This often complex condition ranges from a fear of needles to a fear of the reaction of ones body to needle procedures. Realistic thinking often, the anxious thoughts that people. Heart rate and blood pressure increase so that oxygen and nutrients required by. In vivo exposurebased therapy with adults reduced fear of needles. Begin by creating a list of anxietyproducing situations, and estimating the severity of anxiety that they produce. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak to a doctor or nurse caring for you.
Overcoming your fear of needles kings college london. One part of the cbt treatment process thats often used to treat simple phobias involves gradual exposure to your fear, so you feel less anxious about it. When confronted with an object, situation or animal do you feel anxious, nervous or panicky. We included children and adults with high levels of needle fear and or phobias undergoing vaccination or other needle procedures, followed by the next closest context. Blood, injury and needle phobias and procedural anxiety patient. It is important to work through one step at a time, only. While most people, children especially, fear getting their vaccination shots or blood samples taken, in case of people with extreme fear of needles, the idea of getting. Cognitive behaviour therapy focuses on learning to challenge the unhelpful thoughts and beliefs, and gradually making changes in our behaviour so that we learn that the feared consequences do not happen, and that it is the anxiety that makes us feel the way we do.
Fear of needles, known in medical literature as needle phobia, is the extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. Needle fears and phobia how common is needle phobia. Realistic thinking often, the anxious thoughts that people have due to their phobia are unrealistic, or very unlikely. By definition, people who suffer from needle phobia will avoid healthcare settings and so any population estimate is likely to underrate the true number, but estimates range from 3. It works best with simple phobias or other anxiety problems where you can identify what it is that you are anxious about. Needle phobia overcome in one case study by use of. Hamilton, md alexandria, l ou isian a needle phobia is a recently defined medical condition that affects at least 10% of the population. Now its time to try and get on top of your phobia through exposure and habituation.
Graded situational exposure consists of structured and repeated exposure to anxiety provoking social situations. Familiarity with simple, behavioural interventions for dental anxiety will enable dentists to. Graded exposure graded exposure is an evidence based intervention for the treatment of anxiety and phobias. Clinical case studies published online 30 october 20 l. A case study detailing the assessment and treatment of an uncomplicated needle phobia using in vivo graded exposure is included in order to demonstrate the use of these techniques.
Phobias self help a phobia is a fear of a particular thing or situation. These are presented in levels of difficulties, starting with the situation that provokes the least amount of anxiety and moving towards more challenging situations. Pdf in vivo exposure therapy for the treatment of an adult needle. It is important to plan exposure exercises in advance. A commonbut often overlooked and misunderstoodpsychiatric disorder is the phobia of blood and needles.
About 10% of people have a needle phobia, but theres no more need to suffer from the devastating effects of this disorder. Graded exposure works to help you slowly build your confidence in your ability to cope with the situations you have been avoiding. Needle phobia is a fear of medical procedures that involve needles or injections. Trypanophobia is a very real phobia affecting nearly 3. Exposure involves gradually and repeatedly going into feared situations until you feel less anxious. The therapist would set up a similar scene or images of needles in front of the person, and analyze the response.
It is occasionally referred to as aichmophobia, although this term may also refer to a more general fear of sharply pointed objects. Starting with situations that are less scary, you work your way up to facing things that cause you a great deal of anxiety. Watching videos of shots and needles made me faint for years, until finally i got help and decided to beat the phobia. Interventions for individuals with high levels of needle fear. Causes of bloodinjuryneedle phobia or medical procedural anxiety. Interventions for individuals with high levels of needle fear ncbi. This leaflet aims to give you information on needle phobia and what you can do to. Exposure hierarchies are a basic cbt tool for the treatment of anxiety. In the international classification of diseases, tenth revision, clinical. It can be used to develop practical ways of dealing with your phobia. Overcoming your fear of needles many people have this fear, but it can be overcome with simple exercises and practice. Prior to engaging in graded exposure, mednick and claar 2012 propose that the patient acquires enough practice.
