Army Boy/Man afraid of Doctors

[Cherie762]

My 17 year old son has pre enlisted for the army when he joins in June he will be all set to go( Paperwork, physical etc)
Question, he is terrified of doctors, went for army physical did fine except his pulse was in the 120's. He is 6ft 180lbs, can run 2 miles in 15 min. the kid is healthy.
I had to take him to family dr to get pulse documented 3x in a row, on the 3rd day they also did ekg (fine)
Nurse noticed everytime she walked into room his pulse went up 10 beats. Talked to son hes just terrified of Dr.s had a tramatic experience at age 8 cut finger almost to bone had to get stitches had to be restrained.

How can he get over this?? his normal pulse is 80 at rest, his bp is 126/60. so I know hes got a healty body its psychological, but once hes in the army hes on his own!!hes gonna get a lot of shots etc...How can he help hisself.??

[Jason Greenberg, Ph.D.]

I would recommend that you get your son connected to a cognitive-behavioral therapist for some short-term work to help him overcome this fear of doctors.  However, if you think that the fear has something to do with his fear of going into the military and the dangers that he may face there (e.g., fear of injury, death), that's something a little more in depth.

[Cherie762]

I think I will suggest a little therapy to him, he will have much more contact with Dr's in service and he needs to learn to deal with this. I have taught him some relaxation techinques that seem to help a bit., but he needs to get to the root of this as I will not always be able to help him.
I dont think its anything deeper, he is very excited about joining the army and we are being supportive of him.  Thank you Dr.  I truely appreciate your time and opinion.