Post Date December, 03 2023
In life, some people will feel a special fear of AIDS. They repeatedly think about the symptoms of AIDS or some behaviors that have occurred - compulsive thinking, repeatedly check the body for suspicious signs (such as swollen lymph nodes) - compulsive actions, and even ponder over details that ordinary people do not care about, thinking that they may be infected with AIDS.
Obsessive compulsive symptoms
A college student was lured by others to taste the forbidden fruit and had sex with a young lady at the hair salon. After that, he reviewed every detail repeatedly and checked every suspicious damage on his skin and mucous membrane, fearing that the lady with AIDS would infect him. After seeing AIDS related knowledge, he took off his clothes every day, looked and felt all over his body. Every red spot on his skin was suspected to be a rash at the early stage of AIDS, and every lump on his body was mistaken for an enlarged lymph node of AIDS. Although many tests ruled out the possibility of AIDS infection, he has become cautious everywhere, always afraid of being infected with AIDS. He washes his hands repeatedly every day, wears a mask and gloves when going out in the summer, and even has to bathe and even disinfect his entire body after contacting others... In fact, he sometimes knows that this is unnecessary, but he can't get rid of it. This compulsive symptom can cause long-term insomnia, inattention, loss of interest and confidence in work and life, and seriously affect his life and learning.
Hypochondriac symptoms
AIDS hypochondriacs often have the personality characteristics of being excessively stubborn, demanding excessive precision and persistence. They often mistakenly identify some autonomic nervous symptoms caused by psychological fear as the symptoms of AIDS. After each visit to the doctor, after the negative test results and the doctor's careful explanation, the psychological burden can be temporarily relieved. However, before long, new doubts arose again, forcing him to go to the hospital again to request an examination.
There was once a phobic who felt a little sick, sometimes even had a cold and headache, and would think without any basis that he might have been infected with AIDS. He looked around at experts and repeatedly checked, and the conclusions of various authoritative institutions still could not reassure them. He ran around the major hospitals and inspection institutions all day, trying to find out the truth. Because he heard that there were reports of individuals with false negative HIV antibodies. Over the past two years, he repeatedly tested 18 times in different hospitals, each time saying, "I will test this for the last time." However, not long after the negative result came out, he moved to another hospital to request testing. Not only was he physically and mentally exhausted by AIDS phobia, but also his family was disturbed by his hypochondriac symptoms. Every time he went to the hospital, his mother would definitely call the doctor and tell him that "100%" is not AIDS.
Phobic symptoms
Many people with phobic symptoms of AIDS are fragile in character. Hearing some reports about AIDS, they feel panic. In their minds, the infectivity and prevalence of AIDS have been wrongly exaggerated. They even suspect that every person around them may be infected with AIDS, and every item may contain AIDS virus. They worry that people around them will transmit AIDS virus to themselves. Therefore, there are some abnormal behaviors, such as fear of going to "dangerous" places or public places, fear of contacting "suspicious people" or even anyone, fear of wounds, fear of blood, dare not go out all day in serious cases, dare not see people, and even when hearing someone say the word "AIDS", they will be short of breath and panic. There is such a phobic person who repeatedly came to the hospital for consultation and described various possible ways of HIV infection. For example, when he gets together with his friends, he is worried that there may be HIV infected people among his friends, and he feels that he has oral ulcers, so he is afraid of contracting HIV through saliva; And the door handle of the public toilet has just been touched by a person who looks like "AIDS", and his hand seems to have a wound; Even when having a haircut, there is acne on the face, which may have been touched by a barber infected with "AIDS", etc... These ways will not be infected with HIV.
Depressive symptoms
People with AIDS phobia feel sorry for their parents, wives and children after high-risk behaviors, but also worry about AIDS virus infection. Under this dual pressure, he is very prone to physical symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, muscle soreness, and diarrhea. This increased his fear of AIDS infection, which made him fall into deep self blame, and even thought of suicide. One AIDS phobic was very afraid of being infected with AIDS after having sex outside marriage. He gradually became depressed, lost interest in the outside world, didn't want to speak, didn't want to move, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, often regretted and blamed himself, pessimistic and hopeless about the future, lost confidence, and finally had the idea of suicide. In his suicide note to his wife, he said: "Dear wife, I am infected with AIDS. I have carried you to the hospital for many times. Although the doctor said that I was not infected with AIDS, I don't believe it at all. I think they must be comforting me, because I have had many symptoms of AIDS. I am sorry for you, I betrayed you, I did something I should not do, and I cannot tolerate AIDS! AIDS phobic people may show the above four nerves One or any combination of disease types. Although many patients have received medical examinations, negative examination results and detailed explanations from doctors, this does not seem to eliminate their concern about AIDS. In fact, this is precisely the pathology of phobias. Although in the short term, phobias may alleviate their anxiety through "negative test results," in the long run, this pathological behavior can also be exacerbated during repeated testing processes, ultimately leading to higher levels of fear and anxiety.
