Needle Phobia: A Potentially Deadly Diagnosis
July 19th, 2012
The world of psychiatry is full of unusual phobias. There’s symmetrophobia, the fear of symmetry, xerophobia, the fear of dryness, and ideophobia, the fear of ideas. But these phobias are exceedingly rare, and in the psychiatric interest on strange phobias, more mundane—and more dangerous—phobias are easily forgotten. Needle phobia is one such fear. There is significant evidence that fear of needles sparks physical changes in the body that can result in cardiac episodes and other health problems when a patient is exposed to needles. But needles are a part of life and are often necessary for medical treatment. Needle phobia, then, can cause a person to avoid life-saving care and, if a needle is forced upon a phobic patient, the results could be disastrous.
Needle Phobia and Cardiac Episodes
Most people dislike needles, but a true needle phobia feels overwhelming and uncontrollable to patients. Patients with the disorder may experience an extremely elevated heart rate and blood pressure immediately before a needle puncture. When the puncture occurs, the heart rate may drop precipitously. This exposes them to significant danger of heart arrhythmias and other cardiac episodes. Dr. James Hamilton, a pioneer in the treatment and study of needle phobia, reports that at least 23 deaths have been caused by a needle puncture that led to a cardiac episode.
Medical Issues
Doctors, nurses, and other people tasked with administering vaccinations and drawing blood are not typically properly educated about needle phobia. They’re accustomed to patients who dislike needles and may reassure them with promises that the puncture won’t hurt or will only take a minute. But with a true needle phobic, these reassurances don’t work. The patient isn’t afraid of pain or injury: she’s afraid of the needle itself. This poses serious obstacles to medical treatment. As many as 10% of people have some degree of needle phobia, and a significant portion of these individuals report that they would rather die than receive a needle puncture. These patients tend to avoid medical care because of their fear, allowing their illnesses much more time to worsen than illnesses of nonphobic patients.
Causes
Although traumatic experiences with needles such as painful blood draws or blood transfusions can cause needle phobia, patients can’t typically trace the origin of the phobia. Needle phobia seems to run in families, but this does not mean the fear is genetic. Children may learn it from watching their parents show fear of needles. Restraining children during vaccinations and blood draws is strongly correlated with the later development of needle phobia. Consequently, parents should strive to ensure that their children’s early experiences with needles are positive and that children are not restrained unless the needle puncture is needed immediately to save the child’s life.
Treatment
Some patients have good luck with hypnotherapy, but the most common treatment for needle phobia is counterconditioning. This process can take several years because the mere sight of a needle is sufficient to send many patients into a full-blown panic attack. Treatment providers typically start by asking the patient to envision a needle, progress to showing the patient a needle, and ultimately move toward getting the patient to accept a needle puncture. For patients who require needles for medical treatment, it may be necessary to administer general anesthesia to prevent life-threatening reactions. In less severe cases, anti-anxiety medications can lessen the symptoms of needle phobia.
Sources:
- Hamilton, J. G. (n.d.). Needle phobia: A neglected diagnosis. Needle Phobia. Retrieved from http://needlephobia.info/pages/Hamilton-Needlephobia.pdf.
- Emanuelson, J. (n.d.). The Needle Phobia Page – fear of needles and needle procedures. The Needle Phobia Page – Fear of Needles and Needle Procedures. Retrieved from http://www.needlephobia.com/
- The phobia list. (n.d.). The Phobia List. Retrieved from http://phobialist.com/
Related articles:
The Other Side of Normal: An Interview With Jordan Smoller
Three Steps for Dealing with Panic Attacks
Breathing Lessons
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Comments
In my practice this kind of phobia is something that we encounter all the time. We have to put a lot of our patients to sleep for surgery when it cannot be performed under local anesthetic and there are some patients who almost can’t tolerate the thought of a needle getting anywhere near them. Some want us to bottle the anesthesia and sell to them but for others this poses such a fright to them that it can make doing surgery on them nearly impossible.
Isn’t it weird how these phobias will just jump up out of nowhere sometimes when you least expect it?
Is it like they just kind of start small and then become these full fledged fears?
i guess I am lucky I have never had anything like this affect me.
Always hated needles as a kid but never thought it could be a full-blown phobia in people.with so much of needle usage in medical procedures this phobia can really come in the way of treatment. therefore it becomes necessary to tackle this issue and the methods mentioned here seem like a good idea.but I would like to see a more to-the-roots method to tackle this problem, by going back into how the fear developed. that will be much better from the patient’s point of view if I’m not wrong.
That’s so freaky! I know that there are those who don’t like being stuck, but I had never given any thought at all that someone could have an actual diagnosable phobia about needles. Think about complicated this must make their lives. That would rule out many forms of restorative dental treatment, no checking blood for potentially harmful diseases, and just so many other things that could be limited due to this fear. I do hope that those who have this sort of phobia have some treatment options and that they are able to think clearly enough to seek this help out.
Unless you have known the pain of living with a phobia, then you have very little idea just how profoundly it can affect your life.
You may not want to leave your house, or can’t be in a small contained space, or in a case like this, even refuse the most basic medical care due to that fear of needles that you know you have but cannot explain.
There needs to be a greater overall awareness that this is a problem in much of the population and rather than ridiculing these fears as small and inconsequential (because believe me, to those who suffer from phobias, the fear is anything but small) we have to be kinder towards one naother and help them get past their fears rather than creating even more stress and anxiey in their lives.
Well, they will get over that phobia pretty fast if it meant the difference between life and death!
Kevin-
I hate to point this out to you but for some people they are so scared of needle sticks that this could actually cause them to have a heart attack and die!
I know that this would be an extreme case but there are people who are so afraid that it would then be dangerous to actually do anything to them that would require this sort of act.
Maybe they just have to be made comfortable in another way before getting a needle stick, maybe something like mitrous oxide would be beneficial for cases like this.
Has there ever been a study done to determine whether someone has to have a bad experience with something, a needle in thsi case, to have this sort of fear about it, or does it generally just come from nowhere? I mean, I guess someone could have a phobia about needles because they had a bad experience at the doctor, but some phobias are just so bizarre that it would seem weird that they would have ever even encountered this is their everday lives.
When I was 5 I had to get a blood test before a surgery. The nurse couldn’t find the vein in one arm, so moved to the other. She then got the needle STUCK in my arm and the needle BURST! I remember it spouting out of the needle like a fountain. Very traumatic. I am needle phobic now – from blood tests to IV’s (the WORST is IVs’) and even flu shots! I will have them done, but my BP shoots up whenever I see a needle.
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