yes, therapy helps!
Latophobia (phobia of doctors): symptoms, causes and treatment

Latophobia (phobia of doctors): symptoms, causes and treatment

March 1, 2024

As children, the experience of having to visit a doctor or any other type of health specialist, such as a dentist, is quite distressing and traumatic. However, this is a normative and understandable fear, since in many cases these visits are related to the suffering of some type of pain.

However, when this fear becomes chronic and becomes an extreme fear of doctors, we may not find a case of latophobia . In this article we will discuss the characteristics of this disorder, as well as its symptoms, causes and treatment.

  • Related article: "Types of phobias: exploring the disorders of fear"

What is latrofobia?

Categorized within specific anxiety disorders, latophobia consists of the experimentation of an excessive, irrational and uncontrollable fear towards doctors . This fear can extend to any type of professional who works in the health field (dentists, nurses ...) or the health centers themselves.


Anyone with the ability to make a diagnosis, administer a medication, apply an injection, or perform any type of treatment or medical intervention, can be the object of the phobia of a latophobic. This anxiety disorder can go so far as to provoke a serious anxiety response only when perceiving the characteristic smell of a health center or hospital.

The main consequence of this phobia is that the people who suffer it avoid at all costs have to go to any space related to the health field .

Although they are aware that any health professional aims to preserve it, people with latrofobia will try by all possible means not to attend a medical visit with the risk of missing diagnoses, of worsening diseases, or even that they become incurable.


Although in the specific anxiety disorder known as nosophobia the patient also avoids having to go to a doctor's office at all costs, the main difference that is found with latophobia is that, while in the first the phobic stimulus is manifested by the fear of getting sick, in the second it is the figure of the professional that causes this fear .

  • Maybe you're interested: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

How to differentiate it from a normative fear to the doctor?

As mentioned above, it is usual to feel a certain degree of respect, or even a little fear, at the idea of ​​going to the doctor's office, dentist, etc. However, this fear does not have to be excessive or interfere with the patient's routine.

There are a series of specific characteristics that allow us to differentiate a normative fear from a phobic fear characteristic of phobic disorders such as latophobia.


The first feature with which we can identify a phobic fear is that this it is experienced in an absolutely disproportionate way compared to the actual threat that exists. Although it is true that sometimes visits to the doctor can take painful measures, the level of fear experienced by these people before the possibility of suffering this pain, is excessive and exaggerated.

The second characteristic of this type of specific phobias is that fear is experienced in a completely irrational way. That is to say, the person is practically incapable to grant a reasoning or logical base to the fear that is experiencing and, even, to arrive at the point of accepting that it does not have any sense, and even then not being able to avoid it.

Finally, in this type of anxiety disorders, the person can not control the fear that he experiences before the appearance or the only idea of ​​having to face the phobic object. This means that the patient can not avoid experiencing the feelings and feelings of anxiety , as well as the appearance of intrusive thoughts and beliefs that favor and enhance this anxiety response.

What symptoms does it present?

The most characteristic manifestation of latophobia, as well as the rest of specific phobias, is the experimentation of high levels of anxiety before the appearance of the feared object. In addition, for this fear to be diagnosed as phobic, the person must manifest some of the symptoms of this type of disorder.

These symptoms they are divided into physical symptoms, cognitive symptoms and behavioral symptoms . And although they do not have to arise in the same way and with the same intensity in all people, they will have to experience signs of the three categories.

1. Physical symptoms

In the same way that happens with the great majority of responses related to anxiety, the experimentation of a phobic fear usually involves a series of changes and alterations in the organism. These changes appear due to the hyperactivity that the autonomic nervous system manifests before the appearance of the aversive stimulus.

These symptoms include the following:

  • Increase in heart rate .
  • Increase in the respiratory rate.
  • Feeling of suffocation or shortness of breath.
  • Increased sweating
  • Increased muscle tension .
  • Headache.
  • Alterations and gastric problems such as diarrhea.
  • Feeling dizzy .
  • Nausea and / or vomiting
  • Loss of consciousness

2. Cognitive symptoms

Accompanying physical symptoms, latophobia presents within its clinical picture the appearance of a series of irrational thoughts and distorted beliefs about the object feared. In this case, the medical staff or health professionals.

These cognitive symptoms are manifested as follows:

  • Intrusive and uncontrollable ideas about the supposed danger or risks of phobic stimulation.
  • Obsessive speculations .
  • Appearance of catastrophic mental images.
  • Fear of losing control and not being able to manage the situation properly.

3. Behavioral symptoms

Within this last category of symptoms are included those behavioral patterns that appear in response to the appearance of the phobic stimulus. This symptomatology aims to avoid the dreaded situation or flee from it in case it has already appeared. These behaviors are known as avoidance or escape behaviors.

The first type of behavioral symptoms are those whose goal is to avoid encountering a health professional. That is, it includes all those behaviors or acts that the person performs to avoid the possibility of facing them. Thanks to these symptoms the person temporarily avoids experiencing feelings of anguish and anxiety typical of a phobia.

On the other hand, escape behaviors appear when the person with latophobia has not been able to avoid the phobic stimulus, so he will carry out all acts and behaviors that allow him to escape from the situation as quickly as possible.

What are the causes?

Although it is really complicated to determine the specific origin of a phobia, it is hypothesized that a genetic predisposition, together with the experimentation of traumatic experiences , can be the basis for the development of this and any other phobia.

In the same way, there are many other factors that we must take into account, such as personality, cognitive styles or vicarious learning, since they can favor the appearance and development of this type of irrational fears.

Is there a treatment?

Due to the complications for the patient's health that this phobia can cause, it is recommended that these people go to a mental health professional. There are different psychological interventions that can favor the reduction of the intensity of the symptoms until they even disappear.

Treatments that use cognitive restructuring techniques They can help eliminate irrational thoughts and beliefs, which often form the basis of this disorder.

Likewise, the treatment known as "systematic desensitization", in which the person is mentally and gradually exposed to the thoughts or situations that provoke this fear accompanied by a training in relaxation techniques, is very effective at the time of The person can overcome his phobic fear and restore his usual rhythm of life.

Similar Articles