It seems like a fairly obvious point: early detection and diagnosis are important to ensure speedy treatment and better health outcomes.
Nonetheless, many people put-off visiting health professionals to get proper assessments of their physical and/or psychological symptoms. Beyond the expense and time it takes to visit health professionals, many people feel nervous to make these visits.
The extent of this fear can vary, and while some are afraid that these assessments might be painful or uncomfortable, some fear the unknown of what these procedures entail.
However, a more alarming resistance to health assessments has been the fear of diagnosis itself. Despite on-going symptoms, many people believe that symptoms without a diagnosis, means that there is nothing wrong with them.
This avoidance and denial allow them the chance to put-off the physical and emotional implications of being diagnosed. However, by protecting themselves in the short-term, this kind of denial and avoidance can have drastic long-term consequences.
It can mean the development of Aids, the spread of cancer, and the loss of limbs and other body parts. In so far as mental health is concerned, it often leads to unnecessary suffering, where counselling and psychiatric medication can offer relief.
