Fear of Seeking Help

Proverbs 15:22 - Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

​Once again you find yourself at the walk-in clinic. Being seen by doctors in their offices or in an emergency room happens frequently for those with chronic pain,  illness, or emotional pain. What can begin to happen is that you develop fear of something happening that lands you back in the hospital.
 
The majority of doctors and nurses that you encounter are usually thoughtful and kind, but there are those, well, how shall I put this, they must be having a bad day and you just happen to be the unlucky recipient of gruff manners and eye rolls.
 
It’s like they see me coming. I’ve moved onto their plate. One more patient to care for in addition to the countless number that they are expected to see each day.
 
And then there are the tests. And the tests. And the tests that medical staff administer to you. One more poke. One more x-ray. One more blood test. All with hopes of finding a way to remove you from their to do lists.
 
But though a gruff encounter is not the norm, it can happen enough times that you begin to fear going in. Sometimes that can actually be a good thing, because you don’t need to be running to the doctor for every little thing. But there’s real danger when you begin to ignore real warning signs and do nothing to treat a problem before it’s blown up in your face.
 
And then there’s the people who are trained to help with emotional pain. You walk into their offices and fill out one questionnaire after another so that a therapist can find out what is upsetting you.
 
For the most part, just as with medical staff, therapists and their counterparts are genuinely kind and caring people. But sometimes. Sometimes you walk into their office on a day when they have too many people on their plate to help, that they may listen to you, but really they’ve begun to tune you out.
 
I don’t mean to fear going to an appointment, but it still happens. So, I sometimes wait too long before seeking help. What can we do then to move us from fear and to a sense of trust of the medical profession as a whole?
 
Healthyplace.com gives insight into the problem, and plans you can make to help minimize your fears in their article, "5 Ways to Cure Hospital Anxiety, Surgery Fear, Fear of Medicine."

Now that you know some reasons for this anxiety and have done some planning ahead, you will be less likely to be fearful. Just as the Bible verse above says finding counsel and advice will help you to be more successful when seeking help.

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