Hotline: Speedophobia – what is it and how to deal with it

Speedophobia is an obsessive fear of becoming infected with the HIV virus. A person looks out for symptoms of AIDS in every possible way, associates the slightest deterioration in health with immunodeficiency, often takes tests for HIV and, if the results are negative, retakes the test again. Such an anxious state interferes with a full life; a person becomes fixated on an imaginary illness and the fear of HIV comes to the fore, depriving him of mood, restful sleep, and sometimes even mental health.

Problems and recovery from speedophobia

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Speedophobia is an obsessive fear of becoming infected with the HIV virus.

A person looks out for symptoms of AIDS in every possible way, associates the slightest deterioration in health with immunodeficiency, often takes tests for HIV and, if the results are negative, retakes the test again.

Such an anxious state interferes with a full life; a person becomes fixated on an imaginary illness and the fear of HIV comes to the fore, depriving him of mood, restful sleep, and sometimes even mental health.

Causes of fear of AIDS

Speedophobia is a type of hypochondriacal syndrome - constant worry about one’s health and the identification of all kinds of non-existent pathologies.

The syndrome is typical for suspicious and anxious people, susceptible to the slightest irritants, excitable and impulsive, especially if one of their relatives and friends is sick.

In modern medicine, hypochondria refers to reversible mental disorders, accompanied by changes in the functioning of somatic mechanisms. That is, there are no organic disorders, the cause of the disorder is feelings and emotions.

For a hypochondriac to develop speedophobia, it is enough to hear about the incurability of HIV and, for example, the first symptoms of the disease. In addition, there are many similar reasons for fear of AIDS:

• stereotype about the doom of HIV patients to suffering and quick death;
• a widespread prejudice that there is no cure for HIV;
• a large number of myths and fictions regarding AIDS;
• illiteracy and poor awareness of the population about the methods of transmission and prevention of HIV;
• exaggerated and distorted statistical data (HIV incidence, AIDS mortality);
• unreliable information from the media and the Internet about new methods of infection, a general epidemic, the creation of new strains of HIV in the laboratory and other fabrications of journalists that people with speedophobia perceive as truth;
• nonspecific signs of immunodeficiency - any cold or allergic rash is perceived as a manifestation of AIDS;
• incorrect work of doctors and lack of educational work;
• social aspect - discrimination against HIV patients and negative labeling - only drug addicts, homeless people and people who are promiscuous are affected;
• negative experience - someone close to you had HIV or died of AIDS.

Symptoms of speedophobia

A person with speedophobia is usually so sure that he has HIV that negative test results from one medical institution are not quoted. And the patient donates blood for HIV in each hospital in turn.

When hospitals at their place of residence run out, such people go to other cities and try to finally find a medical institution where the test will still be positive.

In addition to tests, speedophobia forces imaginary patients to undergo numerous expensive procedures, look for a competent doctor and undergo endless examinations to make a known diagnosis.

To justify their actions, patients with speedophobia invent unique cases: their test results are falsified; doctors don’t tell them the diagnosis so as not to upset them; their HIV is a new variety that they have not yet learned to detect.

People become obsessed with the thought of the disease, stop communicating with relatives (suddenly they were the ones who infected them), eventually stop going to doctors (after all, they are all unprofessional since they cannot detect HIV), look for symptoms and get information from the Internet, trying to prove to themselves the certainty of infection.

Speedophobia is a mental disorder; naturally, in addition to the fear of HIV, a person develops symptoms of mental disorders:

• depression, anxiety, irritability, inability to relax, aggressiveness;
• feeling of tension and stiffness;
• inability to concentrate, decreased ability to work, fatigue;
• sleep disturbance, loss of appetite;
• memory impairment.

Against the background of such symptoms, a deterioration in physical health is possible and a person with an imaginary pathology actually becomes sick - headaches, digestive disorders, malfunctions of the cardiovascular system.

How to get rid of AIDSphobia

Speedophobia is a disease and it certainly requires treatment. A person will not be able to cope with the problem on his own, and without treatment the prognosis is disappointing - the patient may, due to obsessive fears, lose his mind or acquire a more severe mental disorder.

Drug treatment

Drug therapy for speedophobia depends on the severity of the disorder and the general condition of the patient. Antidepressants, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and psychostimulants are mainly prescribed. Treatment must be comprehensive; it is important to convince the person of the need to take medications and make them believe in their healing properties.

