Curing Cancerphobia: How Risk, Fear, and Worry Mislead Us

The fear of cancer is understandable. But that fear is in some ways outdated, as it fails to account for the medical progress made against this family of diseases. In Curing Cancerphobia, David Ropeik reveals the fascinating historical and psychological roots of our fear of cancer and documents the dramatic health and financial harms caused when that fear exceeds the risk.

Fear of cancer drives millions for whom screening is not recommended to seek testing for the disease anyway, producing tens of thousands of emotionally damaging false positives and costing the US health care system an estimated $9.2 billion a year. At the same time, fear of cancer causes many people for whom screening is recommended to avoid it altogether.

Modern screening technologies often identify cancers that do not spread or that grow so slowly they almost certainly will never cause harm in a person’s lifetime.

Yet many people, frightened by the word “cancer” in their diagnosis, understandably choose more aggressive and risky treatments than their clinical conditions require. These unnecessary treatments can have catastrophic outcomes, including death, severe side effects, or a lower quality of life, on top of costing the health care system at least $5.2 billion a year.

Additionally, consumers spend billions of dollars on vitamins and supplements, pricey organic food, and other products that promise to reduce our risk of cancer but do not actually affect it. An excessive fear of cancer can also make us resistantto potentially beneficial technologies like nuclear power and the fluoridation of tap water. After documenting these harms, Ropeik offers tools and suggestions to help reduce the negative impacts of cancerphobia. Based on extensive research, including interviews with experts and cancer patients, Curing Cancerphobia confronts our emotional relationship with the disease we fear more than any other.

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