i am deathly afraid of hospitals and wont go near one, but i really think i hurt my hand but if i go ill start hyperventilating
how do i overcome a fear so i can get an xray?

Just go.

Have someone put a blindfold on you and then take you there. You won't know you're there until said blindfold is removed, so therefore you will not be afraid and could be soothed by the doctors if you start to hyperventilate. (Note: I wasn't being serious here, so don't try this, it could just make you worse.)
Seriously though, just call the hospital and let them know that you have a fear of the hospital and they could have someone help you once you get there.

svck it up and walk on in? Really it’s hard for tips like that.

Think of it as a Roller Coaster. Its one of the scariest in the world but you don’t want to miss out on living life. I never went to a clinic for a while and ignored the pain coming from my hand and part of my arm. Turned d out I had spider venom slowly traveling to my heart through my blood stream.

Walk and don't think. Just keep walking through the doors even though your brain says not to.

Also it might help to schedule an appointment.

Edit: In short; Be a man, man.

Whatever you do, don't get drunk or intoxicated in any way. It may help you get over your fear but it'll create a bunch of other, more serious problems for you to deal with.

Wait until something so bad happens to you that all you know is you've suddenly woken up in a hospital room plugged in to life-support. You'll have no choice but to stay then.

Well there is always professional help in the form of a therepist. Although you don't have time for that now because of your hand not being able to wait, it is something to consider for the future.

As for what you can do now, I don't know maybe try listening to some music through some earphones to take your mind of it whilst your there. Music always helps me relax. Maybe take your girlfrind or even parents with you for support.

At the end of the day you have just got to do it. My dad has a fear of needles but has to have tests done every now and then. Sometimes you just have to svck it up, I know I probably didn't help much.

On the up side, you'll be hyperventilating inside a hospital - presumably they know how to deal with that sort of thing.

Yeah becuase its that easy to get over phobias/anxiety. Allthough in this case not going in could have far worse conseqences.


Do you have an Ipod ? I have anxiety and I just listen to music to help take my mind off things.

Carry a paper bag, those are good for hyperventilation.

If I remember correctly, there's really two self-help ways to deal with phobias. There's the svck it up and expose yourself to your fear as much as you can till you're desensitized to it, or a gradual build up...if I remember correctly from psychology 101.

So, for example, if you have a fear of spiders, you can either run into a room full of spiders, or watch a daddy-long leg in a box, then take it out after a while, then switch to a slightly more scary one, and so on.

As for your hand, if it starts to swell badly, get a [censored] x-ray and stop being a wuss. The most they do in x-rays is make you stick out your hand. Why, I once got into a fight with a wall. Two days after my hands were swollen twice their size, and I was told to get an x-ray. The people at the hospital just make me stick out my hand under the x-ray, and nothing else.

pretend it's a video game. except don't do anything stupid because you won't respawn. Seriously. When I get scared of something I always pretend it's a video game the first few times, then I get comfortable with whatever I was doing, and it is a piece of cake.

Except the dark.... I hate the dark... Outside dark. I love inside dark.

Carry a shotgun. Its always easier to face your fears with a shotgun in hand.

Unless you've got Hoplophobia, in which case, you're screwed.

The best thing to do is just face your fear head-on. I used to be afraid of heights until my friends practically dragged me onto the Millennium Force at Cedar Point (one of the biggest roller coasters in the US, for anyone who might be unfamiliar with it). I've never been afraid of heights since. Two years later, I did the same thing with another friend who was also afraid of heights, it cured his fear of heights as well.

Well to start I would anolyze why you are afraid of hospitals. Is it the doctors? The antiseptic smell? Bad memories of a previous visit? That is important to understand, because then you address your real fear. And while the earlier comment about pretending to be in a video game may have been in jest (at least in part) there is some merit in the act of disassociation. If someone who is afraid of, lets say snakes, were to view snakes through a camera they would become more comfortable as it makes it feel as if they are not really there. Though I'm not sure a doctor would diagnose you via make believe video conference.

Get health insurance then the hospital won't be scary anymore. Without insurance the hospital is a very scary place at least in Capitali$t America.

Dont know why you said the capitalist part. Considering thats most of the world...

I usually force myself to do something If I don't want to (especially if I'm scared).

You know what I'm really afraid of? Dieing from a blood clot in my hand because I WOULDN'T GO TO THE FRIGGIN' HOSPITAL!

I'm the complete opposite of you - if there's one place I'm not afraid of it's a hospital, because it's their job to sort out whatever's wrong with you. Just realize that that they won't do anything to you without your permission, and that it's infinitely better to go and get your hand checked (which won't hurt), rather than getting an infection, blood clot etc.

be brave. Acknowledge that it is scary. Find courage - by thinking of someone you know who did something brave, for example. Or even a fictional character. "If they can do X, then I can do Y!"

It might be helpful to also try to think about and specifically identify and articulate what aspects of the hospital setting upset you. The decor? The smells? The lighting? The other patients? Once you start making a list of those things, try to think about them and how you can rethink the situation and use your rational thoughts to defuse the triggers - how you can develop coping strategies.

You might even consider taking a close friend and just going to the hospital (without a medical reason). You can talk out loud what you are feeling and experiencing. Your friend should try to prompt you to articulate what things are triggering your fear response.

By identifying and dissecting your fear, you will hopefully be able to build courage and power over the triggers - they will no longer be amorphous shadowy feelings. You will be in control of the thoughts that lead to the feelings of fear. And you can consciously change which thoughts to think (fake it 'till ya make it), and that in turn will, with time, produce different feelings.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy. In CBT, there's the CBT triangle, where each corner represents the following: Thoughts, Feelings, Behaviors. Each leads to the other. Typically, thoughts give rise to feelings that prompt behaviors. Thus, behavior modification can involve trying to consciously have different thoughts in response to a situation - a process called "reframing the situation."

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As for my fear, spiders, I try to get angry at them. I'm all like "Who gave you permission to be here, foul beast?! I didn't! Thou shall die a most horrible death, fiend!" And then I squish it with a kleenex and try not to look at it. But I don't think that will work with hospitals.

You don't get over it, you harness it and use it against your foes................FOR THE GLORY OF THE SITH.

Bad hospital food for ALL my enemies!!!

I did that while weed wacking. I was like "If Applejack can buck all those trees, then I can WACK THIS DITCH!"

Worked to some effect.

Have someone knock you out and drive you there unconscious.