You don’t understand how you can live in a world where there is AIDS - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. How not to get infected? The infection seems omnipresent and pervasive to you. How to communicate with people? They can be carriers of AIDS and, wittingly or unwittingly, infect you... They tell you that this is obsessive fear AIDS, that there is no reason to worry. But can this be believed?
What is AIDS
AIDS syndrome
acquired immunodeficiency is a serious infectious disease. It is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV strikes immune system person,
gradually weakening it. This leads
to a gradual decrease in the body's resistance to infections, tumors and
other diseases. When immunity decreases critically, doctors diagnose
AIDS is the final stage of development of HIV infection. Without treatment, a person can quickly
die, because at this stage, due to decreased immunity, the body copes poorly with diseases.
However now
There are medications to treat AIDS, called ARVs.
(antiretroviral drugs) that prevent the virus from multiplying in
the human body, which is why immunity is restored over time, and
The body again has the strength to fight diseases. Thanks to ARV therapy, an HIV-infected person
a person can live long and full life, give birth and raise healthy
children.
What's happened
speedophobia
Speedophobia is
fear of AIDS. It occurs when a person, for some reason, out of all
known to him infectious diseases This is exactly what he is afraid of. Fears
any situations involving a risk of infection, imaginary or real. Afraid of possible contact with someone else's blood, any medical manipulations related
with blood and skin puncture. Afraid that “HIV-infected people are walking down the street”
people,” contact with whom may be dangerous. Afraid that he's sexual
partners may hide the fact that they are infected with HIV.
How it manifests itself
speedophobia
Man fantasizes
about the risk of infection in various science fiction, from the point of view of specialists in
HIV infection situations. For example: “I took a shower in the dorm after a girl,
who is said to be HIV-infected. Could I have become infected? Or, "could
will I get infected if I am bitten by a mosquito that has just bitten
HIV-positive person?
Having come up with a situation
possible infection with HIV, a person begins to look for symptoms of the disease. Any
deviations from the usual state are perceived as signs of infection
HIV: sore throat - HIV, diarrhea - also HIV, lymph node enlarged, temperature 37,
1, restless night sleep– all HIV.
It's clear what it is
the condition is unpleasant, and you want to get rid of it, preferably yourself.
Causes of speedophobia
Social disapproval of AIDS
Most people think they have AIDS
only gays, prostitutes and drug addicts. Therefore, people are often afraid of AIDS
randomly committing acts disapproved by society: marital
cheating, casual sex with a random partner, sex with a same-sex partner,
“trying” drugs with friends, etc. – feeling of guilt for doing something “bad”
the act transforms into a serious fear of getting sick.
Lack of external
manifestations
HIV infection -
secretive disease. It can be virtually asymptomatic for years. Before the beginning
stage of AIDS can only be detected through blood testing. There are no
reliable symptoms that could be used to determine whether a person has HIV
or not. A person can be infected and not know about it until
will be tested for HIV.
Lack of awareness about
transmission routes
HIV penetrates into
the human body in only three ways: through unprotected sex, through the blood
the entry of infected blood into a wound or bloodstream, and from mother to child during
during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. HIV cannot do it in any other way
enter the body, this is due to the structure of the virus.
Story from
advisory practice
Young married woman
mother of two children, was terrified of dirt, infectious diseases, and especially
HIV infections. I asked for help due to fear, obsessive thoughts And
actions related to possible infection HIV on the street, at work, in children's
playgrounds and in the park during walks when in contact with people and other people’s objects.
The client was well informed about the routes of HIV transmission, but from an unauthorized
source. By profession she was a gas communications engineer, engaged in
planning of gas pipelines in apartment buildings. This got me thinking
a metaphor that helped the client “digest” and "learn" route information
HIV transmission. I asked my client whether gas would flow into the apartments if
the gas pipeline is not connected to the gas stoves. The answer was obvious. By analogy, if
HIV transmission routes were not “exposed” to my client, she did not become infected with HIV
could.
How to get rid of
fear of AIDS on your own
1) Find
and learn reliable information about how HIV is transmitted. like this
information can be obtained from infectious disease doctors, read in information
booklets in the AIDS center, from a consultant of HIV service organizations online.
3) Figure it out
what scares you: real threat or your fantasies on the topic of HIV. If you really
If you take a risk, you should think about how to change your behavior to avoid the risk.
If non-existent situations scare you, you should stop inventing them.
