Fear of injections (trypanophobia): causes and symptoms

One of the most frequent extreme fears, which is not only present in children, is the phobia of injections or trypanophobia. Surely we all know someone who feels this great fear of getting vaccinated or having a simple blood test.

Trypanophobes have a really hard time when they have to give an injection and go to the health center. And, in many cases, they can even avoid these situations without caring about putting their life at risk. (for not getting vaccinated against diseases such as tetanus) or reducing pain or inflammation with corticosteroids.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

What is injection phobia

A phobia it is an intense, irrational and persistent fear towards some situations, objects, activities or people. The main symptom of this disorder is an excessive desire to avoid the stimulus that causes great anxiety, and in the case of trypanophobia, this phobic stimulus is the syringes and the possibility of receiving injections. This phobia is one of the most common, calculating that about 10% of the population suffers from it to some degree.

Trypanophobia can sometimes be confused with fear of blood (hematophobia) or the fear of sharp objects (aichmophobia); However, the fear of injections can only be a great fear of these objects, and the people with trypanophobia do not necessarily experience fear of blood or other objects stabbing.

There are different types of phobias, which are usually grouped into three groups. Trypanophobia would be included within the specific phobias which are generally fears of certain objects or situations. Some specific phobic stimuli are spiders, snakes, elevators, or flying.

Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders”

Other types of phobias

In addition to this group of phobias, which are also known as simple phobias, there are two more that are social phobias, that involve other people or social situations such as performance anxiety, fear of embarrassment or humiliation or appreciation of others; and agoraphobia is a fear of experiencing a panic attack in a place or situation where the person feels unprotected. These last two phobias are often considered complex phobias.

Causes of trypanophobia

Fear of injections usually develops during childhood and in many cases it usually lasts into adulthood. Its cause is often a traumatic experience in childhood or adolescence, and although not actually the injections cause a lot of pain, these people interpret it as a serious threat to their integrity physical. It is not that they believe that they will die from the injection, but that the pain will be so strong that they will not be able to bear it.

The learning of this fear usually occurs by what is known as classical conditioning, a type of associative learning that was initially investigated by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, but made famous by the behaviorist John B. WatsonBecause he believed that human beings could learn strong emotions by conditioning and then generalize them to similar situations.

For this he devised a series of experiments with children, and in one of them he managed to make a small boy, named Albert, learn to be afraid of a white rat that he initially adored. This experiment could not be carried out today because it is considered unethical. You can see it in the video below:

Other causes of this phobia

This phobia many times can develop by vicarious conditioning, that is, by observation. For example, in the event that a child sees an adult who panics when giving an injection, or to see a movie in which injections or syringes appear.

Some theorists also think that the causes may be genetic; and others that we are predisposed to suffer from certain phobias. In fact, this last theory affirms that it is easy to associate certain stimuli with fear, because this is an adaptive emotion that has helped the human species to survive. In this sense, phobic disorders are formed by primitive and non-cognitive associations, which are not easily modifiable by logical arguments.

• Related article: "Vicarious Conditioning: How Does This Kind of Learning Work?"

Symptoms of fear of injections

The fear of injections presents the same symptoms as any phobia, where there is a predominance of anxiety and discomfort and an exaggerated attempt to avoid situations in which the stimulus may appear phobic.

The symptoms of trypanophobia are:

• Cognitive symptoms: fear and anxiety in front of syringes and the possibility of receiving an injection, anguish, confusion, lack of concentration, irrational thoughts ...
• Behavioral symptoms: avoidance of any situation in which the person may receive an injection.
• Physical symptoms: racing pulse, hyperventilation, stomach pain and nausea, choking sensation, dry mouth, etc.

Treatment

The treatment of phobias is similar in most cases, and psychological therapyaccording to research, it has a high degree of effectiveness. There are different currents that can be useful to treat trypanophobia; however, cognitive behavioral therapy appears to provide the best results. This type of therapy aims to modify internal events (thoughts, emotions, beliefs, etc.) and behaviors that are considered to be the cause of discomfort.

For this reason, different techniques are used, among which relaxation techniques stand out (especially indicated for specific moments in which the person experiences great anxiety) and systematic desensitization, which is a type of exposure technique in which, as the name suggests, the patient is gradually exposed to the phobic stimulus. He also learns different coping strategies that allow him to see with his own eyes that his fears and fears are irrational.

To treat this phobia It is also possible to use cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness wave Acceptance and commitment therapy, which both belong to third-generation therapies, and are not intended to modify behaviors, but rather accept the experience, which automatically reduces the symptoms because it does not oppose resistance to the facts. This is what the latest scientific studies conclude, which seem to indicate that this methodology is especially useful for treating anxiety disordersBecause if we try to modify our internal events or behaviors, a rebound effect occurs and anxiety symptoms increase.

In specific and extreme cases anxiolytics can be administered; however, always together with psychotherapy.