medication phobia
{{Infobox medical condition
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| synonym = Pharmacophobia
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| specialty = Psychiatry, clinical psychology
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Medication phobia, also known as pharmacophobia, is a fear of the use of pharmacological treatments and a negative view of drugs in general.{{Cite journal |last=Petelinšek |first=Ana |last2=Lauri Korajlija |first2=Anita |date=2020-05-26 |title=Predictors of pharmacophobia |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7270631/ |journal=Health Psychology Research |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.4081/hpr.2020.8853 |issn=2420-8124 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241224153908/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7270631/ |archive-date=2024-12-24|pmc=7270631 }} In severe, excessive and irrational cases it may be a type of specific phobia.{{Cite journal |last1=Bossini |first1=L. |last2=Martinucci |first2=M. |last3=Paolini |first3=K. |last4=Castrogiovanni |first4=P. |date=Jan 2005 |title=Panic-agoraphobic spectrum and light sensitivity in a general population sample in Italy |journal=Can J Psychiatry |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=39–45 |doi=10.1177/070674370505000108 |pmid=15754664 |doi-access=free}}
While lack of awareness by patient or doctor of adverse drug effects can have serious consequences, and having reservations about the use of drugs with abuse potential may be healthy, having a phobia of medications can have serious detrimental effects on patient health, for example refusal of necessary pharmacological interventions.{{Cite journal |last1=Marks |first1=R. |title=Pharmaphilia and pharmaphobia |journal=Clin Dermatol |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=69–71 |year=2001 |doi=10.1016/S0738-081X(00)00215-7 |pmid=11369491}}{{Cite journal |title=Drugs that call for extra caution. Heed these warnings, but don't let "pharmaphobia" threaten your heart |journal=Heart Advis |volume=9 |issue=12 |pages=4–5 |date=Dec 2006 |pmid=17299872}}{{Cite journal |last1= Naess |first1=K. |title=[Editorial: "Pharmaphobia"] |journal=Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen |volume=94 |issue=25 |pages=1544–5 |date=Sep 1974 |pmid=4424846}} Medication phobia can also lead to problems with medication compliance.{{cite journal |author=KLE HON |author2=TF LEUNG |year=2008 |title= Killing Many Birds with One Stone |journal=HK J Paediatr |series=New Series |volume=13 |pages=135–138 |publisher=Hong Kong Journal of Pediatrics |location=Hong Kong |url= http://www.hkjpaed.org/pdf/2008;13;135-138.pdf }} Medication phobia can also present in parents who are concerned about giving medications to their children,{{cite book |last1=Winner |first1=Paul |last2=Rothner |first2=David |title=Headache In Children And Adolescents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ro-jHpz9pk0C&pg=PA100 |date=23 Jan 2001 |publisher=BC Decker |isbn=1-55009-125-5 |page= 100}} fearing that the medications will do more harm than good.{{Cite book |last1=Diamond |first1=Seymour |last2=Diamond |first2=Amy |title=Headache and your child: the complete guide to understanding and treating migraines and other headaches in children and adolescents |year=2001 |publisher=Simon Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-684-87309-1 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XONFAAAAYAAJ}} Medication phobia can be triggered by unpleasant adverse reactions to medications which are sometimes prescribed inappropriately or at excessive doses. Lack of awareness of the patient's predisposition to adverse effects (e.g. anxious patients and the elderly) and failure to attribute the adverse effects to the drug serves to compound the phobia.{{cite book |last1=M.d. Kamath |first1=Bob |title=Is Your Balloon About to Pop? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8zlWSjPrMVgC&pg=PA191 |date=30 May 2007 |publisher=Booksurge Llc |isbn=978-1-4196-6556-1 |page=173}} Starting at low doses and slowly increasing the medication dosage can avoid medication phobia secondary to adverse effects from developing.{{Cite book |last1= HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE ORGANIZATION |first1=OHIO |title=PALLIATIVE CARE POCKET CONSULTANT |publisher=Kendall Hunt Publishing |isbn=978-0-7872-8701-6 |page=25 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2tV2Pz9qCf4C&pg=PA25|year=2001 }}
Fears of medication use is also prevalent in people who have experienced unpleasant withdrawal effects from psychotropic drugs.{{cite web |url=http://benzo.org.uk/manual/ |title=Benzodiazepines: how they work & how to withdraw |author=Ashton CH |year=2002 |work=The Ashton Manual |publisher=benzo.org.uk |access-date=2009-05-27}} Sometimes patients wrongly associate symptoms of an acute disease or illness with medications used to treat the disease or illness. This form of pharmacophobia can be treated by attempting to convince the patient to take test doses of the drug or another drug in the same drug class to prove to the patient that the symptoms were not due to the drug but due to the illness the drug was taken to treat.{{Cite journal |last1=Mastrovich |first1=JD |last2=Patterson |first2=R |last3=Davison |first3=R |last4=Harris |first4=KE |title=Using test dose challenges to restore essential therapy in patients with idiopathic anaphylaxis and pharmacophobia: report of a patient with idiopathic anaphylaxis and statin phobia |journal=Allergy Asthma Proc |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=303–9 |pmid=11715221|year=2001 }}