Radiophobia is the irrational fear of radiation. Someone experiencing this condition will have a very difficult time thinking about radiation, let alone being subjected to it. There are not many instances in people’s lives were they are directly exposed to radiation in high amounts. Such instances are getting x-rays or getting radiation therapy for cancer. People suffering from radiophobia may refuse to accept either.

In some extreme cases, someone with radiophobia may be very resistant to going outside in direct sunlight due to the electromagnetic radiation the sun gives off. So, it may not be uncommon for them to isolate themselves in their homes or to go outside only during nighttime or when the weather is cloudy.

Day to day life for someone suffering from full blown radiophobia may be very challenging depending on where they live. Someone suffering with this condition may even make a conscious decision to live in a more rural area as opposed to living in a large city as they may believe that by doing so they will then be reducing their exposure to unnecessary radiation.

Radiophobia is likely to be one of the rarer phobias, along with anatidaephobia (fear of being constantly watched by a duck), deipnophobia (fear of dinner conversations), and acerophobia (fear of sourness), among many other uncommon phobias. Nevertheless, regardless of the rarity of radiophobia, it is still a very difficult disorder to cope with.

Symptoms of Radiophobia

As is the case with virtually all other phobias, anxiety will be the main symptom experienced. Someone with this condition may refuse to get x-rays or any other form of medical scans which give off radiation. This may make it very difficult for them to be properly diagnosed and treated for any ailments they may have. Also, as previously mentioned, they may refuse to be subjected to direct sunlight as well.

In some extreme instances, someone suffering from full blown radiophobia may even experience a panic attack insofar as the fear they experience is intolerable enough. Depending on the situation, they may even need to be hospitalized. Upon experiencing a panic attack due to their fear of radiation, they can expect their heart rate to increase, their rate of breathing to increase, as well as muscle tension and shakiness to occur.

Avoiding their fear of radiation will likely be a very common behavior with people suffering from radiophobia. Though avoiding things like the sun and certain medical procedures will give them less acute anxiety, it will also likely worsen their fear of radiation in the long term as they will then be reinforcing their fear.

Below, you will see some more common symptoms of this phobia:

• Intense anxiety when exposed to radiation
• Anxiety when thinking of radiation
• Isolating oneself from the sun
• Refusing to get x-rays taken or other similar medical scans
• Unable to cope with their fear
• Muscle tension, shakiness, and sweating
• May experience panic attacks

Causes of Radiophobia

There are no definitive causes of radiophobia. However, genetics and one’s environment may both play very significant roles. For instance, if someone were to have a family history of mental illness, especially of anxiety disorders, then they may have a higher chance of developing radiophobia. This may be due to them then having a genetic predisposition to developing mental illness in general.

If someone were to have such a genetic predisposition, then it may only require that they experience some sort of traumatic event for them to develop full blown radiophobia. Such a traumatic experience may be that they were once heavily exposed to radiation or perhaps they endured some sort of radiation treatment which caused them to feel very ill. Essentially, any experience that was traumatizing enough which included radiation in some capacity may be enough for someone to develop radiophobia insofar as they have the proper genetic makeup.

Though we do not know exactly what causes someone to develop an irrational fear of radiation, the consensus among most mental health professionals is that both genetics and one’s environment may play significant roles. So, taking a closer look at these two different factors may allow you to shed some light as to whether or not you may be at risk for developing full blown radiophobia.

Radiophobia Treatments

Treatments like exposure therapy and/or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be very effective for people suffering from an irrational fear of radiation. The same may be said for anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants too. Though medication may be beneficial for helping to minimize some of the symptoms of radiophobia, it may not be advantageous to only take medication without any form of therapy as the patient will then not have learned the skills necessary to improve their cognition in the long run. However, you should first talk to your doctor before you decide to take any medication to ensure that it is effective and safe to do so.

Exposure therapy works by having the patient become gradually exposed to their fear over a given amount of time. Though this process will inevitably give the patient a very high influx of unwanted anxiety, it should also help to desensitize the patient to their fear as well, if implemented correctly. With regards to radiophobia, the patient will be limited to what they can be exposed to for obvious ethical reasons. However, they can still be “exposed” to radiation by engaging in open discussions about it with their therapist.

Being that exposure therapy will be limited for someone with radiophobia, CBT may be a better method of treatment. With this form of therapy, the patient can expect to learn new and effective coping skills to help them when their anxiety becomes exacerbated. They can also expect to learn how to change their relationship with radiation or the idea of radiation by improving their cognition by using effective CBT skills.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Radiophobia

DBT is a very effective form of treatment for people struggling with emotion regulation. It is often used to treat people suffering from borderline personality disorder. Nevertheless, it can also be very advantageous for someone suffering from anxiety disorders like radiophobia too. This is due to the numerous amount of coping skills you can expect to learn in a DBT group. These groups typically last about 6 months long and can have anywhere from two people to several people depending on how many join the group.

