Blood, illness and injury phobias
A phobia is a fear of something. Having a phobia can be very upsetting. It can disrupt the way you are able to live your life. Your might be afraid of seeing blood, operations, accidents, the smell of hospitals or visiting the dentist. You may be afraid of vomiting (or seeing someone else vomit), cutting yourself or becoming ill. You maybe avoid places where you might see these things e.g. pubs at closing time, hospitals.
Everybody can feel a bit uneasy at the sight of blood or injury. Some people might feel as if they are going to faint. Other people might be scared of needles or having tests.
Here are some of the things you might feel if you have a blood phobia.
Thoughts
- Find yourself looking out for the threat of seeing blood
- Fear that the worst thing will happen
- Think 'what if………' a lot
- Thinking 'I can't control myself'
Feelings
- Are you feeling anxious, ashamed, or depressed?
Body changes
- Rapid breathing
- Your heart racing
- Feeling shaky
- Feeling sticky and sweaty
- Feeling sick
Actions
- Avoid going to places or situations where you think you might see blood.
How common is it?
Blood phobia is not a common subject in day to day talk. But more people suffer from blood and injury phobias than you might think. In fact up to 1 in 25 people have blood phobia at some stage in their life.
What causes it?
If we have a phobia and see the thing that we are afraid of we feel very scared and want to escape from it. Our bodies also respond as if we are in danger. Your heart rate and blood pressure increase when you are scared. You might also have some of the symptoms below:
| Light-headedness | Dizziness |
| Breathlessness | Feeling hot |
| Feeling sick | Butterflies in the stomach |
| Dry mouth | Sweating |
| Blushing | Tension in the muscles |
| Shaking | Feeling a need to visit the toilet more often |
These symptoms are part of the body's normal response to stress. Everyone has these from time to time and they are not dangerous. Stress levels cannot keep increasing forever. Our body automatically stops this from happening if it gets too high.
If you stay with the thing that scares you, your blood pressure will slowly return to normal. It is easier to return your blood pressure to normal if you are able to relax. Especially if we come to realise that we are not in real danger.
Blood phobia works in the opposite way. When you see the objects you fear, there is often an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. This change is brief and sometimes does not happen at all. On the other hand, with blood phobia, your heart rate and blood pressure slow down suddenly. This can lead to fainting. In fact, more than two thirds of people with this type of phobia say that they have fainted in response to blood, injury or injections. Others do not actually faint but do feel faint.
This seems to be too much of a response that is present in most of us. Most people feel squeamish and have a slight drop in blood pressure when they see blood. Between 5 and 15% of people faint.
Fainting is caused by the heart rate slowing down and a drop in blood pressure. This can mean that too little blood is getting to the brain and can lead to a faint. Fainting is one of the body's ways of protecting itself. It is there to bring the head to the floor so that it is easier for blood to get to the brain. When this happens we recover consciousness.
Luckily, we do know how to prevent fainting.
What keeps it going?
Fainting can be scary and unpleasant. There can also be other symptoms like feeling sick or weak, sweating and your face turning pale. These can last for a few hours after fainting. Some people do not get a strong fear if they do not see blood, injury or injections a lot. However, a lot of people do go on to get a phobia after fainting.
We soon learn that blood, injuries and needles are linked to fainting symptoms. We can become very worried about this. We learn that the easiest way to avoid feeling like this is to avoid the things that we think might cause it. Avoid things damages our sense of being able to cope and can make us feel worse. It can also mean that the phobia gets in the way of our lives. It can cause us to avoid medical appointments, injections, travel, certain jobs, and other things. It can also make women too worried to become pregnant and stop us from caring for injured relatives or visiting them in hospital.
How do you deal with blood phobia?
In the same way that you deal with any fear - you need to face your fear.
