Fear of donating blood. Fear of veins and medical procedures

Sometimes even adults and serious people find it difficult to confront their irrational fears, and especially if such a fear is venerophobia. With this fear, a person is always convinced that he has a sexually transmitted disease, and it doesn’t matter to the patient that there are no symptoms, they are still constantly worried about it.

Venerophobia is a disease that is caused by feelings of guilt and shame. If we take a closer look, venerophobia is not in all cases an independent disease; it is often caused by certain neurotic disorders, such as panic fears, or.

Venerophobes come to see a doctor and talk about strange and dubious signs that they notice in themselves. For example, some people are sure that something strange is happening to their genitals, and at the same time they complain about bad dream and headaches, strange sensations in the throat and nose. It happens that those suffering from venerophobia say that their skin has begun to smell somehow strange, and moreover, they feel the “disintegration” of their own tissues.

The morning of venerephobes begins with the fact that they meticulously examine themselves in the mirror, looking for non-existent anomalies. They even seem glad that they found something suspicious that suggests the presence of a disease. They look no less carefully at their household members, listen carefully to the complaints of their other half, and instantly connect them with their fictitious venereal disease.

Although, in the case of this phobia, experts have no doubt about its origin, there are many reasons. The beginning can be quite prosaic. As a rule, a person has had casual sex and is well aware that the sexual contact was unsafe. And also if there was household contact with a person with a sexually transmitted disease. It goes without saying that there are no signs of any diseases, but fear occupies the leading place. An impressionable person invariably comes to venerophobia. Not the least role in the occurrence of this phobia is played by such a factor as general concepts about culture, information about sexually transmitted diseases.

Sometimes a person reads books intended for doctors, in which, of course, he understands little, and it is likely that he will draw erroneous conclusions for himself. Many people discuss their intimate problems with friends, which is quite frivolous, taking information from random articles and other sources. When discussing the occurrence of venerophobia, it is necessary to take into account a certain mental or neurotic predisposition of the venerophobe, because even with existing risk It is not at all necessary that casual sexual intercourse will end in venerophobia.

There are also situations when a person has a fairly innocent inflammation in the genital area, which has nothing to do with sexually transmitted diseases, or has previously suffered something similar. Based on this, any, even the slightest discomfort in intimate area is regarded by a venerephobe as a possibility of the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases. At the same time, venerophobia develops in a very serious form. Sometimes it happens that a person actually suffered from a venereal disease, underwent treatment for a long time, and the doctors said that he was absolutely healthy. But the venerephobe is very distrustful and does not believe in his recovery.

The fear of sexually transmitted diseases has many faces, so the signs of the disease can manifest themselves very individually. Usually, regardless of whether venerephobes understand the irrationality of their fears, they try to hide their condition and, for obvious reasons, not expose it to public discussion. It is worth emphasizing that a person suffering from venerophobia avoids sexual relations, denying himself intimate pleasure, and therefore his reproductive system slows down even more.

If a Venerophobe is a bachelor, then he constantly puts off starting his own family, because he is sure imaginary illness will be passed on to his wife, and it is possible that the problems will be passed on to his offspring. When a family man suffers from venerophobia, he creates endless conflict situations. There is an atmosphere of depression in the family, family members are constantly stressed, and ultimately, they too may develop a nervous disorder.

During an exacerbation of a phobia, when the patient unexpectedly discovers “another” symptom venereal disease, he may experience fear that completely consumes him, causing him to rush around the room in horror. At this moment, a person may experience a rise in blood pressure, tremors, dizziness, and persecution. general weakness. The fear is so great that the patient may completely lose control of his actions and cease to navigate the area.

Like most other phobias, venerophobia is a condition that can be cured. But the patient should know that the treatment is quite difficult, and therefore, the person himself must actively strive for recovery. As a rule, the success of treatment for a patient with venerophobia is largely due to the first visit to the doctor. During the consultation, the doctor must show maximum sensitivity and carefully read all the information provided to the patient.

Hello, please help me understand and somehow help my daughter.
The fact is that she does not allow anyone to touch her veins in her arms, she cannot see or touch them! Afraid of injections and the sight of blood.