5) Try it
laugh at your fear. For example, like this: “I remember very well that HIV
transmitted through sex, but I forgot when I had sex!
Are you wondering how to deal with the fear of AIDS? You
you can listen to stories from consulting practice about how my clients
get rid of this fear, and find more useful information about him in the video “Speedophobia”.
Enough most of issues are not related to HIV infection itself, but to fears about it, in other words, AIDS phobia
I have been doing peer counseling for many years. And every day I answer dozens of questions that people ask about HIV infection. The questions are different, but most of them are quite similar and do not require any particularly creative approach to answer. But I like other questions, to answer which you need to look for the necessary information yourself, think about the wording, collect facts and make one or another analysis based on them.
Quite a large part of the questions are related not to HIV infection itself, but to fears about it, in other words, AIDS phobia. I want to analyze one of these generalized questions in detail and show what mistakes are often made by a person who spends a lot of time on HIV counseling resources and reads a news feed in question-and-answer format instead of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
“Explain why so many people, after sexual intercourse, begin to discover strange symptoms that fit the description of the symptoms of HIV infection? And why is HIV not detected in them? Maybe HIV can after all for a long time not be determined by tests? And why do you always claim that these symptoms have nothing to do with HIV? Maybe you’re just trying to reassure everyone, but in reality everyone has AIDS and everyone will die?”
First mistake: unrepresentative statistical sample.
Who (mostly) do we see on consultation resources on the topic of HIV infection? People who for some reason suspect they have HIV infection. Many people have sex, many have some strange symptoms, but we see only those who associated their symptoms with recent sexual intercourse and decided to ask about their suspicions. And it may seem that there are really a suspiciously large number of such people, and this cannot be just a coincidence, but in fact this is another global conspiracy. But in fact, making such a conclusion is the same as being, say, in a tuberculosis hospital and observing its patients, concluding that tuberculosis is the most common disease on the planet and most people suffer from it. The analogy may not be the most successful, but from the point of view of the statistical error committed, it is justified.
Second error: “post hoc ergo propter hoc” (latin).
Many people periodically have incomprehensible (according to at least, for themselves) symptoms. These could be symptoms of some real disease, ranging from a banal ARVI to something more serious, or they could also be symptoms of psychosomatic origin. It's only natural that it's sexy active people some time before the appearance of these symptoms, they had sex. But the thesis “after means in consequence” is erroneous, and symptoms that appear after sexual intercourse do not mean that they appeared as a result of contact. This error is similar to the reasoning that since all maniacs in childhood are pickled cucumbers, it means that cucumbers turn people into maniacs. (Disclaimer: of course, it is possible that the symptoms are actually a consequence of an STD that a person received during recent sexual contact, but in connection with the topic of HIV, I do not remember such cases in my practice).
The same mistake is made when a person, having undergone diagnostics after another dangerous contact and having discovered several STDs, he believes that he acquired them all during the last contact.
Third error: “If A follows from B, then B follows from A.”
This applies to the notorious symptoms of HIV infection. IN medical literature it is customary to describe everything possible symptoms, which can be observed as a result of a particular disease, even those that are relatively rare. Therefore, articles about HIV often include an extensive list of symptoms. But the fact that a disease causes a number of symptoms does not mean that if you observe some of these symptoms in yourself, you can “automatically” begin to suspect that you have this disease. This is especially true for nonspecific symptoms, which can be caused by very a large number the most various reasons. Typical examples– increase in body temperature ( possible reasons- a carriage and a small cart) or the notorious enlarged lymph nodes (any infectious process in the body), which, moreover, people often simply invent.
This effect is also called “syndrome medical reference book" A man who begins to leaf through honey. reference book, immediately detects most of the diseases described. And if a person is characterized by hypochondria, then turn out the lights altogether! Diagnosis is often not an easy thing (I think everyone has watched House). But this does not stop many people from elevated temperature and some sensations in the area of the lymph nodes, and you begin to suspect that you have HIV infection according to the principle: “well, what else could it be?”
The fourth mistake: “if you can’t say anything about HIV infection based on the symptoms, then how can you say that some symptoms have nothing to do with HIV?”
First, the fact that the symptoms are not related to HIV does not mean that the person does not have HIV infection. This means that there is no cause-and-effect relationship between HIV infection and symptoms. Therefore, I never tire of repeating that HIV infection is diagnosed or excluded only by the result of testing. No symptoms can be a basis for such suspicion (unless the suspicion arises from a doctor), just as the absence of symptoms cannot be a basis for excluding HIV infection.
