Sticking It to Trypanophobia (fear of needles)

By Dr. White, SHS Mental Health Therapist

Published September 2, 2021 

This blog is for those of you out there who want to get vaccinated but are avoiding doing so because of a fear of needles, blood, medical professionals, and any other form of internal workings of the body. You are my people. I am a therapist who has been practicing for over 15 years, and I have Specific Phobia Blood-Injection-Injury. I have a history of DREADING needles and blood because I have a history of experiencing light headedness to full on losing consciousness and face planting into the floor. I even get sick just talking about blood. It’s standard practice for those who work in Student Health Service to be tested for TB every fall. My dread starts around late April/early May and then increases as the date of testing approaches in August. Fortunately, we have awesome medical professionals who are kind and understanding and work with me to make it as painless a process as possible. But this doesn’t stop me from dreading it.

So when the vaccinations for COVID-19 became available, I admit I felt dread. Now, I’m not getting into whether or not a person should get vaccinated. For me, I decided it was something that I wanted to do, but that did not take away my dread, fear, apprehension, and anxiety about getting it done. But there are things that can be done to help out with this. For those with an intense phobic response, exposure therapy is an empirically supported practice to help treat phobias. This involves exposing someone with a phobia through a hierarchy of increasingly intense images related to the phobia until they no longer react. Exposure therapy is a service provided by many therapists including those at Mental Health Services.

Another practice which has been found helpful for this with a vasovagal response (such as my fainting) is to tense and relax major muscle groups before, during, and after an injection. So an example of this is to press your knees together and tense your thigh muscles for a count of 10-15 seconds, release the tension (without over-relaxing) for 30-45 seconds, then tense again for 10-15 seconds, and keep repeating this process until you feel able to stand up, walk away, and celebrate your courage for doing something you dread.

There are other things that can help, and it can take some trial and error to figure those out. If I have the option of reclining in a chair, I will take advantage. I take music with me as I find that distracting. I take deep breaths as I drive to my appointment and as I sit and wait for my turn. Not looking at what the medical professional is doing works for me. In fact, I have a “script” in which I tell the person with the needle “Hi. I have a phobia related to needles and blood. I have a history of passing out, but I’m going to try not to do that today. So I’m going to ignore everything that you’re doing. I’m not going to even look at you, so please don’t take that personally. In fact, it’s helpful if you don’t even tell me what you’re doing, so I’m just going to listen to my music. Thank you!” This helps decrease my anxiety because at least they won’t be surprised if I hit the ground, and I’ve explained why I’m being what might under other circumstance be considered as rude. And then when they’re done, I thank them profusely for doing such a great job. Then I congratulate myself for being brave (and that’s regardless of whether I remained conscious or not because my bravery is not dependent on the outcome but on the fact I did something that’s fear provoking for me). And then I usually reward myself with a milkshake because any day is better with a milkshake.

I have improved over the years using these techniques, but I still have my moments where I need to put my head between my knees or lay down/pass out. And that’s okay. What’s important is that I’m not avoiding doing things that are important to me or important for my health. So again, the point of this blog is not to say you need to get vaccinated. The point is that there is help available for those who want to get vaccinated (or blood drawn or tested for TB, etc.) but are too full of dread. I will say this, I was so happy with the way my 2 doses went, there was dancing out in the parking lot. And incidentally, I am planning on getting a flu shot this year for the first time in my life.

Reference

Huff, C. (2021). How psychologists can help patients with injection fear. Monitor on Psychology, 52(4), 22-25.