Psychotherapy

To treat speedophobia in 100% of cases, taking medications is not enough - such patients first of all need a competent psychotherapist. Only conversations, suggestion and a detailed analysis of the problem will help to cope with fears and find out the cause of fear.

If you simply prescribe medication, a patient with speedophobia will most likely decide that medications for HIV are prescribed and will only become convinced of his fears. At the initial manifestations of the disorder, a couple of psychotherapy sessions are enough for complete recovery.

But in advanced cases, treatment can drag on for many months and it is quite possible that inpatient observation in a psychoneurological institution will be required.

Problems and getting rid of speedophobia Link to main publication

Source: https://aids24.ru/life-with-aids/problemy-spidofobii

Will the doctor help?

The phobia of HIV infection, like any phobia, is a mental disorder, namely obsessive-compulsive, when a person is tormented by frightening thoughts and obsessions.

If self-help does not work, all the exhortations, breathing techniques and hypnosis still do not remove the veil from your mind, you need to resort to medical help.

Most people are not able to get rid of their fear on their own. A psychotherapist may be able to offer medication, behavioral therapy, or a combination of both.

On tablets

Medicines may help control anxiety and panic attacks that occur when thinking about immunodeficiency syndrome.

• Beta blockers
  . These drugs work by blocking the effects of adrenaline in the body. The use of beta blockers may be effective in reducing symptoms before an upcoming traumatic event. For example, before going to the hospital where you will have a blood test.
• Antidepressants
  . Most often they are used in the treatment of phobias. Antidepressants don't work right away. It takes 2-4 weeks before their effects accumulate and anxiety symptoms begin to subside.
• Sedatives
  . These medications will help you relax and relieve anxiety. It is important to use with caution - they can be addictive. You should avoid taking them if you have an alcohol or drug addiction.

Psychotherapy

Talking to a trained mental health professional can help you cope with AIDSphobia.

Contact therapy focuses on changing the response to HIV or the situation associated with it. Gradual, repeated exposure to the cause of the phobia will help teach the person to tame their anxiety.

Cognitive behavioral therapy involves interaction with other methods. Alternative ideas about the fear of infection with the immunodeficiency virus are being discovered. The impact it has on the patient's life is analyzed. Particular attention is focused on teaching a person to control the situation and manage his thoughts and feelings.

AIDSphobia (fear of getting infected): symptoms like HIV, how to fight

Among the wide list of phobic diseases, one cannot help but recall speedophobia. It ranks far from the last in the number of diseases among people around the world.

This disease manifests itself quite simply. A healthy person is convinced that he is infected with a venereal disease or will become infected with it in the near future.

Such phobias arise against a background of instability of the nervous system and often cause severe stress.

Experts say that this disease is a type of hypochondria. As a rule, such diseases occur in those people who are too sensitive to the problems that surround a person every day.

Reasons for development

Fear of various diseases is a problem that has plagued humanity for many centuries. The fear of AIDS causes obsessive behavior that prevents a person from working normally and living in general.

Sometimes this fear is harmful to health, which also causes a significant shock to the body. Thus, a patient with speedophobia feels constant fear and anxiety, because...

fixes his consciousness on the only disease that often infects those around him.

Such fear can be caused not only by HIV infection. Often fear is caused by low-quality tumors, which are popularly called cancer.

The fear of getting AIDS arose because this disease is ideal for human development. First of all, we are talking about illiteracy of the population.

Over the long period of existence of the disease, people have created quite a large number of myths and absurd legends about the ease of infection, the problematic course and the impossibility of curing AIDS.

Any person can find at least several symptoms of the disease, because they are very simple and include:

• enlarged lymph nodes;
• fatigue;
• cold symptoms;
• sudden weight loss, etc.

This causes fear of contracting HIV even when there was absolutely no possibility for this process. And the absence of obvious signs of the disease further aggravates the already existing problem.

At a subconscious level, a person who has recently lost a relative or friend due to this disease can become infected with speedophobia. Then the patient begins to screw himself up, attribute everything to genetics and very close contact, as a result of which such a phobia develops.

Not only the person who usually monitors his health and does not engage in dubious sexual contacts with unfamiliar people is afraid of sexually transmitted diseases, but also those who have had something similar happen. All of the above factors influence the speed of development of the disease and its widespread distribution throughout the world.

