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Cancer Phobia (CP), also known as Carcinophopia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by a substantial amount of panic and fear. It results in tremendous feelings of sadness, fear, panic, and distress. It may stop the individual ability to live a normal life. It may affect his life tremendously. Experiencing cancer phobia can cause so many distress and sadness for the person living with it.

Cognitive aspects
They are so afraid that their family members may get the disease or that they may lose them because of it. They always experience feelings of sadness and distress.

Behavioral aspects
People living with  Carcinophobia visit doctors so much in order to make sure that they are healthy and that they do not have any troubles or health problems. They also tend not to attend any social activities if they are convinced that they have cancer phobia.

They also fuss about what they should and should not eat.

Physical symptoms
breathing quickly, feeling lightheaded or dizzy, having a rapid heartbeat, trembling, shaking, crying, sweating, fainting and screaming.

Psychological symptoms
People living with Cancer phobia sometimes have the signs and symptoms of depression,

patients living with cancer phobia always have thoughts of death. They also lack the ability to differentiate between what true and what Not.

They also feel very frightened that their family members may have the disease. They always get very nervous if they are suspicious that someone may bring cancer to their home.

Genetics
There is a high probability of having cancer phobia if forefathers have the phobia. It passes from one generation to another in some cases. Genetics also plays a role.

Social experiences
People tend to get cancer phobia if they have a bad experience with it. They may have lost one of their family members. This trigger an extreme feeling of fear and terror of the disease. Cancer phobia also can pass from one person to another. If children experience situations where their family members are very frightened of cancer, they may get the phobia.

Cultural or environment influences
We all are surrounded by so many talks and gossips about cancer. We are bombarded by so many talk shows which tell us that there are so many people die as a result of having the disease. This creates an environment of extreme fear of the disease. Watching a movie which is about cancer may in some cases lead to cancer phobia.

Psychological factors
patients who got cured of cancer recently also tend to get cancer phobia. They are so nervous and frightened that they may get the disease again. This is because the sad moments they experienced when they got the disease. This may lead to Agoraphobia which is a phobia characterized by refusing to go outside home.

Diagnosis
Phobias diagnosing methods lack any diagnostic laboratory test. Diagnosis is based on the patient's daily life situations. It is based on the difficulties or troubles the patients experiences in his life due to the phobia. The most important challenge in diagnosing cancer phobia is distinguishing it from other kinds of phobias.

The patient is extremely frightened or anxious about having cancer. The patient knows that he experiences irrational fear of it. The patient's life, work, and daily routine are affected negatively by his excessive and irrational fear of cancer. The condition also last for more than six months. Having some of the cancer symptoms which lack any evidence that they are linked with other kinds of phobias ( many kinds of phobias share the same symptoms and signs ). It is eventually concluded based on the previous points and also the cancer phobia symptoms that the patient has cancer phobia.

Prevention
Cognitive awareness

Encouraging people to watch their environment carefully is necessary for preventing cancer phobia. This includes avoiding any movies, videos, or multimedia which will trigger extreme fear of cancer. TV shows are encouraged also to shed light on the best methods and techniques used for treating cancer phobia. People who got cured of cancer should appear on TV in order to send a message to people that this disease is curable. Parents should not talk about cancer in front of their children. Talking about cancer regularly in front of children may lead to children living with cancer phobia. People who feel slightly anxious about cancer phobia should stay away from people having cancer. They are also supposed to avoid seeing or interacting with patients who are very sick or suffer severe pain or symptoms due to cancer phobia. All of the previous precautions can alleviate the probability of developing cancer phobia.

Treatment
Living with cancer phobia is not easy. There are so many strategies and treatments for overcoming the phobia.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
It is considered to be the most effective strategy for treating cancer phobia. It is one of the psychotherapy methods which deal with any phobia and anxiety. It focuses on understanding the negative thoughts which are linked to the anxiety. The therapist organizes talk sessions with the patient. He lets him talk about his fears and thoughts. He finally tries to convince him to get rid of his fears through changing the way he thinks about things. The main goal of cognitive behavioral thereby is to change the negative ideas with positive ones.

Hypnotherapy
It is one of the safest treatments for treating cancer phobia. It has long-term results. It is also not invasive. Ericksonian Hypnosis is considered to be the most recent treatment for cancer phobia. It indirectly sends messages to patients using stories which help patients change their thoughts towards cancer.

Neuro Linguistic Programming therapy
Neuro Linguistic Programming therapy ( NLP) is one of the modern treatments which is used for treating Carcinophobia. It is a technique which is used with so many phobias. It helps the patient unconscious mind to be reprogrammed. It is used to alter patient's behavior towards the disease into being not afraid of the disease.

Medications
tranquilizers or anti-depression  can be prescribed in order to overcome and get rid of the disease. anti-anxiety or anti depression medications help to regulate the brain chemicals such as Serotonin which is a substance existing in the serum and blood platelets. It helps to constrict the blood vessels. It also acts as a neurotransmitter. Serotonin is responsible for regulating our mood.

Self-help techniques
They can be done in order to help the patient relax.It leads to muscle relaxation which indeed helps. It includes relaxation methods including deep breathing or visualization.

History
carcinophobia is a recent kind of phobias which is evolved due to the mass media which focus so much on cancer. They portray cancer as a disease which can not be cured and will lead to death.