Reducing fear of MRI scan: 11 practical tips

March 10, 2017

Most people don't suffer from claustrophobia, but that doesn't mean undergoing an MRI scan is any fun. Having a fear of MRI scan is something many people suffer from. It doesn't even have to be the fear of undergoing the scan itself, but it can also be the fear of the result from the scan.

To ensure that you suffer less from fear of an MRI scan, in this article I discuss reducing fear of an MRI scan.

Usefulness of an MRI scan

An MRI scan is often the next step after you've had an ultrasound to further investigate problems. If you have been walking around for months with symptoms that don't show up clearly during a scan, but where the symptoms are throwing your life upside down, a doctor may choose to perform additional research with an MRI scan.

From an experience in my area, this is just as well. In fact, a man in my indirect circle had a pseudocyst. This one was located very deep inside the body. His family doctor had performed an ultrasound to see if the cyst had grown or not and cheerfully declared that the cyst was gone.

Delightful! Apparently, he was better again.

A few months later, he went through the MRI scan for a periodic checkup and instead of the cyst being gone, it had actually grown from the checkup before. So it was definitely not gone! The specialist then turned on the ultrasound for verification and showed that the ultrasound indeed could not determine this. An ultrasound would indeed make it look like nothing was wrong, while the MRI scan showed a clear problem.

So an MRI scan is a necessity if you have severe symptoms and the ultrasound shows nothing.

Cause of fear of an MRI scan

Fear of an MRI scan is not always the same. The most logical fear is caused by claustrophobia. In this case, you just don't like being in such a small space and depending on the person controlling the MRI before you can get out.

Another fear may be a previous experience with the MRI scan in which you find out that it looks like you've entered an illegal techno party in a minimal space. So that thing also makes a lot of noise.

Another fear is that the MRI is painful due to the magnetic effect. Then I have good news for you in advance. The MRI is not painful. The MRI is a little small and makes a lot of noise but it will not hurt you.

Unknown makes unloved and in the Netherlands, MRIs are not given to everyone. Usually they are used all day, but because not every hospital has 10 of them, there is often a waiting list. Because of this, undergoing an MRI is not something people do every day.

Perhaps you are not even afraid of the MRI scan, but of the results. To avoid facing that fear, you can use the MRI as a kind of lightning rod to avoid undergoing it and thus remain mostly under the illusion that there is nothing wrong with you, which hopefully is really the case.

Tips to reduce anxiety during the MRI scan

To ensure that you can still take the MRI scan and then say with certainty whether or not you have something, I want to give you some tips for staying calm.

Tip 1: Take a deep breath

By taking deep breaths and focusing on breathing in and out evenly, you actually kill two birds with one stone. First, calm breathing keeps your body calmer.

The extra oxygen also keeps you thinking clearly, making you less likely to panic. By staying calm, you don't have to spend unnecessary time in the MRI.

Tip 2: Listen to the instructions

Another way to not panic and be less bothered by your anxiety is to listen carefully to the instructions the radiologist gives you. First of all, it gives you something to focus on and secondly, by following the instructions, you avoid lying in the MRI scanner longer than necessary.

In fact, scans are performed between breaths.

Tip 3: Visualize a pleasant place

If you are not claustrophobic but do suffer from anxiety, you can also visualize being in a pleasant place. For example, lying in an MRI is a bit like lying in a tanning bed.

Or you're not even going to visualize being in a slightly more pleasant place that looks like an MRI scan, but totally different. Like that you are sunbathing on the beach or lying in the woods with butterflies fluttering around you.

Tip 4: Read up on the MRI scan

Gather information about the MRI scan. What actually happens during such a scan? Do you get feedback from your radiologist? How do the magnets of an MRI scan work. Gathering information about how an MRI scan works and what you can examine with it can also make undergoing an MRI scan much less scary.

If you suffer from claustrophobia, it is especially important to stay in the here and now you do this with the following tips:

Tip 5: Listen to the MRI scan.

You can listen to the radiologist's instructions as well as the MRI scan itself. During the scan, the MRI makes sounds. This is often a kind of rhythmic sound that sounds a bit like techno music.

Mindful listening ensures that your brain receives signals that can provide enough input that you don't think about the small space for a while.

Tip 6: Look at the MRI scan

Another way to give your brain all kinds of signals it needs to process is to look at the MRI scanner. What is there to see, even if there is nothing to see except the white of the MRI scanner. Look at every inch you can see in detail.

Tip 7: Use mindfulness

Tip 5 and 6 are actually techniques from mindfulness. Through mindfulness, you make sure you stay in the here and now. This helps prevent your imagination from running wild, causing you to suffer from claustrophobic thoughts.

Also check out these tips for undergoing an MRI scan with claustrophobia

Tips to reduce anxiety about MRI scan results

If in itself you are not even afraid of the MRI scan itself, but rather of the result, that is another fear you can overcome in order to avoid rejecting the MRI scan.

Tip 8: Use mindfulness in difficult moments

If you get examined at the hospital, it's for a reason. Especially a referral for an MRI scan can be very scary. This can cause you to have all kinds of thoughts about a possible disease and how it will affect your life. These kinds of thoughts are actually fantasies.

If you find that you are getting a negative future fantasy, you can use mindfulness meditation to stay in the here and now with your attention. That way you can stay focused on your work, household or social life if that's when it happens.

Tip 9: Meditate daily

Meditating for 10 minutes daily can be incredibly helpful in reducing stress and keeping your focus on the day itself.

Tip 10: Take advantage of hypnotherapy

Anxiety is a bad counselor, which is why it is good to face your anxiety under the guidance of a psychologist, coach or hypnotherapist. Techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can then be used to help you figure out why you are afraid of something and how to deal with that fear.

This often depends on personal beliefs , so there is not always a ready-made answer for everyone that everyone can use.

Tip 11: Take advantage of self-hypnosis

If you've been to a therapist, coach or hypnotherapist, you can be given homework to reinforce beliefs that reduce your anxiety. For example, if you are afraid of panicking or that your doctor or radiologist will make a mistake you can repeat the following hypnotic suggestions:

I can stay calm.
I can take a deep breath.
Radiologists have studied for what they do.
My doctor has years of experience.
I don't have to worry until I have a bad rash and not before I have a rash.

So you can do an awful lot to reduce anxiety about an MRI scan or the results. The most important things you can do is to stay calm and to shift your attention back to the here and now when you have less pleasant thoughts.

Want to learn more about mental techniques to stay calm in difficult situations? Then come to a online master classor seminar and View Hypnosis Institute Netherlands training courses.

Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:

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