At least 10% of the US population have a fear of needles, which can cause panic attacks and avoidance of medical procedures. Strategies to overcome the fear include detailed explanations, graduated exposure, hypnosis, medication, and cognitive behavioral therapy. It can be inherited and often requires incremental steps towards overcoming it.
Fear of needles is also known by a variety of terms including trypanophobia or blenophobia and is believed to affect at least 10% of the population in the United States alone. There are several strategies employed by medical and mental health professionals to help trypanophobic individuals overcome their fear of needles. Patients with a mild phobia often respond to detailed explanations of medical procedures to ease their fear of the unknown, having more control over their environment, and training themselves to relax before a procedure involving needles. Graduated exposure, hypnosis, injection site numbness, anti-anxiety medications, and cognitive behavioral therapy are additional interventions that may be helpful.
People with a fear of needles may find it helpful to work with a doctor who has experience treating the phobia and can help desensitize the patient by explaining the procedure and its benefits in detail. Some patients may want to lie down while the injection is being given and rest for several minutes afterwards. Medical professions can also numb the injection site thus reducing pain and anxiety. Allowing trypanophobic individuals to determine the environment for the procedure and to have a friend, spouse, or family member present can greatly reduce stress.
Hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy, and meditation can train a person with a fear of needles to relax and alter their perception of procedures involving needles. Cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis can help a patient identify and discard negative emotions and beliefs about needles in exchange for more positive thinking. Meditation can teach an individual to relax before visiting their doctor.
Anti-anxiety medications can be helpful in severe cases of fear of needles. Taken within an hour before the procedure, prescription medications such as diazepam or lorazepam can relax a patient. These drugs should only be taken under the supervision of a doctor.
An additional strategy that can be helpful when overcoming your fear of needles is gradual or gradual exposure. The patient is first exposed to diagrams and toys, then to cotton swabs before finally seeing unopened syringes. Gradual exposure can slowly desensitize a patient to injections and needles.
This phobia can cause panic attacks, fainting, dizziness, nausea and sweating and be severe enough to avoid vaccinations, blood tests and other crucial medical procedures. Onset is typically in early childhood, and many trypanophobic adults recognize the irrationality of their fear. There is evidence to suggest that this phobia can be inherited as many people with a fear of needles have a relative with the same problem. Like many phobias, overcoming a fear of needles often takes time and incremental steps toward the ultimate goal.
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