Selfarranged exposure for overcoming bloodinjection. Dee mcdonnellboudra in vivo exposure therapy for the. Plan enough time so that you can stay with the anxiety long enough to watch. For example, if you have a needle phobia your steps might look something like this. Overall, there was a striking dearth of research examining interventions for individuals with high levels of needle fears or phobias. Even the most confident of people can get a little anxious before a presentation, or when theyre meeting new people, but in social anxiety this distress can be so overwhelming that it. Phobias can often have a first triggering event, which then results in the individual feeling very frightened when they then think about, see or are reminded of the feared object situation. Social anxiety is used to describe feelings of anxiety and fear that occur in response to social situations. Social anxiety selfhelp resources information sheets.
For needle fear, exposurebased therapy typically includes a gradual. Use the exposure hierarchy worksheet to gradually introduce your clients to feared stimuli. Facing fears gradually using graded exposure it is important that you practice fighting against avoidance. Pdf in vivo exposure therapy for the treatment of an. Fear, phobia, needle, bloodinjectioninjury, exposure, clinical. Contrary to popular belief, needle phobia is not confined to children, is not an emotiondriven or transient phenomenon, and is not a rare condition. As many as 15% of people experience a dramatic decrease in blood pressure at the mere sight of blood, even if it is not their own blood. Overcoming your needle phobia fear of needles this leaflet explains more about needle phobia and provides practical advice on how to overcome it. Although generally slight and psychosocially inconsequential, most. Seeking help can be one of the most difficult steps to make. Start with the least difficult item on the hierarchy e. Graded exposure graded exposure is a way of treating a range of anxiety problems. I had a really bad blood needle phobia for many years, i always used to faint, feel nauseous etc when i had to have a blood test etc. Needle phobia is a term used in practice to describe an anticipatory fear of needle insertion.
Blood and needle phobia treatment cognitive behavioral. In cases of needle phobia, a correct diagnosis made by a psychiatrist is necessary and enables referral to a psychotherapist with experience in treating children and adolescents with needle phobia. For some people, it is linked to fainting, or feeling faint. Thurgate and heppell developed a threestep approach for overcoming needle phobia that focused on relaxation, control, and graded exposure 48. Do you go to great lengths to avoid an object, situation or animal. Exposure treatments and techniques for anxiety disorders linda mintle, ph. The very nature of needle phobia makes it very hard to determine incidence. An adult case example nine session treatment of a blood. Graded exposure is one of the most effective techniques to tackle avoidance and gradually face your fears. You can make up a list of steps to work through to overcome your fear, starting with the easiest and working up to the hardest. Many people have this fear, but it can be overcome with simple exercises and practice. Fear of injections and needle phobia among children and. Needle phobia has fallen under the diagnostic umbrella of bloodinjectioninjury phobia and substantial similarities between individuals with phobias of blood and phobias of injections have been documented. Needle phobia trypanophobia symptoms and treatments.
The fife clinical psychology department has recorded relaxation and. Just as people fear many things, there is a large range of things that can become a phobic concern. The needle phobia page fear of needles and needle procedures. A proportion of children display high levels of fear, pain and behavioural distress when exposed to, or. Phobias do you have an intense fear of a particular object, situation or animal. Children are especially afraid of needles because theyre unused to the sensation of. Needle phobia overcome in one case study by use of changing criterion and differential reinforcement. Researchers believe that somewhere between 1 in 20 and 1 in 10 children and adults have needle phobia. Needle phobia exposure therapy video part 1 youtube. Needle or injection phobias are when people feel very scared of needles and.
Graded situational exposure consists of structured and repeated exposure to anxietyprovoking social situations. Ninesession treatment of a bloodinjectioninjury phobia with. Needle phobia is a condition that has become an increasingly important issue in medicine because of the modern reliance on injections and blood testing. When their fear is triggered for example, by seeing blood or thinking about an.
In vivo exposure therapy for the treatment of an adult needle phobic. And after a while, your anxiety will naturally lessen. Trypanophobia is an extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. Exposure therapy basically revolved around studying the hierarchy of the fear generated by the needles. The first of these is that the fear is intense and includes many of the following. It consists of an irrational or excessive fear of needles, pins or injections. Good management of needle phobia can literally save lives. The needle phobia page is a starting point for overcoming the fear of needles and needle procedures. For example, you might find it easier to look at a picture of a small needle than of a large one. The major aim of exposure therapy is to slowly bring down the level of fear by regular and graded exposure to the fearful subject. However, a phobia is different from a fear for three reasons. You can make up a list of steps to work through to overcome your fear, starting with the easiest and.
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