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What is the treatment for blood phobia (hemophobia)

Hemophobia, blood phobia, fear of blood, whatever you call it, can be a major problem in the lives of sufferers. Broadly called blood-injury-injection phobia is a relatively common phobia and we’ll look a little bit at the treatment options.

A phobia, unlike a fear, is an unconscious response to a feared stimulus which causes dysfunction for the person. To differentiate from a fear, the phobia is often so intense that the sufferer will go to great lengths to avoid seeing, hearing or even thinking about the issue.

As you can imagine, a fear of blood can be a major impediment in a person’s life. There are many times or situations when you may be exposed to blood and having a phobic response every time often gets out of hand for the sufferer.

People with hemophobia and fear of needles will often avoid medical appointments out of fear of what they may be exposed to. They will avoid routine vaccination and blood testing, putting them at higher risk of long term health complications.

How does treatment for blood phobia work?

EXPOSURE THERAPY! It sounds so scary, right? Well that isn’t the intention at all. Blood phobia (hemophobia) is treated through the exposure to the feared stimulus in a controlled environment. In order for treatment to work it is important that the treatment does not get to a point where the sufferer is being traumatised by the treatment or that they feel significantly uncomfortable.

To work through treatment safely, the sufferer is taught coping skills, learns about their phobia and what triggers it and only when they are comfortable with this do they start to actually work on exposing themselves to the stimulus in a very slow and guided manner.

Treatment of blood phobia can be difficult to engage with, as the sufferer often thinks ‘I will do that one day’ but that day never comes and they are constantly exposed to situations that trigger their phobia. As a result I have developed a Blood Phobia Treatment course which I will be launching very soon on this website. If you would like to be informed when this course becomes available, please join the mailing list below.

So how do I get over my fear of blood?

As mentioned above, you can sign up for the mailing list to be notified when the course goes live, but I often take the treatment of blood phobia as a long term approach rather than something that needs to be dealt with immediately. Hemophobia, if you aren’t working in the medical field or have a medical issue, is often something that you can address in your own time.

Treatment – what works for blood phobia?

As noted in a 2004 research paper, blood phobia is ‘the neglected one‘ when it comes to treatment options and research. I thought that I might have a look at some of the findings of research for blood phobia and to look at what seems to work and what may not work. I will also look at some of the clinical presentations of blood phobia and how it may present.

  • Several studies show that syncope (fainting) is far more likely to occur in people with blood phobia than other phobias. Around 80% of those with blood phobia will pass out when exposed to stimulus.
  • Those with blood phobia may have related health issues due to the avoidance of health care. Some studies show up to 15% will avoid dental treatment due to their fear.
  • Applied Tension seems to be the most common treatment, with Applied Relaxation and Exposure also being common.
  • In response to feared stimulus, people with blood phobia may breath irregularly which may lead to loss of consciousness.

From a lot of the above research it has been shown that individual elements need focus in hemophobia treatment (eg breathing), however there is also a need for treatment to look at the whole of person approach – breathing, fear, exposure, anxiety reduction – in order to ensure that patients get the best outcomes possible from their treatment.

Better mental health today

5 Steps to better mental well-being

There are so many ways that are sold to help you with better mental health and with the Internet being a big part of our lives it is so hard to determine fact from fiction.  The big issue is that people tend to look at wholesale change, rather than everyday habit to help them feel better. As a result we tend to miss the really important things – the simple things. In seeking answers people tend to over-complicate what the answer (and problem) is and decide that they need 4 different types of massage as well as a several week long self development course, and only then will they feel better. Unfortunately, these things just don’t last – you might get a boost from them for a few weeks (or months) but then all of a sudden you find that you are back to how you were feeling previously.

So, here are 5 things that I recommend that everyone does in order to improve their mental health. These suggestions are easy to follow through on and are something that you can build really good habits around.

  1. Exercise – it doesn’t have to be much, as exercise can help with the regulation of mood, sleep and stress. The old advice is still relevant – park a little further from work (or school pickup), add to your regular exercise routine;
  2. Breathe – mindfulness meditation isn’t about donning robes and reaching nirvana, it is about slowing your head down enough so that you are able to be present in the moment and deal with things as they come (rather than worrying about the past or the future) – I use the Smiling Mind app – great, short and effective meditations for busy people. Have kids and don’t have time? Stop making excuses – the app also has a kids program that you can do with them;
  3. Socialise – just speak to someone! Whether it is messaging an old friend, spending time getting to know a colleague or catching up with a family member in person, or online – it doesn’t matter. Engagement with others helps us to externalise problems and also to assist in building perspective around what we are currently dealing with;
  4. Challenge yourself – make sure that you are not taking the easy route. Is there an email to a colleague that you are dreading? Send it. Have you put off your tax return this year because of the amount of paperwork? Start putting it together. The problem is, the more stressed we become the easier our brains try to take it on us, as a result all the things that cause stress tend to build up and the more that we push it back, the more stress it builds. On top of all your challenging tasks? Find a new one – try places like Udemy or Coursera to learn a new skill or language (at your own pace)
  5. Do something for enjoyment – Remember hobbies? Probably not. Find a new hobby, engage with an old one. “But I’m time poor” I constantly hear, but yet people keep up to date with The Bachelor or their Facebook friends. As with all of the other items on this list, the amount of time isn’t important, the engagement is. Play the guitar for 10 minutes, break out the crochet hooks and make something, read a book – the process, not the outcome, is the goal.

Remember that these are general tips for mental wellbeing and not for the treatment of mental health disorders. If you are struggling with your mental health, please get in contact with your GP or contact me to book an appointment (online or face to face).

Anxiety at work

There has been a lot of focus on stress and anxiety at work in the past few weeks, with several news articles coming out talking about these issues.

I thought that it would be good to look at some of the reasons that people present to a Psychologist for anxiety at work to help to normalise this illness. The vast majority of my clients will talk report the fact that they are having some type of anxiety whilst they are at work and that this effects their ability to work effectively. This phenomena isn’t just for men or women, or people working in office jobs, anxiety cuts across all people and work types.

Some of the examples of ways that people realise that there is a problem:

  • Feeling constantly exhausted – not wanting to go to work or having difficulty getting out of bed, or on the other hand feeling ‘braindead’ when they get home from work and unable to engage with partners or children;
  • Panic episodes  – increased heart rate, feeling constantly nauseous, butterflies in the stomach, a feeling that you need to escape from the situation;
  • Periods of poor work output – finding that you are easily distracted and unable to focus on the tasks that you need to;
  • Avoidance of employees or managers – feeling that interactions with others are too difficult or that they are unable to understand simple solutions

These are all perfectly normal reactions to stress and anxiety and they don’t mean that there is anything majorly wrong with you. Anxiety and stress are both highly responsive to treatment meaning that a conversation with you GP, a referral to a psychologist or some simple changes to your behaviours, thoughts and routines can lead to a great reduction in your symptoms.

As a manager you can engage your employees with an Employee Assistance program or with a supportive environment that they are able to seek support. There are also great support websites such as Black Dog Institute and Beyond Blue which can help provide information and guidance as to the next steps that you may need to take.

Insite Psychology Gold Coast also provides support to managers and employees in relation to stress, anxiety and depression – you can contact us here