Needle Phobia - The Symptoms, Causes and Dangers
Needle phobia, or trypanophobia, is the fear of needles, and it is one of the most common of all phobias. It is estimated that around 10 percent of Americans suffer from needle phobia.
Needle phobia is a serious mental illness that requires treatment, because it has the potential to have dangerous affects on the phobic's health.
Needle Phobia - The Symptoms
The main symptom of needle phobia is fairly obvious - an avoidance of anything having to do with needles. As a result, needle phobics will usually neglect to get any form of medical care that involves a needle.
A person with needle phobia will often suffer from severe anxiety when they are faced with a situation where they will have to be poked with a needle. This includes an increase in both blood pressure and heart rate in the days, and even weeks leading up to a medical appointment.
When a seriously needle phobic person is finally confronted with the dreaded medical circumstance, they frequently experience a sudden drop in blood pressure that causes some to pass out cold simply at the sight of the needle.
Needle Phobia - The Causes
Like many other phobias, needle phobia is sometimes caused by a traumatic event that occurred during childhood. A highly negative experience with a needle as a child can grow over time until a full-blown fear of needles develops.
Some scientists believe that needle phobia is inherited, because some 80 percent of needle phobic people have a family member that is also afraid of needles. While this phobia may run in families, it is also possible that the fear of needles is learned as a child. This can be more likely if the phobic family member is a parent or primary care giver.
Needle Phobia - The Dangers
The fear of needles is a dangerous phobia because it can cause the sufferer to avoid medical care. Think about all of the routine medical procedures that involve needles - vaccinations, blood tests, flu shots, just to name a few - and you will see how this fear could be detrimental to one's health. A person with needle phobia couldn't undergo surgery or any type of treatment that requires insertion of an IV.
Luckily, needle phobia is a highly treatable anxiety disorder that has been proven to subside with cognitive behavioral therapy. This type of therapy is used to cure many phobias. Basically, it retrains a person to think more rationally about the object or situation they fear. This is done through desensitization and very slow and gradual exposure to the feared element until the person's fear subsides.
Another piece of good news for people with needle phobia is the introduction of medical treatments that do not involve needles. For example, a flu vaccine can now be administered through a nasal spray. In this way, the patient is able to be treated without having to face the needle.