Symptoms

Speedophobes are overly concerned about the possibility of contracting the immunodeficiency virus. It is impossible to get rid of this either with negative test results, or with the help of a specialist’s opinion, etc. Not a single argument can rid a person of the thought that he will soon become another victim of the disease. This does not mean that this patient is completely healthy.

He suffers from another disease, and they tell him so. Usually such a person does not believe in the existence of other problems and is focused on AIDS.

He constantly tries to confirm his guesses, he is afraid that they will be confirmed.

Symptoms of speedophobia can be very different. However, there are some of them that can determine whether you are really someone who is afraid of contracting HIV.

1. A speedophobe is never left with the certainty that he is either sick or very soon will become one of those who needs treatment.
2. The speedophobe attributes any symptoms caused by other health problems to AIDS. Even a few test results cannot convince the patient that he has nothing to fear.
3. Even if a world-famous specialist begins to talk with the patient and explain that there is no danger for him. The speedophobe will never believe him and will continue to think that he is either sick or will become infected in the near future.
4. A patient with such a diagnosis is sure that he is sick, and the test results are simply falsified. Such a person attributes everything to the unprofessionalism of the workers who collected the tests or malfunctions of the equipment.
5. Many speedophobes claim that they are sick with some special form of the disease, which is almost impossible to determine even for professionals.
6. Each such person spends a lot of effort, nerves and money on repeatedly taking tests, undergoing additional diagnostics, examinations, etc.
7. Such patients significantly reduce the time they spend communicating with their relatives, because they are afraid that close people are the source of the disease and can easily infect them. Every day, speedophobes devote more and more time to reading articles about HIV and AIDS. There they try to find the “key” to confirm that they are carriers of the virus.

All of the above symptoms indicate that the person really is a speedophobe, and he urgently needs to get rid of this problem.

Treatment

Dealing with speedophobia is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. This is a treatable psychological pathology that makes it impossible to die.

As a rule, all such patients are divided into 2 types.

1. The first of them is very afraid of contracting AIDS and is afraid to even think about getting tested.
2. The second form of patients is 100 percent sure that they are infected, and no test results can reliably show true results.

In the first case, the doctor must convince the patient of the need to undergo tests. A person must step over his fears and finally find out whether he is sick or not. With all this, it is better to take an express test so that the fear goes away in a matter of minutes, and you do not have to wait several days.

In the second case, you cannot do without a competent doctor. This is an advanced stage of a phobia, which is very difficult to get rid of.

In this case, experts recommend contacting a psychiatrist. No psychotherapist or psychologist can help in treating such a strong phobia. With all this, one should be aware that psychiatrists treat not only those who have gone crazy, otherwise there may also be a fear that the patient has gone crazy.

Conclusion

Treatment of venerephobia is an optional attribute to get rid of such fear. Sometimes it goes away on its own. The person calms down, begins to do something interesting and simply forgets about his potential problem, which he himself invented. But if this does not help, you need to contact a specialist who will prescribe antidepressants and convince you that there is no problem.

Source: https://psyhoday.ru/strahi-fobii/spidofobiya-simptomy-1.html

Speedophobia: how to get rid of the fear of contracting HIV?

Hello, dear readers of the site! Speedophobia is a panicky irrational fear of contracting HIV. In principle, fear of this infection is a completely normal and natural human reaction.

We are talking about a phobia when anxiety about one’s health literally goes off scale.

That is, the person does not believe the negative test results and is convinced that he is terminally ill. This is why he loses his peace and sometimes his sanity.

Today we will try to figure out exactly what reasons provoke the occurrence of speedophobia, as well as how to get rid of it.

What does it represent?

As already mentioned, speedophobes are confident that they are carriers of HIV infection. And if not yet, then in the near future they will definitely become infected from someone. And, accordingly, they will die a painful death.

They spend countless amounts of money on testing. The negative results of which do not satisfy them at all.

Why do they demand to take their blood again, change clinics and specialists. And with every slight cold they run to the doctor to get checked.

In fact, this is a serious disorder that has a strong impact on a person’s social life, his financial situation and even his health.

For example, he can completely exclude sex from his life, since there is a high probability of becoming infected during sexual intercourse. Accordingly, he does not start new relationships, or breaks off existing ones, if there were any.

Despite the fact that he is a frequent patient of diagnostic laboratories, he may refuse treatment, especially if it involves surgical intervention.

Since it is during the operation or during a blood transfusion that there is a chance of infection.