One very effective DBT skill for helping someone with radiophobia is half-smiling. This technique works by having you think about that which you fear or upsets you all while slightly raising the corners of your mouth by lightly smiling, thus the term “half-smiling.” Although, it isn’t enough to just think about your fear while half-smiling, you also have to try and refrain from entertaining those painful emotions that your specific fear may evoke.

Mindfulness meditation is also heavily used in DBT and can greatly benefit someone with radiophobia as it is done in a group setting, which helps to put the patient out of their comfort zone. These group mindfulness practices may include drinking warm tea to hone in on the sense of taste and tactile senses or simply focusing on the breath.

Coping ahead is another very useful DBT skill that can help someone with radiophobia. With coping ahead, you will want to find a place where you can sit down quietly without distraction. Close your eyes and then think about the many different possible scenarios where you would face your specific fear and overcome it or cope with it. Doing so will help you to be much better adept at coping with your radiophobia when you are actually exposed to the specific fear associated with it in real life.

Yoga for Radiophobia

There are numerous different yoga poses that can substantially benefit someone who is suffering from radiophobia. In part, this is due to the meditative state of mind that yoga tends to emit in those who practice it on a consistent basis. Yoga can be thought of as meditation in motion. It can help to relieve some of the anxiety associated with radiophobia due to the mere fact that by engaging in yoga, your attention will be redirected to something more productive.

There are many different types of yoga that someone with radiophobia can benefit from, such as hatha yoga or hot yoga, among many others. Nevertheless, regardless of the many different forms of yoga that exist, virtually all of them can help to relieve some of the stress and anxiety that is associated with radiophobia.

If you have never practiced yoga before, then it may be in your best interest to take a class or watch some guided videos that can help you through each pose. Just like with meditation, the more you practice yoga, the more adept you will become at it. Besides helping you to reduce your symptoms of radiophobia, you can also expect to acquire increased strength and flexibility, among other benefits.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Radiophobia

CBT is a psycho-social intervention that aims to improve one’s mental health. It is a modality that is often used to treat people suffering from anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and OCD. Someone with radiophobia may also be able to benefit from CBT as well seeing as how it would allow them to have a much better understanding as to why they think and behave the way they do in relation to their irrational fears.

CBT can be immensely helpful for someone with radiophobia given the sheer automaticity of their symptoms. For example, when someone with radiophobia is exposed to their fear, they will almost always have an instantaneous subconscious reaction to their fear. Such a lack of introspection is likely a large part of why someone with this condition will suffer to the extent that they will. CBT can help you to take a step back and analyze your fears more deeply than you typically would.

Besides learning to be more fastidious with regards to understanding one’s specific fears, someone with radiophobia engaging in CBT can also expect to learn various other skills aimed at helping to relieve the anxiety caused by their condition.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Radiophobia

MBSR is an 8-week evidence-based program that offers secular, intensive mindfulness training to help people who are suffering from anxiety, stress, depression, and other sorts of mental anguish. MBSR may be able to significantly help someone who is suffering from radiophobia as mindfulness meditation has been shown to be very beneficial for anxious people. In such a structured program, someone with radiophobia can expect to learn a plethora of different skills that can help them to relieve the intense anxiety that’s associated with their specific phobia.

Talk to your doctor or therapist to see if MBSR can help you to reduce the intensity of your symptoms of radiophobia, as well as where to find MBSR programs in your area.

Exposure Therapy for Radiophobia

As previously mentioned, exposure therapy is one of the most common ways to treat anxiety disorders such as radiophobia. It can be an efficient way to help desensitize the patient to their specific fears. Be that as it may, it is imperative that the therapist implementing it on their patient is very adept at doing so. For example, if the therapist were to slightly expose someone with radiophobia to their fear, then it may not be very effective as they may need a higher amount of exposure to truly trigger any sort of worthwhile change in the patient.

The same can be said for the antithesis of this scenario. If the therapist were to excessively expose someone with radiophobia to their fear, then doing so could be highly counterproductive to the point to where their radiophobia may become immensely worse due to the therapy alone. So, it is paramount that the therapist implementing exposure therapy for someone with radiophobia has a very strong sense of just how severe their symptoms are so that they can know the level of exposure that the patient will likely be able to handle.

