December 1 is World AIDS Day, and with the arrival of AIDS Day, there is a lot of publicity about it. This has a positive meaning in terms of popularizing the knowledge of AIDS, but it also causes people to be afraid of “talking about AIDS” and even causes “AIDS-phobia”.
A senior girl, obsessed with foreign language learning, often participated in English corner and met a foreigner. After a party, she stayed overnight in the foreigner’s apartment. Soon after, on December 1, she read an article on AIDS propaganda and began to worry about contracting AIDS because of the number of foreigners with whom she had a one-night stand. The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. I had no choice but to go to the hospital incognito to get tested for HIV. A week later, the test report showed negative results, and the tense nerves suddenly relaxed.
But within a few days, I suddenly thought of the propaganda article that said that the incubation period of AIDS is one month to six months, or even longer. I began to worry that the virus might not be detected during the incubation period. She waited anxiously for another month and the test result was still negative, but the result did not make her happy. She had to be checked once a month, more than 20 times in two years, but finally she was still relieved. …… Liu Wei, Clinical Psychology Department, Linyi People’s Hospital A young man read the newspaper and found a notice saying that on AIDS Awareness Day, the CDC would do free HIV tests for the public, so he went to have his blood drawn and tested, and brought back some promotional materials to read. When I saw that the incidence of AIDS was very high in China, I suddenly became nervous that I had contracted AIDS, thinking that I had been to a hotel last month on a business trip and had looked for a “lady”. In addition, the recent fatigue and weakness, high body temperature, but also suspected that he had AIDS, very anxious, sleepless nights.
The test result was negative, but it still did not dispel his worries. He was worried that the free test might not be strict and the results might not be reliable. He found another hospital for testing and the results were still fine. However, he was worried that the doctor might have made a mistake, in case he could mix with others. The results were still negative. Three times before and three times after the examination, but still do not feel comfortable, and afraid that the level of small local testing institutions may not be OK, so they ran to the provincial capital to check …… In the psychological clinic, patients like the above-mentioned patients suffering from AIDS phobia to consult more common, especially around the annual AIDS awareness day, more common.
The patient repeatedly goes to the doctor or exams for this reason, and the negative results of the exams and the doctor’s patient explanations do not dispel their worries, and the patient is in anxiety and fear for a long time, which is very painful.
The patient with Islamophobia often has some personality basis, neurotic, sensitive and suspicious, compulsive, paranoid people often become susceptible people. The openness of sexuality, sexual behavior, and the media’s over-exaggeration of AIDS are also contributing factors.
Psychological counseling clinics often use cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic and other psychotherapies to help AIDS-phobic patients get out of trouble; patients with severe anxiety, compulsion and depression are also treated with antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications.