Thursday, December 21, 2017

(LML) Fear from leprosy and lepraphobia

Leprosy Mailing List – December 21,  2017

Ref.:  (LML) Fear from leprosy and lepraphobia 

From:  Wim van Brakel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands


Dear Pieter

I would like say that I fully agree with Dr Sunil Deepak's view expressed in the post of Dec 19th, 2017. Leprophobia should be reserved for fears that are extraordinary and that could be seen as a psychological condition, similar to other phobias.

Fear of leprosy in terms of fear of contagion, fear of leprosy-related disabilities, and often also fear of social stigma and of shame and rejection, are unfortunately very common. They can be profound and are possibly the strongest drivers of stigma and also causing internalized stigma among persons affected. However, as Dr Deepak stated, they are based on the prevailing perception and (lack of) knowledge about leprosy or on experiences of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy. Such fears are thus rational, rather than irrational as is the case with phobias.

With kind regards,

 

Wim van Brakel

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Wim van Brakel, MD MSc PhD

Head Technical Department

Netherlands Leprosy Relief (NLR)

Wibautstraat 137k

1097DN Amsterdam

Netherlands

Tel. +31 20 5950529

Email: w.v.brakel@leprastichting.nl

URL: www.leprosyrelief.org

 


LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder

LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/

Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com

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