Reducing Caffeine for Radiophobia

It is no secret that consuming large amounts of caffeine throughout the day can aid in making you more anxious. This makes sense when we look closely at how caffeine affects our body’s physiology. When we consume a high dose of caffeine, our heart will start to beat faster and we become more tense. Essentially, our body will begin to go into a “fight or flight” state of mind. Such a frame of mind is often a precursor for someone with radiophobia to experience panic attacks.

So, consuming little to no caffeine throughout the day may be able to significantly help reduce your day to day anxiety. Although doing so will likely not make all of your anxiety go away, it will indeed help you to reduce any unnecessary suffering that you would have otherwise experienced if you were to consume a large amount of caffeine.

Beverages like coffee and tea are often high in caffeine, as well as some energy drinks. In fact, even some foods have caffeine in them as well, such as dark chocolate. Being more conscious of your daily caffeine consumption may help you to reduce some of the symptoms associated with radiophobia.

Psychiatric Drugs for Radiophobia

Antidepressant Drugs

These types of medications aren’t only for people who suffer from depression as they can also help people suffering from anxiety disorders as well, such as radiophobia. Some common antidepressants are Paxil, Zoloft, and Lexapro, among several others. These drugs may be able to help reduce some of the symptoms of radiophobia.

These types of drugs are typically taken on a daily basis. They can indeed help prevent panic attacks from occurring, but they are more so used to help reduce people’s daily anxiety. Talk to your doctor to see if taking antidepressants can help to reduce your symptoms of radiophobia, as well as whether or not it is safe to do so.

Anti-anxiety Drugs

These types of medications are very useful to help prevent panic attacks. Such drugs can be extremely useful for people suffering from severe radiophobia due to the fact that people with phobias often experience panic attacks as well. Some common anti-anxiety medications include Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin, among many others.

These types of drugs are not typically taken on a daily basis, but they may be insofar as their radiophobia is severe enough. However, this is something that you should first discuss with your doctor before you decide to do so to ensure that it is safe and effective.

Exercise for Radiophobia

Exercise has been shown to be extremely beneficial for people suffering from anxiety disorders, including radiophobia. Specifically, cardiovascular exercise can significantly help to relieve one’s stress. This is not to say that weight-resistance training would not benefit someone with anxiety, but rather that aerobic exercise is has been shown to be more effective at releasing those feel good chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins.

According to the American Psychology Association, exercise can help to condition the mind to better cope with stressful situations. This makes sense when we take into consideration the high amount of stress that the body is put under during strenuous exercise. So, if you yourself are sedentary, then engaging in some form of aerobic exercise may be able to significantly help reduce your symptoms of radiophobia by making it much easier for you to cope with the anxiety and stress that’s associated with this condition.

There are many different aerobic modalities that you can partake in to help reduce your symptoms of radiophobia, such as swimming, biking, skiing, walking, and jogging. You can also acquire the many benefits of exercise by playing sports such as tennis, soccer, basketball, and racquetball, among many other sports. Engaging in some form of exercise consistently may be able to help relieve some of the pain associated with radiophobia over time.

Meditation for Radiophobia

There are many different forms of meditation that exists which can be very advantageous for someone suffering from radiophobia. Specifically, mindfulness meditation has been shown to be quite beneficial for helping people to enter into a more equanimous state. There are many different ways with which you can implement mindfulness meditation and there are also many different meditation apps which are designed to make things as easy as possible for you.

Mindfulness has the potential to significantly help those suffering from radiophobia due to how it will help one to distract themselves from their fear by refocusing their attention onto something else that does not have any sort of emotional baggage attached to it, such as by focusing on the breath for example. This is one of the most basic ways that one can meditate and be present.

For someone with radiophobia in the midst of a panic attack, redirecting one’s attention to the various sensations felt when breathing can actually help to reduce the amount of mental anguish experienced during such an influx of anxiety.

To implement mindfulness meditation to help relieve one’s symptoms of radiophobia, you can do so by paying close attention to the way the muscles in your abdomen and chest contract and relax with every inhale and exhale. You can spend time dwelling on how it feels as your chest expands during each inhale and how it sinks in with every exhale.

Besides focusing on your breathing, you can also focus on the sounds around you, the way your skin feels as you touch certain objects, the way foods taste, as well as the way certain aromas smell. Essentially, honing into your 5 senses can significantly help you to reduce some of the anxiety that is associated with radiophobia. Also, remember that it will take a lot of practice to become an adept meditator. So, practice is key.

If you think you may be suffering from some of the symptoms of this condition, then you may benefit from therapy. Feel free to reach out to your doctor or local mental health clinic to see what your available options are and to see if there is any sort of discount or promo code available to help you with the costs of treatment, as well as if your health insurance will cover treatment costs.