But the point here is that the acute stage of HIV infection may still have a certain number of nonspecific, but still quite definite symptoms, although very often it is asymptomatic. Based on nonspecific symptoms, it is impossible to determine their cause, but it is quite possible to say which cause can be excluded. That is why, when I see that the symptoms described are not typical for acute stage HIV infection, I answer that the observed symptoms have nothing to do with HIV.
And one last thing. Yes, I often try to calm a person down with my answers and make sure that he does not waste unnecessary nerves on meaningless worries. But I never do this at the expense of the authenticity of my answers. After all, I don't hotline psychological support, but simply a peer consultant on HIV issues, and my main goal is to provide the most reliable information possible.
Among the huge list of phobic fears related to diseases, speedophobia occupies not the last place. The disease is expressed in the fact that the person is very afraid of being infected with AIDS. Also, speedophobia is a form of mental disorder called hypochondria. As a rule, people suffering from this disorder cause a lot of problems to everyone around them. Friends and family are tired of their endless complaints about the fact that they may be seriously ill. Indeed, in such cases it is quite obvious that a person is trying to convince himself of something that is not in reality. In addition, such individuals constantly bother doctors by behaving absurdly and funny.
The fact is that speedophobia is indeed an annoying and boring problem, but in some patients it becomes obsessive state which interferes with normal life, deprives a person of the ability to engage labor activity, thereby actually causing harm to health. Even taking into account the fact that fear is irrational and there is no disease, the state of anxiety does not let go of the person, and because of this his behavior changes, his attitude towards others changes. It is quite obvious that working productively while constantly feeling the lymph nodes and measuring the temperature is also not easy. But this is roughly how speedophobes behave. But it should be noted that people suffering from speedophobia are not crazy at all, and they do not have hallucinations or crazy ideas, as some people think.
Such individuals assess the situation quite adequately, and in most cases, they do not try to deny that their experiences are absurd and groundless. But the main problem is that regardless of whether speedophobes admit the irrationality of their fear, the state of affairs does not change. And even if the most authoritative doctors in a prestigious clinic with a worldwide reputation begin to convince the speedophobe that he does not have HIV infection, the panic will not disappear, and the person cannot get rid of it. Such fears are very typical for hypochondriacs; people tend to fix their attention on diseases that have vague symptoms, as well as those that are widespread.
The causes of this phobia are quite varied, but experts note that the disease more often occurs in people who have experienced serious illness or the death of a loved one. For example, if one of your loved ones died of AIDS, then it is not strange that a person worried about this would develop AIDS phobia. But there are many cases where the reason is not so obvious and is due to deep psychological roots. It often happens that a man does not accept his own homosexuality, and on the basis of this he experiences deep speedophobia after each same-sex sexual contact.
If a person feels guilty towards his wife, but still uses sex work, then he is on the path to developing speedophobia, even if he constantly uses condoms. But it is not only unprotected sex that causes this phobia. As a rule, hypochondriacs are characterized by such a feature as excessive sensitivity to any changes in the body. If ordinary people do not pay attention to certain sensations, then with hypochondria even a trifle is perceived as significant pain and poor health. Most people don’t even think about why they have a pain in their side, and a hypochondriac will immediately suspect, at a minimum, cirrhosis of the liver.
Speedophobia is also caused by stressful conditions. But it should be taken into account that chronic stress has its own symptoms, such as headache, skin rashes, painful sensations in the abdominal area, bad dream, And so on. Naturally, if a person suffers from speedophobia, then he has no doubt that it is AIDS. Based on experiences, symptoms can intensify, and so it goes in a circle. Experts have proven that the behavior of a speedophobe is always aimed at creating protection for himself from illness and death. The patient is confident that if he monitors his health and constantly measures his blood pressure or temperature, this will be able to prevent the development of AIDS.
Scientists have long confirmed that speedophobia can be treated well, and it is not at all necessary to endure this condition for the rest of your life. In addition, for some it goes away on its own, and if a person repeatedly receives a negative answer after taking an AIDS test, then eventually he becomes calm and can begin to live normal life without unreasonable fears. But there are many cases when professional help nevertheless, it is a necessity. More recently, doctors have found that a number can help reduce the symptoms of speedophobia. Conducted clinical trials completely confirmed the assumptions. As a rule, in such situations, special medications are prescribed that can only be prescribed by an experienced doctor. Also, taking medications is possible only under the supervision of a specialist.
