One of the main reasons for attending psychological therapy is phobic disorders, and among these, one of the most common is the fear of needles . In fact, some studies state that up to 10% of the population suffers from this phobia.

Although it is true that needles can cause pain if they are used violently, the phobia of needles or belonephobia is characterized by an irrational terror and a great anxiety that can be disabling.

Bellerephobia causes, for example, an individual to be unable to go to a health center because of an unrealistic fear of these objects. One of the characteristic symptoms of phobias is that the phobic individual tries to avoid the stimulus that causes this unpleasant reaction .

In this article we will go into the characteristics of the fear of needles and repair what are its causes, symptoms and consequences.

What is fear of needles

For many people, the fear of needles only manifests itself at specific times, for example, when they need to be vaccinated. However, for other individuals, it can appear more frequently, imagine when someone is diabetic and must inject insulin.

Fear of needles is a phobia, and therefore belongs to the group of anxiety disorders . It is an intense, irrational and persistent fear of some situations in which the phobic stimulus may be present, that is, needles, but also of syringes and the possibility of receiving injections, just like trypanophobia or fear of injections.

Belonephobia is also often associated with, and confused with, a fear of blood (hematophobia) or a fear of sharp objects (aichmophobia). However, these people do not necessarily experience a 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 usually fears of certain objects or situations. For example: cats, spiders, snakes, or fear of flying.

Causes

Phobias are often learned fears. These fears develop through a type of associative learning called classical conditioning, following a traumatic event. For example, after having a bad experience with needles.

In fact, the scientific community is in favour of the idea that phobias are learned, and one of the figures who has contributed most in this sense is John Watson , an American psychologist who in the 1920s caused a child named Albert to develop an irrational fear of a white rat that he previously adored.

The experiment was aimed at observing the emotional reactions of the child, who at first played with the animal in a completely normal way. However, throughout the sessions, the rat was presented along with a loud noise that scared the little one. After several presentations of both stimuli together, the small Albert was developing fear of the rat even without the presence of the strong noise.

If you want to know more about this type of learning, you can read this article: “Classic conditioning and its most important experiments”.

Other causes of this phobia

But 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 he or she is going to get an injection and can develop a strong fear of needles.

Other authors claim that human beings are biologically predisposed to suffer from phobias, since fear is an adaptive emotion that has been key to our survival because it provokes a fight or flight response . That is why fear has to do with primitive areas of the brain and is developed by primitive and non-cognitive associations. In other words, they cannot be modified by logical arguments.

Signs and Symptoms

This type of phobia can appear in different situations. For example:

  • When seeing needles
  • By having contact with nurses and doctors
  • When hurting yourself and anticipating injections
  • Visiting the Dentist
  • Be near a medical center or hospital
  • When using clothespins
  • Watching needles on TV
  • The smell of antiseptic reminiscent of a hospital

When the person suffering from this phobia is in one of these situations, he or she experiences a series of cognitive, behavioral and physical symptoms. They are as follows:

  • cognitive symptoms : irrational thoughts, anguish, anxiety, extreme fear, thoughts of impending 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 several psychological therapies that work, but the most widely 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 . One technique that combines both is systematic desensitization, which consists of gradually exposing the patient to the phobic stimulus, but before this, the patient must have learned different coping strategies, such as the aforementioned relaxation techniques.

Other very effective types of therapy are Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy, 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 for people with phobias. Online therapy is increasingly used , and virtual reality has proven to be very effective as a method of exposure. In fact, there are even different mobile phone apps that are designed to help people with a phobic disorder.

You can learn more in the article “8 apps to treat phobias and fears from your smartphone”.