enmeshed. Are these issues contributing factors to a phobia and anxiety about getting cancer?


2. Anxiety Insights left...
Tuesday, 8 August 2006 11:01 pm

I'm not a doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist, and more importantly I'm not your client's doctor,psychologist or psychiatrist so I can't comment on his specific circumstances.

But there is an ever growing exceptance that much of who and what we become is moulded early in life, including even in the womb so the things you decribe undoubtedly had an effect.

However, knowing this probably won't help your client. Raking over the past and "coming to terms with it" may make people feel better about themselves, but the problems tend to continue. Cognitive and/or behavioural therapies have proven more successful.

As a lung cancer survivor - I had surgery in January to remove the upper left lobe - I do have some imformation which may help your client.

First the bad news, despite huge advances with other cancers, the odds of surviving lung cancer are still very low - less than 15% are still alive 5 years after diagnosis.

The main reason is that there are few, if any symptoms until its well advanced.

The odds increase dramatically if its detected early.

Most lung cancers are slow growing, mine was less then 15mm/0.5" dia. and probably had been growing for 2 years or more. So regular x-rays every few years should detect the majority at a stage when the outcome is still excellent.

Being reasonably fit also helps.

There have also been a few recent breakthroughts that should see the odss of surviving these cancers greatly increase.