Nowadays, these phobias have begun to bother people somewhat less. There were many reasons for this, including the general habituation of the people to information attacks. Mass psychosis occurred in the 90s and the very first years of the 21st century. Then the concept of “AIDS” became widespread, and people talked about it everywhere. Corporations were solving several problems at once.
First, condom sales have reached unprecedented levels; secondly, a separate the target audience for the sale of dubious and expensive AIDS drugs; thirdly, the citizens of the country themselves have turned from builders of a bright future into people who are concerned only with the problems of food and sex. With incredible frequency, AIDS was shown on TV, spoken on the radio, written in newspapers, and even created separate publications like “AIDS Info.”
Information attacks served as the beginning of HIV phobia
We have a unique situation with AIDS. Usually the role of funds mass media and the art in the development of phobias is somewhat inflated. They were immediately followed obvious signs purposeful impact on the consciousness of millions of people.
In practice, the disease itself turned out to be questionable, but what is important is that it is incurable. If it exists at all, of course. However, the topic of virology goes beyond the boundaries of our consideration. Much more important is that the media, including federal media, actively stimulated the emergence of HIV-phobia, which is better called speedophobia. In the 90s, it was observed even in people with a stable psyche, capable of critically assessing their actions.
Scientific and educational work in this context has caused and is causing only the opposite effect. According to the official version, HIV infection occurs, which can later cause AIDS. In this regard, we are not at all interested in what a retrovirus from the genus of lentiviruses actually causes or does not cause. We see words, images, but our mental “AIDS” is transmitted only ontologically. HIV phobia is an irrational fear of getting sick incurable disease, which is no different from cancer phobia.
“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 wide range 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
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 as medicinal products dietary supplements or homeopathy preparations are purchased.
- 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 self-distrust and medical personnel diagnostic institutions where they go to get positive results.
- At one time, mass hysteria around AIDS caused a significant increase in the number of suicides. Fear of deadly diseases is a form of general fear of death, and thanatophobia has historically been one of the causes of suicide.
Treatment problems and possible scenario
The difficulty is that it is very difficult to apply cognitive therapy methods and routine patient education. If a person is afraid of becoming infected with something abstract and every now and then rushes to wash his hands, then it makes sense to gradually bring him to the object that is the source of fear and teach him to calmly react to the sudden desire to wash off the germs. In the case of HIV or cancer, everything is much more complicated. There is simply nothing to lead him to, only to ideas in his own mind.
Even constant checks do not convince a person that he does not have an incurable disease
The following scenario of a psychotherapist working with a patient, or even a suffering person alone with himself, can have a certain effect.
- Realize that the idea came before the results of tests and other things were received medical examination, if one was carried out at all. Whereas usually people experience some kind of pain or discomfort, do not know anything about what happened to them, turn to doctors and only then receive information and a diagnosis. Moreover, positive test results for HIV infection are checked many times.
- Find the debut point. The task is difficult, but completely solvable. This could be a few minutes after watching a medical program or telling someone about someone dying from cancer. This point is always in the “after” period.
- Identify your own reaction to the thought " What if I have cancer?" or " I have AIDS" What bodily sensations accompanied it? It could be cold sweat, breathing spasms, certain signs of a panic attack.
- Understand subsequent actions and their nature. In this case, the patient needs to tell and think as little as possible about the symptoms of real physical illnesses, but give as much information as possible about how neurosis, even schizoid disorder, proceeds. They usually read articles and listen to lectures with examples with great attention, because they recognize their own behavior in them.
The course of treatment can vary in duration. For some, one or two sessions and minimal doses of antidepressants are enough for the shortest period of use, while others will be stubborn for a very long time.
A person needs to think as little as possible about the symptoms of AIDS
Strange as it may seem, a false sense of shame also prevents some from calming down. How so? Such a smart and educated person, and suddenly he has been leading himself and his family by the nose for so long? Stubbornness comes from a complex of pride and shame. In this case, the task of the psychotherapist is to convince the patient that no one is protected from mental disorders - scientists, artists, and politicians have suffered and are suffering from them. It's bad, but not fatal. Real cancer is much worse.