Unfortunately, this happens, although extremely rarely. But 1 case out of 1000 is enough for a phobe to get scared and risk his life by refusing such radical treatment.

In severe cases of the disorder, people stop leaving the house and eating certain foods. Because there are myths that, for example, HIV is injected into bananas with a needle.

It’s dangerous for them on the street, because it’s unclear how many AIDS patients are around, what if at least one of them turns up nearby.

Walking at night is also not an option. Since there is a version that the infected deliberately leave infected needles in public places so that people accidentally stumble upon them and get sick.

Behavioral

• Constantly feeling themselves for the presence of enlarged lymph nodes is one of the signs that a person is progressing with AIDS.
• With a slight cough, the alarm is raised, since it is also one of the symptoms of the presence of a terrible disease. And if the cough is intense, then they experience such serious horror that they are unable to lead their usual lifestyle, sleep and eat.
• If they find out that there are people around them who test positive for HIV, they will avoid meeting him, despite how significant, beloved, and dear he is. Nothing will make a phobe even stand next to him. Despite the fact that the infection is not transmitted through hugs, it is transmitted through airborne droplets. The very thought that this person is sick provokes panic. And no rational arguments will help calm him down.
• Specialized literature is carefully studied. Therefore, any debate with them on the topic of AIDS is completely useless; they are well-read and argue their opinions based on scientific facts, stories from the lives of other people, and so on. That is, you will claim that if you touch an infected person, nothing bad will happen - in response, he will tell you several cases when this turned out to be real.
• In some cases, the opposite situation is observed when the phobe flatly refuses to undergo examination, because he is afraid to find out about the positive test result. He does not visit hospitals in principle, which is why he risks his health and life. It is especially dangerous if he is the guardian of a minor child. Since he will not receive full treatment in the event of even a common cold.

Somatic

• Insomnia occurs against the background of anxiety. There may be nightmares in which the phobe actually becomes infected and dies.
• There are changes in appetite. Some lose it completely, while others, on the contrary, absorb everything they see without experiencing saturation. This is how they try to cope with anxiety.
• During panic attacks, a person feels as if he is suffocating. His heart rate increases, his blood pressure rises and pain appears in the chest area. Consciousness at such a moment becomes tunnel-like. That is, there is only one thought in my head that he is dying and it is necessary to urgently find a way out of the situation in order to be saved.
• Sometimes there is hysteria with loud crying and screams. Nausea, vomiting, limb tremors, diarrhea and loss of consciousness.
• Increased sweating, despite the room temperature.
• Due to anxiety, a person suffers from headaches, skin rashes, fever, chronic fatigue and drowsiness.

Psychological trauma

Speedophobia can begin to develop if someone around you has become infected with this infection. And, even more so, if you had to watch him slowly fade away, die painfully. Moreover, if he lived or lives in the same apartment.

It happens that one of the family members categorically does not accept someone who is sick and tries to cope with his fear, turning others against him so that he moves out and does not endanger the lives of loved ones.

And those who are not sufficiently aware of the real ways of transmitting AIDS can really panic.

Children can be told about terrible symptoms if they come even within a meter of such a person. This naturally causes horror and provokes a phobia.

And it happens that a suppressed feeling of guilt, for example, for treason, manifests itself in the form of obsessive thoughts that the test results will now be positive.

In this way, a person unknowingly punishes himself, tormenting him with anxiety and insomnia. Or he worries that the family partner will not find out about this betrayal and the relationship with him will not collapse, since it is very valuable.

And hiding traces of unprotected sexual intercourse is not so easy if someone was unhealthy.

That is, the person believes that there will definitely be retribution for immoral behavior. Moreover, if she is part of a risk group (uses drugs, often changes partners, uses sex services, and so on).

Personality traits

People prone to hypochondria, that is, who are afraid of getting sick and are always looking for symptoms of dangerous diseases, may well have speedophobia.

They attach importance to the slightest changes in well-being. For example, if their throat hurts a little, they panic because they attribute their illness to the fact that they have contracted HIV infection. The idea that this is a common cold is not at all interesting, so it does not arise.

Under systematic stress, which a person simply does not have time to cope with, his psyche weakens and fails due to the fact that it cannot withstand the stress.

Directly speedophobia - if, for example, at that moment he learned that someone fell ill with this disease, or even died from it.

Or doctors mistakenly diagnosed him with an infection. And while the repeated results came, he acquired a phobic disorder from anxiety.

