44 Medical Pics That Might Make Even The Most Squeamish Person Curious

According to cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Christian Jarrett, the things that human beings find the most disgusting are bodily fluids.

“Mostly these are bodily fluids that have the potential to spread disease,” he writes in a post on BBC Science Focus.

“The implication, which makes a lot of intuitive sense, is that we’ve evolved the disgust reaction as a behavioural defence against contamination.”

Interestingly enough, our moral system has adopted this system, too. For instance, people may refuse to wear a piece of clothing worn by a dictator “as if they could somehow be contaminated by his evil.”

Even the best medical professionals get grossed out in certain situations. They might be great at handling some sights but more vulnerable to others. And fainting at the sight of bodily fluids is something that happens to doctors in training, too.

“There are always situations in the hospital that you aren’t prepared for,” Nikita Saxena, MD, told AAMCNews.

“Seeing someone getting a vaccine or a cut is different from some of the crazy things you see as a med student. Just being uncomfortable in certain patient care settings is really common among students,” Saxena explained.

So, what can you actually do to fight back against your squeamishness when you’ve got your medical studies and career to think about?

According to Joseph LeDoux, PhD, professor of neuroscience at New York University, we’re grossed out by gruesome sights for evolutionary reasons.

“One of the reasons we’re afraid of heights is because our ancestors lived in trees, and falling out of a tree could be dangerous. Seeing blood obviously reflects something bad happening around you,” LeDoux told AAMCNews.

Individuals who are more sensitive to these gruesome sights are better at identifying danger, moving away from it, and surviving.

In other words, being squeamish might be an advantage in the right context. Though, obviously, not if you want a reputable career in medicine. Meanwhile, too much sensitivity to your environment can eventually become a disadvantage, too.

According to Eric Bui, MD, PhD, acting director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital, a person’s hyper-sensitivity to danger signals can sometimes be related to traumatic childhood events.

“This might have been a visit to a doctor or an accident, and, as a child, the person experienced intense fear. At that time, blood became associated with danger, and this association has persisted.”

As per Andrea Batton, LCPC, clinical director of the Maryland Anxiety Center, it is human nature for someone sensitive to gruesome images to have automatic negative thoughts.

Batton notes that these are thinking errors and thinking traps.

“When you have a fear of blood or something gross or seeing internal organs, once you develop that fear you have an aversive response, and that can become a conditioned response. The person will escape or avoid. It’s maintaining the cycle of fear and avoidance.”