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Radiophobia

Radiophobia is abnormal fear of radiation. The term is used in several related senses: in reference to a neurological disorder, to a specific phobia, and to the anti-atomic energy attitude. more...

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While being afraid of radiation is normal, since it presents clear danger, this fear may become abnormal and even irrational phobia, often because of being poorly informed, but also as a result of traumatic experience.

In the former Soviet Union many patients sick from radioactivity after the Chernobyl disaster were accused of radiophobia in attempts to diminish the scale of the consequences. Sadly, these claims were supported in some reports of experts from IAEA. At the same time, radiophobia, i.e., an exsessive fear of radiation did exist among the affected population, for the very reason that people knew that the government was lying about the degree of danger. Lyubov Sirota, the auhor of Chernobyl Poems wrote in her poem, Radiophobia:

Is this only - a fear of radiation?

Perhaps rather - a fear of wars?

Perhaps - the dread of betrayal,

cowardice, stupidity, lawlessness?

Similar attempts to mitigate the danger of radiation by stygmatizing the opponents of nuclear plants and nuclear tests with the label of "phobiacs" were known in the USA as well. In 1984 the United States Department of Energy awarded a contract to develop ways of overcoming public's "nuclear phobia".

At the same time, medical experts that investigate psychological consequences of Chernobyl present reasonable arguments that certain psychoneurological syndromes exibited in fatigue, sleep disturbances, impaired memory, etc., i.e., similar to that of chronic fatigue syndrome, did apper to have no direct correlation to the dose of radiation and the level of contamination of the area of residence.

Today the term "radiophobia" is polemicaly used e.g., by the opponents of the LNT concept (Linear no-threshold response model for ionizing radiation) of radiational security proposed by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) in 1949, with "no-threshold" effectively meaning that even negligible doses of radiation pose danger. The issue remains controversial.

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Radiophobia: Long-term psychological consequences of chernobyl
From Military Medicine, 2/1/02 by Pastel, Ross H

The primary health effect of Chernobyl has been widespread psychological distress in liquidators (workers brought in for cleanup), evacuees, residents of contaminated areas, and residents of adjacent noncontaminated areas. Several psychoneurological syndromes characterized by multiple unexplained physical symptoms including fatigue, sleep and mood disturbances, impaired memory and concentration, and muscle and/or joint pain have been reported in the Russian literature. These syndromes, which resemble chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, are probably not due to direct effects of radiation because they do not appear to be dose related to radiation exposure and because they occur in areas of both high and low contamination.

9. Viel JF. Curbakova E, Dzerve B, Eglite M, Zvagule T, Vincent C: Risk factors for long-term mental and psychosomatic distress in Latvian Chernobyl liquidators. Environ Health Perspect 1997; 105 (Suppl 6): 1539-44.

10. Rahu M, Tekkel M, Veidebaum T, et al: The Estonian study of Chernobyl cleanup workers: II. Incidence of cancer and mortality. Radial Res 1997; 147: 653-7.

11. Tarabrina N, Lazebnaya E, Zelenova M, Lasko N: Chernobyl clean-up workers' perception of radiation threat. Radiat Prot Dosim 1996; 68: 251-5.

12. Cwikel J, Abdelgani A, Goldsmith JR, Quastel M, Yevelson 11: Two-year follow up study of stress-related disorders among immigrants to Israel from the Chernobyl

area. Environ Health Perspect 1997: 105 (Suppl 6): 1545-50.

13. Ginzburg HM: The psychological consequences of the Chernobyl accident-findings from the international atomic energy agency study. Public Health Rep 1993; 108: 184-92.

14. Koscheyev VS, Leon GR, Gourine AV, Gourine VN: Psychosocial aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in an area of relatively low contamination. Prehospital Disaster Med 1997; 12: 41-6.

15. Bard D, Verger P, Hubert P: Chernobyl, 10 years after. health consequences. Epidemiol Rev 1997; 19: 187-204.

Guarantor: LTC Ross H. Pastel, MSC USA

Contributor: LTC Ross H. Pastel, MSC USA

Radiation Pathophysiology and Toxicology Department, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20889-5603.

This manuscript was received for review in February 2001. The revised manuscript was accepted for publication in November 2001.

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