Now my daughter is 17 years old. Vegetative-vascular dystonia and frequent headaches have worsened. Hypertensive syndrome. The daughter complained to the cardiologist that the veins in her arms were swelling in the evening. She complained, but she didn’t let the doctor touch them! The neurologist says that VSD cannot be cured with medications, you need to be attentive to your body, do gymnastics, yoga, hardening, my daughter agreed, but when it came to prescribing injections (vitamins), she almost ran out of the office, looking at me haunted and pleadingly, As a result, they prescribed pills. She forbids me to tell the neurologist about my fear, she is afraid that she will be considered mentally ill. He is so afraid of blood that he almost faints, turns blue all over, shakes, starts to cry and begins to choke. Now I remember that at the age of 10 we could not vaccinate her, we had to hold her by force, I was ashamed in front of the doctor for the unexpected hysteria. Since then, she has not had a single vaccination at school; I even had to write refusals (so as not to injure my daughter). I tell her: how can you be afraid of veins? this is your body? She answers me: I don’t understand how you can not be afraid of them, I’ve always been afraid of them!
I don’t know what information you need as a psychologist to answer me. I write as it is. Please help with advice. She is already an adult, pregnancy and childbirth are ahead, how will she survive this???

Answers from psychologists:

    Dear SNEGA, the Internet will not help here. The situation with my daughter is not simple. Try to make an appointment with a psychoanalyst, if there is one in your city, or with a psychotherapist. A serious diagnosis is necessary and only then can we talk about something more specific.

  • Malinina Marina Valerievna

    City: Serpukhov
    Activities:psychologist-consultant
    Specialization in psychological approaches and directions:process-oriented therapy, gestalt therapy, online, emotional-imaginative therapy, body-oriented psychotherapy

    Hello! The girl needs to be explained that this is not mental illness, but some process hidden from consciousness (like a frozen process in a computer). This process may be associated with a forgotten childhood impression, and in order to get rid of it, you need to either get out of the subconscious what is not conscious (this can be done by a psychoanalyst, a Gestalt therapist, or an art therapist), or apply some kind of - a technique that normalizes emotional condition. I use the EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) technique in my work. And in such cases I use it first of all, because... working with the subconscious can be very lengthy. And as a result of using this technique, processes are completed quickly and without much effort, and their subconscious meanings are often revealed along the way. If you contact me through the form on my page, I will give you detailed information about EFT and can do a session with your daughter via Skype.

Hemophobia or fear of blood is an uncontrollable fear at the level of strong panic attacks, arising spontaneously. Hemophobia as a term was first used by American psychiatrist George Weinberg in 1972. The fear of the sight of blood significantly complicates a person’s life and prevents them from adapting to society.

Hemophobia is widespread, but few sufferers seek help from specialists. Often in everyday life we ​​quite often hear “I’m afraid to donate blood: from a finger, from a vein.” This behavior is caused by this phobia.

Hemophobia was characteristic of our ancestors; residual fears remained from those times, and are the reason for our “I’m afraid”. People with this type of fear are often afraid of the thought of having to make an important visit to the hospital or do a variety of things. medical procedures. People are especially frightened by the need to donate blood. Hemophobia covers an internal state of fear, which is caused by an expected or real encounter with blood.

Hemophobia (fear of blood) causes

The causes of hemophobia are psychological. Previously it was believed that this fear had genetic predisposition, however, studies on identical twins have shown that the root cause of phobia is society, as well as traumatic events, but not genetics. Therefore, in principle this problem It can be solved, you just need to find a good psychotherapist.

Hemophobia is divided into various groups. This unit is built on the reasons that cause a person’s negative reaction:

- fear of seeing someone else's blood;

- fear of seeing your blood;

- fear of seeing blood in animals, fish, people;

- fear of seeing blood at all.

Hemophobes, aware of their fear, avoid services traditional medicine, and are used in herbal treatment, meditation. Some people refuse to eat meat and eventually turn into complete vegetarians.

Why is a hemophobe afraid? The reason may be an alleged injury that poses a danger to life and health, fear of a repeat of the previous feeling unwell when donating blood. Fear can come from childhood, when your mother scolded you for minor wounds or cuts.

The fear of blood due to war is one of the real causes of this phobia, which often affects both children and adults. The media contribute to this by openly broadcasting news channels from war zones, thereby provoking the development of hidden forms of phobias.

Often the state of panic caused by hemophobia is attributed to pain reaction, accompanied by the appearance of bleeding, but not the fear of blood itself. Or often this behavior is attributed to a state of stress that is experienced when seeing other people’s injuries and injuries. It is worth noting that the majority of those suffering from severe forms of this phobia, who do not encounter bleeding in everyday life, reduce their source of fear to zero.

Hemophobia (fear of blood) symptoms

Hemophobia manifests itself in uncontrollable fear at the level and is noted the following symptoms: loss of consciousness at the sight of one’s own and someone else’s blood, pale face, trembling, rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, horror in the eyes, jumps blood pressure, tremor. Hemophobes cannot tolerate and therefore are afraid of all kinds of vaccinations and tests (from a finger or from a vein).

