Fear of needles (belonephobia): symptoms and treatment
One of the main reasons for attending psychological therapy is phobic disorders, and among these, one of the most common fear of needles. In fact, some studies state that up to 10% of the population suffers from this phobia.
While it is true that needles can cause pain if they are used violently, the phobia of needles or belonephobia is characterized by the fact that the person suffers an irrational terror and great anxiety that can become disabling.
Belonephobia causes, for example, that an individual is unable to go to a health center due to the unreal fear that he feels towards these objects. One of the characteristic symptoms of phobias is that the phobic individual tries to avoid the stimulus that causes this upset reaction.
In this article we will delve into the characteristics of the fear of needles and we will repair what are its causes, its symptoms and its consequences.
- Related article: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"
What is the fear of needles
For many people, the fear of needles does not manifest itself more than at specific moments, for example, when one must be vaccinated. However, for other individuals, it can appear more frequently, imagine when someone is diabetic and must inject insulin.
The fear of needles is a phobia, and therefore belongs to the group of anxiety disorders. It is an intense, irrational and persistent fear towards some situations in which the phobic stimulus may be present, that is, the needles, but also towards syringes and the possibility of receiving injections, just like trypanophobia or fear of injections.
Belonephobia is also often associated and often confused with fear of blood (hematophobia) or the fear of sharp objects (aichmophobia). Of course, these people do not necessarily experience fear of blood and other sharp objects, which serves to distinguish between belonephobia, aichmophobia and hematophobia.
This type of phobia belongs to the specific phobic disorders that are generally fears of certain objects or situations. For example: cats, spiders, snakes or the fear of flying.
- Related article: “Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders”
Causes
Phobias are usually learned fears. These fears are developed by a type of associative learning called classical conditioning, after a traumatic event. For example, after having a bad experience with needles.
In fact, the scientific community is in favor of the idea that phobias are learned, and one of the figures that has contributed the most in this regard is John Watson, an American psychologist who in the 1920s caused a boy named Albert to develop an irrational fear of a white rat he previously adored.
The objective of the experiment was to observe the emotional reactions of the child, who at first played with the animal normally. However, throughout the sessions, the rat was presented together with a loud noise that scared the little one. After several presentations of both stimuli together, little Albert developed a fear of the rat even without the presence of the loud noise.
If you want to know more about this type of learning, you can read this article: “Classical conditioning and its most important experiments”.
Other causes of this phobia
But the phobias can also be learned by observation, in what is known as vicarious conditioning. That is, the person can see how an individual screams when they are going to give him an injection and can develop a strong fear of needles.
Other authors affirm that human beings are biologically predisposed to suffer from phobias, since fear is an adaptive emotion that has been key to our survival because provokes a fight or flight response. That is why fear has to do with the primitive areas of the brain and is developed by primitive and non-cognitive associations. In other words, they are not modifiable by logical arguments.
symptoms and signs
This type of phobia can appear in different situations. For example:
- seeing needles
- When having contact with nurses or nurses and doctors and doctors
- When hurting yourself and anticipating injections
- When visiting the dentist
- Being close to a medical center or hospital
- When using clothes pins
- see needles on tv
- The smell of antiseptic reminiscent of a hospital
When the person who suffers from this phobia is in any of these situations, they experience a series of cognitive, behavioral and physical symptoms. They are the following:
- cognitive symptoms: irrational thoughts, anguish, anxiety, extreme fear, thoughts of imminent death, confusion, lack of concentration, etc.
- behavioral symptoms: attempt to avoid the feared stimulus.
- physical: headache, shortness of breath, stomach pain, nausea, dizziness, etc.
Treatment of belonephobia
Although this type of phobia is very common, it also has a high success rate in terms of treatment, according to scientific studies. There are different psychological therapies that work, but the most used is cognitive behavioral therapy.
This form of therapy employs different techniques, and to treat phobias, the most effective are relaxation techniques and exposure techniques. A technique that combines both is systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus, but first they must have learned different coping strategies, such as the aforementioned relaxation techniques.
Other very effective types of therapy They are the cognitive therapy based on Mindfulness or the therapy of acceptance and commitment, which belong to the third generation therapies. If you want to know more about these therapeutic methods, you can read the article “What are third generation therapies?”.
New technologies and phobias
New technologies are also used to improve the quality of life of people with phobias. Online therapy is increasingly used, and virtual reality has proven to be very effective as an exposure method. In fact, there are even different mobile apps that are designed to help people who suffer from a phobic disorder.
You can find out more in the article “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”.
