Serophobia is an irrational fear of contracting HIV and a feeling of extreme fear and revulsion towards people living with HIV. A person considers risky situations, which in essence do not represent a risk for the transmission of HIV infection, such as hugging, shaking hands, touching, socializing, being in the same room with a person who has HIV, etc. or sees the risk as much higher than it actually is, not distinguishing between highly risky situations (e.g. breaking a condom during sexual intercourse during ejaculation) and less risky (oral sex without a condom), but each situation is equally, i.e. high-risk in the eyes a person who has serophobia.
As a consequence of this fear, on the one hand, there may be frequent testing, whereby the person does not believe that the test is valid and expects a positive result, while on the other hand, they may avoid testing, whereby the person is convinced that they probably already has HIV. In both cases, the person suffers great anxiety and anticipates the worst case scenario (I have AIDS, I'm dying, I've infected others...). In addition to all that, they avoid situations in which they think they may be exposed to an infection. They do not have intercourse or they have it rarely, and when they do, there is a problem with erection, inability to enjoy sexual relations, preoccupation with thoughts such as whether a condom is in place, what if they get infected despite condoms and PrEP etc. Expectedly, after intercourse, there is a large number of tests, mistrust in the partner and in the tests, preoccupation with thoughts about HIV. There is often a feeling of helplessness, the idea that infection is possible in any situation, followed by prejudices against HIV and AIDS, as well as against people living with HIV.Imam sidu, umirem, zarazio sam i druge…). Pored svega toga, osoba izbegava situacije u kojima misli da može biti izložena infekciji, te nema odnose ili ih ima retko, a kad do njih i dođe, javlja se problem sa erekcijom, nemogućnost uživanja u seksualnim odnosima, preokupiranost mislima poput da li je kondom na svom mestu, šta ako se i pored kondoma i PrEP-a zarazim isl. Očekivano onda nakon odnosa sledi veliki broj testiranja, nepoverenje u partnera i u testove, preokupiranost mislima o HIV-u. Često se javlja osećaj bespomoćnosti, umišljaj da je infekcija moguća u svakoj situaciji, a prate ih i predrasude prema HIV-u i sidi, kao i prema osobama koje sa HIV-om žive, na šta se nadovezuju stigma i diskriminacija.
Information and education about HIV and AIDS are important, but mostly insufficient for change, i.e. eradicating serophobia, because the root is not in ignorance (although it supports it), but rather in the symbolic meaning of serophobia. It follows that in order to overcome serophobia, in addition to getting to know the facts about the possibility of HIV transmission, it is necessary for a person to understand the meaning of they fear of contracting HIV, then accepting it and dealing with it.
Help to overcome serophobia is important, in order to help a person feel good and responsibly enjoy relationships, but also to reduce prejudices related to HIV and people who have HIV.
If you also suffer from serophobia, our team of psychologists is here for you.
Author: Jelena Jevtović, psychologist