Symptoms of hemophobia often manifest themselves in a state of panic, which occurs unpredictably and is an attack of short-term anxiety. At the same time, hemophobes also complain of other unpleasant physical sensations. The following sensations occur: sweating, internal trembling, suffocation, chills, discomfort in the area chest, nausea, unsteadiness, feeling of dizziness, numbness in the limbs, decreased voluntary thinking. Sometimes hemophobes feel like they might go crazy at the sight of blood, so they avoid it at all costs, receiving a command of danger from the body.

Hemophobia treatment

Hemophobia is classified as obsessive states, which are characterized by severe fear from the sight of blood itself, not only in oneself, but also in other people. It follows that it is necessary for a person to develop resistance to the type of blood.

Hemophobia, how serious illness is rare. Often, a phobia is marked by minor manifestations that need to be eliminated using psychotherapeutic methods. Often a person exaggerates the degree of fear. Therefore, talking about the need professional treatment hemophobia is inappropriate in this case.

How to bring a hemophobe to his senses? It is necessary to tilt your head to your knees, thus increasing blood pressure. It is also possible to overcome attacks of hemophobia with the help of special exercises to help cope with panic fear. To do this, you need to tense your muscles while moving your limbs. This exercise stimulates blood circulation and also prevents fainting.

In some cases, it is necessary to look for the causes of hemophobia in deep changes in the psyche. An example is ,. In this case, hemophobia needs careful study and consultation with specialists. If hemophobia is expressed by obvious fears: a person does not go out into the street, making his home safe (knives, razors, paper books, notebooks are put away, corners of furniture are chipped), then in this case it is impossible to do without treatment of uncontrollable pathological fear from a psychiatrist.

(5 ratings, average: 4,20 out of 5)

In principle, few people like medical procedures. But when a person refuses to pass necessary tests only because of fear of donating blood, then we are talking about a full-fledged phobia. How to get rid of it?

Hematophobia and fear of donating blood

A fairly common pathological fear is hemophobia(hematophobia). It is associated with a strong fear of blood: a person only needs to see a small drop of it to fall into panic. Naturally, in such a situation, the reluctance to get tested is quite understandable.

But the fear of donating blood is not necessarily caused by hematophobia. The reasons may be more obvious:

  • fear of pain (although the blood test does not imply serious interference with the integrity of the body, a certain discomfort is still present);
  • fear of contracting HIV or hepatitis if using unsterile/contaminated instruments;
  • the fear of one’s own helplessness, which grips many in hospitals and clinics (a person due to the lack medical education does not fully understand what he needs to do, and is forced to blindly obey the doctors).

As a rule, the fear of donating blood develops in childhood. Almost every child has a memory of how a strict nurse frantically squeezed out the treasured red drop from a numb finger or spent hours looking for inconspicuous veins, painfully sticking her hand with a needle in the process. The reasons for fear are always psychological and have no basis in reality. But this does not prevent even established adults from trembling in front of that “creepy” office.

How to stop being afraid to donate blood by finding a good clinic

Specialists in state clinics, hospitals, laboratories are not very customer-oriented. Why this happens is unnecessary to discuss. But there is always a choice: patients who are afraid of donating blood can contact a good private clinic. In this case, the person expects:

  • polite welcome;
  • a patient specialist who will help you overcome fear and try to make the procedure as comfortable as possible;
  • high-quality and sterile instruments.

It is possible that after the first visit to such a clinic, the fear will disappear. A person will understand the groundlessness of fear: after all, when the blood sampling procedure is approached carefully and diligently, then there are no inconveniences. An ordinary injection.

How to stop being afraid to donate blood from a finger and vein by controlling the process

Patient safety is in the hands of the patient himself. Especially if you had to go to a regular clinic, where the flow of visitors is very dense. It is necessary to observe the behavior of the specialist, in particular:

There is no need to be afraid of doctors and nurses. These are people just like everyone else. And in the same way they can make mistakes, be lazy, break the rules. Therefore, the patient needs to control what is happening to the best of his ability and express his opinion if necessary.

How to stop being afraid to donate blood from a vein or finger while being distracted

Many people find distraction methods helpful. During the procedure you should:

  • look out the window, at your feet, to the side;
  • count from ten to zero;
  • mentally repeat the words of the song;
  • fiddle with the handkerchief in your free hand;
  • listen to music on headphones;
  • talk to the “support service” (a relative or friend - provided that he is allowed to be in the office).

However, you cannot take any sedatives, as they can distort the result and cause incorrect diagnosis. In addition, you will then have to donate blood again, which will force you to experience unpleasant sensations again.

If independent attempts to cope with the problem have led nowhere, you should think about seeking psychotherapeutic help. Sometimes two or three sessions are enough to get rid of a disturbing phobia forever.

If you don't mind, please rate the article. Your opinion is very important to us!
Loading...Loading...