Adv, I have a huge fear of getting a prion based disease like sporadic Cruezfeldt-Jakob, even though the odds are less than one in a million and I'm like 40 years away from when that sort of thing typically shows up in that less than one in a million people. How do I deal with a phobia like this?
>>17100769
Go vegetarian?
I can identify with that fear. I have heard from family members of people who got into accidents and received head wounds and became almost new people. I fear that some how I could change unknowingly as a person. I think it is the fear of letting go of self awareness. I would rather die and be nothing then become something else with the loss of my self. I suppose maybe try to regard the fact we are always changing, and even our memories of the past are changing constantly as we re-remember things as we grow as people.
I think it would be AWESOME to have a deep fear of something that is almost impossible to happen.
I have a deep fear that my youngest kid's leukemia will relapse, or that my wife will inherit the blindness that affected her mom. And I'm definitely afraid that my oldest kid will meet with trouble because he wants to pay for college by applying for ROTC.
You know how you deal with this stuff? Same way you eat an elephant. You take a bite, and then another. You push through it.
OP, you're going to die. So am I. So is everyone who is living right now.
You deal with it by dealing with it, and moving on. If I were you, I'd be more afraid of crossing the street than I am of prions. The odds of trouble happening when you cross the street are infinitely greater than encountering a prion.
>>17100769
Did you know you can get a disease if you believe you have it?
>>17100769
>How do I deal with a phobia like this?
First off, you get help. You're absolutely right that this is a phobia: the object of your fear is not unreasonable, but you take it far beyond proportion to the risks.
After that, just be careful where your meat comes from. All known methods of prion transmission involve either direct contact with the brains or nervous tissue of something that has the disease, or (and this is far less common) from eating an organism with the disease. Avoid meat that from livestock that has been given rendered feed -this is one of the few things that labels like "organic", "free-range", and "grass-fed" are actually known to be good for- and you'll be fine.
>>17100769
get one of these at http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/madcow.html
and then take it with you to CBT. I'm sure the therapist can incorporate that thing in a good way into your therapy.
>>17100769
Hadn't heard of any of this until I read your post. Just looked it up... Never been happier to be a vegetarian!
