4 Tips To Help Your Child Lose His Fear Of The Doctor
One of the most common fears during childhood is the fear of the doctor, especially between 2 and 5 years of age. Is this the case with your child? If so, the following lines will be of interest to you, as we’ll give you some tips to help your child get over that fear.
However, first, it is necessary to clarify that it is normal for children to feel uncertainty and insecurity when going to the doctor, as they are faced with an unknown situation in which a person from outside their immediate surroundings invades their personal space and, on some occasions, performs procedures that cause pain or discomfort.
4 tips to help your child lose his fear of the doctor
1. Notify about appointments with the doctor in advance
If your child perceives the act of going to the doctor as something threatening and dangerous, it is important that he knows several days in advance that he will need to go to a doctor’s appointment, so that he is not caught by surprise and can get used to it. idea piecemeal.
2. Convey security and trust
As a mother or father in this situation, you must act as a source of support and trust. For this, it is convenient to explain to your child that you will accompany him to the doctor’s appointment and that he should not worry because you will be there for whatever he needs.
In addition, to make the child feel more secure, you can ask her to choose one of her favorite toys or objects (a stuffed animal, a doll, a blanket, etc.) to accompany her and stay with her during the Query.
3. Playing doctor and telling stories that take place in medical centers
A great idea to reduce or eliminate your child’s fear of a doctor is to play with them with health-related games. Thus, in a playful way, the child will have the opportunity to experience how the functions of a doctor or a nurse are performed and the role of the patient, as well as the practices that are generally performed.
Another good idea is to choose a story set in a medical center to read together with the child, so that they know the environment in which they will meet the doctor and so that their figure doesn’t arouse so many uncertainties.
4. Avoid negative comments about the work of health professionals
Sometimes adults complain and criticize the work of health professionals and share their bad experiences with the doctor. However, if you have a child who is afraid of a doctor, avoid making this type of negative comment in front of him, as you will only be helping to feed that fear.
On the contrary, it is necessary to convey that doctors are there to help people and not to harm them, and that looking for them is not a punishment, but a necessity so that we can be healthy and enjoy life to the full.
Fear of doctor or phobia?
If you think your child’s fear of going to the doctor is irrational, excessive, and disabling, it may not be a simple childhood fear, but a phobia. More specifically, he may suffer from iatrophobia.
In this case, certainly, the aforementioned tips will not serve to reduce or end the problem and, therefore, it is recommended to seek help from a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of phobias.
What is iatrophobia?
Iatrophobia is a type of social phobia that is characterized by extreme and irrational fear of physicians or health professionals in general. Faced with these situations, people who suffer from this disorder feel intense discomfort, anxiety and even a real panic.
The importance of treating fear of a doctor
Finally, it is important to address the fear of a doctor as soon as the problem is detected. After all, it is inevitable to go to the doctor both during childhood and throughout life.
Once your child understands that the person dressed in a white coat is an ally and not an enemy, he or she can face the doctor’s appointments in a more relaxed and less insecure way.