The patient should be encouraged to use the honesty technique. Do you need to come and get tested for HIV? In this case, it is quite appropriate to tell the doctors so diagnostic center that a phobia has arisen. I'm supposedly very suspicious, so I decided to get checked. They even look at such people with sympathy. You need to behave in the same way and, if necessary, determine whether there is cancer or whether it is cancerophobia. The phrase “Doctor, I’m going crazy, I’m afraid I have cancer” works amazingly. Oncologists stop asking unnecessary questions and conduct the examination more calmly. They understand perfectly well that a person is suffering in a moral sense and in the overwhelming majority of cases they become very loyal.
A person suffering from a phobia of AIDS or cancer does not need examinations, but the help of a psychotherapist
One of the tasks of the psychotherapist and the patient himself is to act within the framework of the interruption strategy. vicious circle. This examination is all. If it’s cancer, God help us, and if not, then forget and live a normal life.
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 answer to such neurotic disorders may cause AIDS symptoms such as weight loss, 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 control their fears.
Similar on the site:
HIV prevention – where is the line?
There is another aspect of AIDS phobia, sometimes called the silent epidemic.
Because of the overwhelming fear of contracting HIV, some people take dramatic steps to avoid infection.
A New York City postman refused to deliver mail to the office of a public health organization fighting AIDS. A woman is hesitant to donate blood for fear of getting infected. A young girl quit her piano lessons because she was convinced she saw contaminated blood on the keyboard. The fact is that her mentor’s wife worked in the blood transfusion service. A young man soaks his feet and penis in undiluted bleach after every visit to a public toilet. Clergy ask AIDS patients to stay away from church for fear of contaminating the congregation. The man operates on all household items using special sterile tweezers. Another stopped eating and drinking altogether for fear of ingesting the HIV virus.
And this - real stories. In these examples, people are so afraid of getting HIV that they do irrational things in hopes of protecting themselves from the disease.
Research conducted among students at an American university showed that 23% of respondents believe that HIV can be contracted by using seats public toilets. 14% were convinced that you can become infected by trying on clothes in a store, while 10% believe that you can become a victim of the disease by holding contaminated money in your hands.
Why does a phobia of HIV infection develop?
The reasons why people develop phobias are not entirely clear. The fact that the very concept of phobia is defined as something irrational already says a lot.
Greetings from our ancestors
However, there are different versions about the reasons for their occurrence. Some experts believe that genetics are to blame: the tendency to develop a phobia may be hidden in the genetic makeup.
The weight of someone else's experience
Another theory is that people can develop phobias as a result of events they experience. Fear of water, for example, can arise after someone in a person’s family or among his friends drowned. AIDS phobia can develop in the same way. A person may have friends with such a diagnosis and, of course, have a colorful idea of what life is like with the immunodeficiency virus.
Heavenly punishment
Another factor that can develop such a phobia is a feeling of guilt.
A person commits actions that he himself regards as wrong, and which expose him to HIV infection. Usually these are sexual contacts that a person regrets.
For example, a married man who has sex with a prostitute, commits adultery, or has his first sexual experience with another man. These circumstances are associated with the risk of HIV infection. Add to this the guilt we experience, and the result is a phobia of contracting HIV. Under such conditions, people are still obsessed with fear even after several negative tests for HIV.
Despite the test results, the person finds it impossible that he or she has not been infected. In their opinion, HIV infection is a natural result of an act that they perceive as wrong. They feel that HIV is a punishment for their wrongdoing. Even if the test is negative initially, the person thinks that the result will eventually change because in the end he must be “punished.”
Sick society
Finally, many people believe that modern culture plays an important role in the development of phobias. Personal beliefs, religion, and cultural environment can support AIDS phobias. In some societies, there is prejudice against people living with HIV. They are subject to ignorant attitudes and even discrimination.
Will the doctor help?
The phobia of contracting HIV infection, like any phobia, is 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. The psychotherapist will be able to offer drug treatment, behavioral therapies, or a combination thereof.
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. Special attention focuses on teaching a person to control the situation and manage his thoughts and feelings.
How to overcome fear?
HIV phobia can be avoided if the cause of its occurrence is identified and understood. general principle transmission of HIV infection from person to person. Understanding these things will help you cope with the paralyzing fear of AIDS and get rid of the phobia.
We must be aware that among people the immunodeficiency virus is transmitted exclusively through contact with infected blood, vaginal discharge or sperm, as well as when consumed breast milk infected woman.
Remember that the immunodeficiency virus cannot be transmitted through accidental touching, kissing, hugging and sharing household items.
Realize that you can protect yourself from HIV infection by using condoms every time you have sex.
Understand that today's HIV tests are highly accurate and provide results you can rely on.
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