Recommendations

• Practice relaxation techniques to relieve stress and anxiety. Meditation will allow you to gain a sense of inner harmony. And at least for some time they allow the nervous system to rest and recover.
• Create. Creativity helps with intense experiences. Let it be drawing, singing or dancing. Be sure to release the energy that is inside you, then there will be no “stagnation”, and, accordingly, frustration. For example, in psychotherapy, a fairly effective method is when a person draws an image of his fear, then destroys it, tearing it, crumpling it.
• If you devote all your free time to studying materials about AIDS, then try to occupy yourself with something else during these periods. Join a gym, go on a trip, find a hobby that brings you pleasure. And be sure to do something every day that will make you smile. If you have forgotten what brings happiness and what you like, be sure to remember and explore.
• If you feel unwell or in pain, refrain from using Google to diagnose your condition. Be sure to make an appointment with a doctor you trust.

Completion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! There are a huge number of phobias in the world, ranging from the fear of flowers, bald people and ending with the fear of death, which is quite familiar to almost everyone.

If you are interested in finding out what each of them is called, as well as why they arise, then subscribe to site updates.

Almost every day a new article appears that will help you spend your time usefully, develop your horizons and satisfy your curiosity.

Take care of yourself and be happy!

The material was prepared by psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Alina Zhuravina

Source: https://Qvilon.ru/fobii-s-strahi/spidofobiya.html

Why does pathology develop against the background of hypochondria?

Hypochondria is a condition in which a person constantly worries about his or her health. Often such beliefs are so strong that real health problems begin. HIV is an excellent basis for the development of a phobia. Why?

The fact is that this state has its own characteristics of the flow.

1. Hypochondriacs are loaded with a huge number of prejudices and fears that have no rational basis. AIDS is the scourge of our time. But, nevertheless, society exaggerates its magnitude, and this is not to mention the fact that panic gives rise to misconceptions regarding how this infection is transmitted. Although a lot has been said about this: the disease is transmitted sexually (through unprotected intercourse) and through blood (through injections, blood transfusions, in utero from mother to fetus);
2. To identify AIDS, it is necessary to undergo a test, since the symptoms of this disease do not have any clear differences. With enlarged lymph nodes, chronic fatigue, skin rashes and even a cold, a hypochondriac may begin to sound the alarm. Particular panic begins after such a person has unprotected sex;
3. Speedophobia causes neurosis if a person commits unethical and immoral acts - cheats, leads a riotous lifestyle, has promiscuous sexual relations, etc.

All these points can provoke fears of contracting AIDS to develop into a phobia.

How to determine speedophobia in a person?

In fact, this form of the disorder can lead to serious complications as it progresses. If someone in the family gets sick with speedophobia, then relatives should be able to recognize it in time in order to provide timely help.

The patient may experience the following symptoms:

• any manifestation of illness, even a cold, is perceived as the beginning of the development of HIV infection;
• a hypochondriac donates his blood for testing more than once every 6 months, and regardless of the test result (even if it is negative), he continues to do this from year to year;
• It is very difficult to explain to a patient about the veracity of the tests - he considers them faulty or claims that the doctors who took his analysis are poorly qualified;
• with each negative test, a person becomes more confident that he is sick with a hitherto unknown form of HIV infection, which standard tests are unable to detect;
• he is not satisfied with ordinary tests, he begins to visit laboratories of a more narrow focus;
• the patient knows by heart all the helplines dedicated to this topic, while his computer is completely filled with information about AIDS.

If relatives or friends notice that the person next to them begins to actively pay attention to their health in terms of HIV, then it is quite possible that he has speedophobia. Here it is important to be able to help the patient, since a phobia can develop into paranoia, which only a psychiatrist can get rid of.

How dangerous is speedophobia?

This disorder has no gender differences, so it occurs equally among both women and men. According to statistics, the most “impressionable” age is 20-30 years old. One of the main symptoms of speedophobia is constant fear and fear for one’s life.

In addition, neurosis develops from constant stress; this disorder is accompanied by several other negative aspects.

1. Ruin. Since the patient does not believe any analysis, he spends enormous amounts of money on other studies, expecting them to confirm his fears. In addition, their home medicine cabinet is full of unnecessary and expensive medications that “doctors” can prescribe for them. For example, if a person has “pain” in his joints, he can take medications aimed at curing osteochondrosis or other joint disease;
2. Nervousness. Symptoms of any disease are perceived as signs of AIDS. Ultimately, constant stress leads to disruption of the body's functioning. Such a patient has disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, and suffers from headaches. All this is perceived as HIV infection;
3. Bad relationship. With his mania, such a person bothers people close to him. First of all, he constantly complains and worries. Secondly, there is significant spending on the family budget.

If a person is very impressionable, then he may even begin to show invented symptoms of speedophobia, for example, joint pain. The immune system gradually begins to weaken due to constant stress, so any disease is simply drawn to such a speedophobe. And again, any weakness is perceived as a manifestation of a fatal illness.

Although there are advantages to be found in such a situation, they are minimal compared to the damage that the patient causes to his physical and mental state. Such anxiety pushes the patient to constantly control his lifestyle. He always eats only the right foods and constantly visits the doctor.

Is it possible to help a speedophobe recover?

In fact, if you pay attention to the disorder in time, you can recover from it. In some cases, after seeing another negative test, a person himself understands that he is completely healthy. But in a different scenario, treatment will have to be carried out only using modern medicine.

Before helping a loved one get rid of speedophobia, doctors should consult with a specialist psychologist. Here it is important to try to force the patient to visit such a doctor, because he is firmly convinced that his problem is completely different. But it is precisely in such classes that you can meet other speedophobes.

To treat speedophobia, you can try the following methods:

1. Antidepressants. In this case, inhibitors can help, since their active substances slow down the rate of specific chemical reactions and help avoid depression. BUT! Such medications are not prescribed independently. Here you need the help of an experienced specialist who will draw up a course of treatment and its duration. It is worth remembering that each drug has its own dosage (and the doctor selects the specific dose and course duration for each patient individually!), otherwise there may be consequences;
2. Psychotherapy. Such courses have a more effective impact, since speedophobia is a psychological disorder. Treatment is best carried out using cognitive therapy, which is aimed at realizing the irrationality of one’s actions;
3. Support from loved ones. No matter how difficult it may be, you need to understand such a person and try to support him as much as possible in such a situation. Such patients often need “free ears” where they can express all their fears and concerns;
4. Work. Yes exactly. If a person is loaded with physical work (even dripping potatoes in the garden), then due to his fatigue he will stop thinking about all sorts of diseases. Then his joints will really hurt, but not from a fictitious illness, but from useful work;
5. Laughter therapy. This method helps some patients. But such courses are not yet very common in our country, so they can be replaced by watching comedies at home.

If there is a sincere desire to get rid of speedophobia, then it is worth trying an integrated approach, that is, each method. When something gives a positive result, you should stop there and develop this direction.

There are two diseases that strike fear into everyone: cancer and AIDS. The fears are absolutely rational and understandable. But what to do when fear completely takes over your life? What to do if your world is collapsing due to fear of contracting HIV?

Are you filled with fear of a potential infection, or are you afraid that you are already infected, even though you have had more than one negative test? Most likely, you are really sick. Your diagnosis is a phobia of HIV infection.

“The fear of experiencing pain is greater than the pain itself.” Sir Philip Sidney

Despite the attention devoted to AIDS, the fear of contracting HIV has gone unnoticed. Fear is called differently: AIDSphobia, AIDSpanic, pseudoAIDS. Consists of unfounded fears focused on the disease and people's incorrect beliefs about how HIV is transmitted. This phobia causes a person to do strange things in an attempt to avoid infection. American psychiatrists even proposed the acronym FRAIDS (fear of AIDS) or fear of AIDS.

The term pseudoAIDS is used because the patient's fears lead to anxiety and even depression. The response to such neurotic disorders may be the development of AIDS symptoms, such as weight loss, profuse night sweats, malaise, lethargy, loss of appetite and headaches. These features reinforce a person's erroneous belief that he is infected.

AIDS phobia is a real disease, but it is also real that people can manage their fears.

Similar on the site:

Speedophobia - from symptoms to cure

Speedophobia is an irrational fear of contracting HIV and AIDS, causing anxiety, panic, and a search for non-existent signs of an incurable disease. If you do not consult a psychotherapist in time, the unreasonable fear that causes HIV phobia will result in serious health problems.

What is speedophobia

Fear of HIV symptoms often manifests itself in hypochondriacs who are concerned about their health and fearful of lurking dangers.

A person with HIV phobia is unable to live without thinking about the disease. The idea of ​​a possible or already occurring infection haunts him everywhere. Realizing that anxiety is not supported by anything, he cannot imagine himself outside of experiences.

