What Is Neurophobia?

As Tom Cardy, BSc, BVetMed, PhD, MRCVS, a lecturer in veterinary neurology and neurosurgery at Royal Veterinary College in London, England, explains, neurophobia is a phrase to describe a student's fear of the neural sciences and clinical neurology.

"So, neurophobia is a term which was coined here in the United States about 20 years ago. It was coined in the medical profession and it relates to students' fear of the neural sciences and clinical neurology. For some reason, both medical and veterinary students see neurology as a complex subject—there's a lots of neuroanatomy that they feel they have to master before they can start to treat their cases. They find it difficult to see a logical progression through learning neurology. And for that reason, they develop this almost irrational fear and a bias towards avoiding neurology cases.

We're trying to teach the methods to approach neurology cases, logical, systematic, and easily practice methods that they can apply in the clinics which— will they won't get it right every time in making a diagnosis—but even if I can help them to get it right 90% of the time and to start to enjoy the subject a bit more, that would be a real step in the right direction."