by L A Myers-Campos

Created on: August 28, 2009   Last Updated: August 29, 2009

Dealing with a fearful patient is one of the most common psychological problems you will find yourself confronted with in the course of your nursing career. At first, this can be daunting, but keeping a few key points in mind, along with interventions proven successful in practice, you will find fear to be something you can easily assist your patient in overcoming.

1. Remain calm in your actions and speech, both directly to the patient and in the presence of the patient with other team members. There is a saying, "Fear creates danger. Courage dispels it." By maintaining a confident attitude for your patient, you will subconsciously instill a bit of your own courage within them.

2. Take time to listen to the patient. Encourage them to verbalize the source and reason for their fears. Whatever reasons they may voice, confirm their reasons with your replies. Even irrational fears are real fears and the affects are the same, regardless. Don't try to minimize their fears by using generic phrases such as "It will be okay," or "I'm sure it's nothing," and so on. Just listen and show understanding without judgment.

3. Much fear is caused by the unknown. Provide your patient with as much factual information related to their disease, procedure, or treatment as you can. If possible, and if policy permits it, find others who have been through what the patient is facing and invite them to visit with your patient and share their own experiences. Screen the prospective visitors in order to eliminate any possible increase in the patient's anxiety. Ask the visitors to accentuate the positive aspects of their own experience and also to share their own successful methods for dealing with fear.

4. Encourage your patient to engage in some favorite diversionary activities and hobbies, as they can tolerate, in order to keep their mind from mulling over the reasons for their fear. When one focuses on negative thoughts, the negativity grows, but when those thoughts aren't given center stage within the mind, they tend to diminish. Encourage family and friends to visit frequently if the patient can tolerate the activity, and ask them to keep the conversation away from the source of fear that the patient has verbalized.

5. Finally, just do all you can to just "be there" for your patient in whatever capacity seems most helpful. If you have the time between duties, sit with them and encourage them to talk about whatever they may feel like talking about. Don't monopolize the conversation; be more of a listener but don't fill your side of the discussion with monosyllables or non-committal replies. Ask questions or restate their points in a way that shows you are interested in them and are completely involved in the interaction. Share of yourself if it is relevant and helpful, but keep the conversation focused on the patient and the energy sincerely positive.

By following these guidelines, your patient is sure to be relieved of a great deal of his or her fear. You probably won't be able to ever totally eliminate your patient's anxiety, but you can alleviate it to a degree that will promote their own peace of mind as well as their body's ability to cope with the situation. Any load taken off the mind and heart ultimately aids the body's efforts toward regaining homeostasis when compromised.

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