AIDS has created panic in society and a lot of prejudices and prejudices. The statement of medical luminaries that they become infected only through blood and sexual intercourse does not reassure speedophobes.

They suspect everyone and everyone; they mistake the symptoms of ARVI for AIDS.

Speedophobia is a mental disorder and requires treatment, since the patient cannot cope with obsessive anxiety on his own, despite negative test results.

Causes of fear

Factors contributing to fear of detecting HIV symptoms:

• lack of literacy, lack of faith in doctors;
• death of a loved one or acquaintance from AIDS;
• impressionability, worries about cases of death from the disease described in the press, accompanied by colorful photographs;
• awareness of the incurability of the infection;
• prolonged exposure to a stressful situation, when the symptoms of another disease, similar to the signs of AIDS, are hypertrophied;
• erroneous diagnosis made earlier;
• genetic predisposition;
• behavior that is not accepted by society - homosexuality, drug use, unprotected sex with women providing sex services.

Important! The situation is aggravated by guilt for immoral behavior, information about risk groups and the belief that AIDS is retribution for sins.

The patient’s condition is worsened by the discovery of weight loss, enlarged lymph nodes, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Immediately, terrible pictures of the development of an incurable disease are drawn in my head.

Diagnosed speedophobia symptoms are associated with mental imbalance. People with a wild lifestyle, constantly experiencing stress, and prone to depression are more often susceptible to the disease.

Why is speedophobia dangerous?

Dangers that await speedophobes:

• Unreasonably high expenses

Constant suspicions of AIDS force people to spend money on expensive examinations in private clinics and the purchase of medications that were recommended by “knowledgeable” people on forums and social networks.

• Instability of psycho-emotional states - depression, neuroses

Mental health is deteriorating. The patient gets irritated over trifles, loses appetite, sleeps little. Loss of interest in your favorite job, hobbies, and the opposite sex. Thoughts revolve around AIDS, other matters are of little concern. In exceptional cases, prolonged depression leads to suicide.

• Loss of social contacts, damaged family relationships

Speedophobes lose contact with friends and acquaintances due to their reluctance to participate in the lives of other people, provide friendly support, and spend leisure time. Their contacts are narrowed to visitors to forums where they can learn something new about AIDS.

Sexual life is prohibited; household members do not want to communicate with a nervous or apathetic family member who spends the bulk of their funds on tests and medications.

The more impressionable a person is, the more the body’s immune defense against nervous tension is undermined. More and more painful signs are appearing that are attributed to AIDS.

Is it possible to help a speedophobe recover?

To find out how to recover from speedophobia, meet with a psychotherapist. The sooner you seek qualified help, the faster your mental health will be restored.

The help of relatives will be required, who should draw the patient’s attention to the problem and convince the patient of the benefits of visiting a doctor. A speedophobe will need complex therapy, including taking pharmaceutical medications and conversations with a psychologist. Sometimes, at the initial stage of a phobia, a conversation with a loved one is enough to support their arguments with undeniable arguments.

Therapy at home

Eliminating the fear of AIDS means leaving your comfort zone. The first step to recovery is to occupy all your free time with activities so as not to be distracted by extraneous thoughts. Establishing a daily routine, proper nutrition, and exercise helps to heal.

Important! Communicating with people, watching comedy films, and developing creative abilities have a positive effect on the psyche.

Returns control over your behavior by eliminating factors that provoke uncontrollable fear.

Medical treatments certainly help, but you won’t see a doctor every day. You have to make an effort yourself to get rid of the phobia.

The harm that phobias cause

Justified fear helps to survive in extreme situations, and phobia, as a psychological disorder, causes harm:

• depression of the nervous system, the occurrence of neuroses, depression;
• emotional discomfort, expectation of death;
• loss of control over behavior;
• decreased ability to work, resulting in job loss;
• decrease in intimate contacts, refusal of sexual activity, leading to dissatisfaction of the other half, collapse of the family;
• misunderstanding of loved ones, strong feelings - the reason for the passion for alcoholic beverages;
• obtaining positive results causes distrust of medical workers;
• the occurrence of “medical reference syndrome”, in which the described symptoms are transferred to oneself;

Speedophobia is unable to control its fears. The patient cannot say no to loading his head with useless and fearful thoughts, drives his consciousness into a framework, and destroys the established rhythm of life.

