Afraid of the Doctor: Every Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Managing Medical Trauma

Provides parents with the tools to support children who experience medical trauma

Afraid of the Doctor is the first book written for parents to equip them with the knowledge and skills to support their children through medical challenges on a day-to-day basis, and specifically with medical trauma--experiences in healthcare that can profoundly affect a child’s response and willingness to even go to the doctor. The challenge of medical trauma is often under-recognized and overlooked in the healthcare system, leaving parents to learn about it and manage it on their own. This book helps parents understand medical trauma and learn strategies to reduce and even prevent it, empowering them to better care for their child’s emotional and physical health.

Afraid of the Doctor integrates character stories throughout the book to illustrate the signs and symptoms of medical trauma and the roles parents and caregivers play in supporting their child through medical challenges. Readers will find twelve distinct strategies they can implement to help prevent and reduce medical trauma and otherwise support their child while facing medical interventions or a chronic condition. With compassion and empathy, Meghan Marsac and Melissa Hogan offer parents the tools they need to choose the strategies that will work best for their children and their families.

Meghan L. Marsac, PhD, is a pediatric psychologist with expertise in helping children and families adjust to and deal with medical conditions. She is currently the Acting Chief of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky. She also leads medical trauma training for healthcare professionals through the national Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress and is the lead creator of the Cellie Coping Kit for children with medical conditions. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Melissa J. Hogan, JD, is a parent to a child with a rare, genetic disease who has faced a countless number of surgeries, specialists, and as a result, medical trauma. In addition to caregiving and advocating for her son’s needs, she is a practicing attorney, specializing in the area of abuse and trauma. She also founded the leading research and advocacy foundation in Hunter syndrome, Project Alive, which has raised millions of dollars for research. She lives outside Nashville, Tennessee.