WHITE COAT SYNDROME

Medical consultations can generate a great variety of feelings depending on how we perceive them. Sometimes we can feel some anxiety to know the result of a medical study. In addition, there is an association between emotions and bodily reactions that a person can present. Who has not had palpitations in the face of the threat of a robbery that generates nervousness? Who has not had an unpleasant sensation in the throat because of a great sadness that happened in life? The same can happen when we go to a doctor's visit.

There are people who can suffer alterations linked to the presence of a doctor who wears a white coat. This type of problem can bring a series of consequences that make daily activities difficult. Knowing important data about this topic can give us tools to deal with it efficiently. Would you be interested in knowing more about this? In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about the White coat syndrome, what is it, symptoms and how to overcome it.

Index

1. What is white coat syndrome
2. Symptoms of white coat syndrome
3. How to overcome white coat syndrome

When we talk about white coat syndrome, we talk about increased blood pressure that can present a patient in the presence of a doctor wearing a white coat. It is important to clarify that this is not related to the fact of having or not having a picture of hypertension, since the elevation of blood pressure is only explained by this factor.

For this reason, within the DSM-V^[1], white coat syndrome could be considered a disease anxiety disorder. And what does white coat hypertension mean? Is the result of worries or fears of getting serious health conditions. To this must be added that the image of the doctor produces in the patient a series of symptoms linked to certain diseases.

Characteristics of white coat syndrome

The individual suffering from white coat syndrome conceives the possibility of becoming ill when he / she is seen by a doctor. Next, we will see the main characteristics of this disorder:

• The patient is worried for having some kind of disease.
• There are presence of one or more symptom.
• The patient tries avoid attending health centers.
• Concern for illness has a duration of six months or more.

We must take into account the symptoms presented by those people who suffer from the white coat syndrome since this will allow its rapid detection. In the following points, we will place the most relevant symptoms:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression disorders
• Hypochondria (ideas about having a disease without having it)
• Fear of death
• Sickness
• Stress
• Incrise of cardiac frecuency
• Sweating
• Elevated blood pressure

It should be noted that the presence of any of these symptoms does not imply that we are facing the white coat syndrome. Given this, it is important that the diagnosis be carried out by a health professional since it will be the in charge of guiding the corresponding treatment according to the characteristics that the patient presents in question.

There are some treatments available today that have been shown to be effective against white coat syndrome. Next, we will talk about the most important ones:

• Psychological therapy: Since one of the main causes of this problem consists of having lived through situations of great stress linked to death, therapy can provide various tools to solve conflicts that a person may have in their life everyday. Both short-term therapies (for example, cognitive behavioral therapy) and long-term therapies (psychoanalysis) address the patient's symptoms through certain interventions that produce improvements in coping with stressful situations and / or anxiety.
• Emotional containment: This implies not only the realization of a psychological therapy, but also the presence of the patient's environment. In other words, the accompaniment of family and friends is crucial in those moments in which the symptoms are more visible.
• Meditation: This type of practice resides in following a guide who provides indications about how to breathe at that moment. On a general level, it is important that the environment is calm and free of noises that are distracting factors. The most important aspect of meditation is to downplay the thoughts that can trigger high levels of stress for a person. This produces a body relaxation that can be beneficial to the lives of those with white coat syndrome.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to White coat syndrome: what is it, symptoms and how to overcome it, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V). Arlington: Editorial Médica Panamericana.

• Aguirre Ramos, R., Trujillo-Hernández, B., Huerta, M., Trujillo, X., Vásquez, C., Millán Guerrero, R. (2002). Frequency of white coat hypertension and its risk factors in newly diagnosed patients. Magazine Gaceta Médica de México, 138 (4), 319-324.
• Alcalá Cerra, G. (2007). White coat hypertension. Health Uninorte Magazine, 23 (2), 243-250.