The harm that phobias cause

It is not entirely appropriate to say that HIV phobia has any symptoms. Symptoms depend on which disorder is or is not predominant and how it manifests. Signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, hypochondria, depression, neurasthenia or senesthopathy may be observed. Some patients experience phantom pain and may show signs of somatic diseases. The development of OCD is most likely, especially with fear of HIV infections.

This type of phobia is harmful on several levels.

• It fetters the will, and everything that happens seems unimportant, since one will die soon anyway. The patient is able to quit his job or be fired due to an unexplained loss of ability to work.
• A large amount of money is spent on purchasing medicines. Sometimes dietary supplements or homeopathy preparations are purchased as therapeutic agents.
• Patients try to “drown” their grief in a glass and, along with a fictitious disease, acquire very real alcoholism.
• Speedophobia can force people to completely abandon any contact with the opposite sex, and fear of cancer, a phobia, also significantly reduces sexual activity. Thus, families are destroyed.
• The behavior of patients is dominated by distrust of themselves and the medical staff of diagnostic institutions, where they go in order to obtain positive results.
• At one time, mass hysteria around AIDS caused a significant increase in the number of suicides. Fear of fatal diseases is a form of general fear of death, and thanatophobia has historically been a cause of suicide.

Speedophobia – fear of AIDS, causes, treatment

08.12.2017

Speedophobia is a panicky fear of being sick with AIDS. The disease belongs to the category of mental personality disorders. We are mainly talking about hypochondria, when a person is sure that he is seriously ill, despite the negative results of clinical tests and doctors’ assurances that his experiences are groundless.

In most cases, hypochondria develops in impressionable people. Men and women in the age group from 20 to 30 years are at risk.

What is speedophobia

Fear of contracting HIV is a natural reaction of a healthy person . But with speedophobia, there is constant concern about health. It is common for patients to seek evidence that they need medical care.

Fear of getting AIDS is accompanied by the following symptomatic manifestations:

1. Those suffering from speedophobia are convinced that cough and enlarged lymph nodes are symptoms that occur at the initial stage of development of an incurable disease. The more intense the pain, the more confident they are that they are sick and will die soon.
2. Although well-informed about the modes of HIV transmission, patients are still convinced that they were at high risk of infection and therefore require immediate medical attention. For those suffering from speedophobia, even hugging an HIV-infected person in outerwear is unacceptable, as they believe that there is a danger of infection, but according to objective data, this is not possible.
3. They undergo various tests, because... We are convinced that the doctors made a false diagnosis. But at the same time, patients are afraid to find out that the virus has attacked their immune system. They may cry and insist on confirming the diagnosis and repeating the analysis.
4. Even negative test results six months after unprotected intercourse cannot reassure a person suffering from speedophobia.
5. Patients are convinced that they have a poorly understood form of the disease, so doctors cannot detect a viral infection during a laboratory examination. It is not uncommon for people to be sick, but their illness is not incurable. It cannot be said that the symptoms do not have a physiological basis.
6. People suffering from speedophobia are willing to spend a lot of money on repeated tests. There are people who even take out loans to undergo examinations in European clinics. It all depends on the severity of the mental disorder.
7. There are suggestions from others to seek advice from a psychologist or psychotherapist.
8. Those suffering from speedophobia spend hours studying literature about the deadly disease, trying to identify the similarity of their symptoms with the clinical picture of AIDS. It is difficult to argue with such patients, because... they have the ability to find scientific facts that support their beliefs.

A person may face the following problems if he refuses to treat speedophobia:

1. Prolonged depression.
2. Avoidance of contact with people or, conversely, promiscuity.
3. Possible suicide in a state of despair.

“Convenient” properties of real diseases

In both cases of the disease:

• practically incurable, but under certain circumstances, patients can live up to 90 years;
• difficult to diagnose;
• have a wide range of subjective assessments by the patients themselves.

So, the phobia of getting cancer and speedophobia are essentially the same neurosis. No one reading these lines can give a clear and absolute guarantee that they do not have cancer or AIDS. The fact that HIV is sexually transmitted does not help the situation. You can become infected in a hospital or hairdresser. For a phobia to occur, it is not necessary to be initially predisposed to neuroses and psychosis. If you “bomb” the consciousness for a long time through the media, then the phobia will be visible in everyone. Some can control it and prevent it from taking over consciousness, while others can have a panic attack.

Theoretically, you can catch AIDS anywhere