When Dorothea Lack was a little girl, she hid under a doctor's desk to avoid a vaccination. Undaunted, the doctor crawled under the desk and vaccinated her then and there. Lack said the incident provoked a fear of doctors that followed her into adulthood. "I didn't feel I could trust them," says Lack, PhD, now a psychologist who performs research on doctor-patient relations.

It's a rare soul who truly enjoys visiting the doctor. But for a significant minority of the population, fear and anxiety prevents them from getting vital care. The problem has grown in importance with medicine's increasing emphasis on preventive care. Screenings such as mammograms, colorectal exams, cholesterol checks, and digital rectal exams can save lives, but only if people are willing to submit to uncomfortable procedures well before symptoms have emerged.

Fortunately, there are proven methods for relieving fear of doctors. But dealing with the problem first requires fessing up to it. Many people may hide their fear by saying they don't have time for a doctor's visit, says Jennifer Hay, PhD, a health psychology researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "The first step to putting [fear] in its place is acknowledging that it's there," says Hay, who also counsels cancer patients. "Some of the most powerful fears are the ones we don't acknowledge."