with Rewind Trauma Therapy & Hypnotherapy

Trigger warning

This article might contain language that is triggering for some people. If that’s you, do get in touch and we’ll talk it through avoiding the language you find challenging.

Armed with knowledge and understanding, you can take charge of your needle phobia with Rewind Phobia and Trauma Therapy, and in some cases, hypnotherapy.

What kind of Needle Phobia now do you Have?

Find out exactly what kind of phobia you have, and explore possible ways to quickly and painlessly resolve your specific issue including trypanophobia - the extreme fear of medical procedures involving hypodermic needles or injections - and aichmophobia, the fear of sharply pointed objects.

A Primitive Life-Saving Response?

Today we associate injections with life-saving treatments; but our primitive minds and our associated autonomic nervous system may not have got that memo!

For our ancestors, being pierced in any way would have often had fatal consequences - either because of infection or as a result of being wounded in battle.

There are two inherited conditions - the vasovagal response and hyperalgesia which are both physiological responses to being pierced.

Click here to read the case study of a complex needle phobia and medical phobia case.

I include details of the Sense-Ability fee structure and an outline of the number of sessions that may be needed at the end of this article.

The Impact of Needle Phobias

If you are so frightened of needles you avoid getting essential injections, having blood tests or other vital life-saving injections – the consequences could be life threatening.

Equally, if your fear of needles is physiological in origin, meaning a dramatic drop in blood pressure and fainting caused by a needle prick, there is a real danger of collapse, and that requires the support of a medical professional.

Know your Needle Fear?

Do you know the source of your phobia?

The answers to these questions will guide you on what steps you can take to resolve your issue.

When injected or pierced, do you faint or collapse? Does your blood pressure drop?

Scroll down to Vasovagal Response

Is your phobia linked to a prior event?

Please read through this Needle Phobia article

Is your needle phobia linked to an inherited hypersensitivity to pain (hyperalgesia)?

Please see Hyperalgesic Needle Phobia

Is your phobia the result of a combination of factors, e.g. linked to doctors, hospitals or medical procedures?

Skip down to Associative Needle Phobia

Is your phobia linked to being restrained physically or emotionally?

Skip down to Resistive Needle Phobia

Classic Needle Phobias

Needle phobias fall under the umbrella of complex phobias and are specifically mentioned in the “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”.

We have learnt that some phobias are physiological, while others are more psychological, often the result of an associated trauma or traumas.

Knowing the difference is essential if you are going to seek help to resolve this issue.

As a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, it’s my job to help people overcome the psychological components of phobia, fear and trauma.

Physiological responses, such as fainting or loss of blood pressure as a result of being pierced with a needle, are medical issues. Your doctor, nurse or specialist is the best person to deal with the medical side of this condition. I explain the phenomena briefly here to help you understand and discuss this issue with your nurse or doctor.

However, I can still help with other fear-based issues associated with the vasovagal response such as a fear of visiting the doctor or the fear of the vasovagal response.

Typical Phobias

Most typical phobias caused by traumatic associations fall under my remit.

There’s no doubt injections will be disliked by most of us, just as tax returns are disliked. However, a phobia is much worse than a powerful dislike. Phobias feel more like traumas.

Exposure to the phobia trigger, in this case a needle, triggers an overwhelming fear response which is accompanied by a rapid heart beat, shallow breathing and sweating.

You can resolve your trauma

If you have a phobia, you may have found that friends and family dismiss your fear or belittle your experience. There is also a fear that in addressing the trauma, you will be ‘forced’ to face your fear. With Rewind Trauma Therapy that isn’t the case, as I shall explain.

Firstly, sufferers need to be treated with kindness, respect and understanding. The terror is real and is linked to how the primitive mind processes threats and forges a strong association between the needle or injection to the experience of profound terror.

The response is governed by the part of our mind that is primitive and reptilian. The part that focuses on our basic survival.

Rewind Trauma Therapy aims to extinguish the overwhelming association between terror and needles, for good.

The learned phobia response can be unlearned. Then a new, better, more helpful response can be embedded through hypnosis.

The Rewind Trauma Technique, or Rewind Trauma Therapy, is often called the ‘closure without disclosure’ therapy and it aims to minimise or eliminate any re-experiencing of the trauma.

Scroll down to find out more about Rewind Trauma Therapy and how it works.

To understand more about classic phobias, how they are created and resolved scroll past The Vasovagal Response section.

The Vasovagal Response

50% of needle phobias are not phobias as we understand them but are vasovagal. Less a phobia then, and more a physiological response.

What is a vasogal response?

Vasovagal responses involve the vascular and nervous system and are underpinned by a dramatic drop in blood pressure, with pallor, fainting, sweating and nausea caused by intense over-activity of the vagus nerve. It’s a physical response that cannot be controlled.

The drop in heart rate and blood pressure can lead to a brief loss of consciousness. It’s usually harmless, and of course medical professionals know how to deal with it.

However, there is a remote possibility of serious injury or even death as a result of the fall, or even heart failure, if there is an underlying heart condition. Medical professionals therefore take it very seriously.

Dr James G Hamilton, author of an article in the Family Journal, Needle Phobias, a Neglected Diagnosis explains that there have been at least 23 cases where needle puncture led to a cardiac episode and death.

Although this is very rare, it’s something we must consider before going ahead with needle phobia treatment. Dr Hamilton explains, “Most people dislike needles, but a true needle phobia [the vasovagal response] feels overwhelming and uncontrollable to patients. People who have needle phobia may experience an extremely elevated heart rate and blood pressure immediately before a needle puncture. When the puncture occurs, the heart rate may drop precipitously. This exposes them to significant danger of heart arrhythmias and other cardiac episodes.”

Southampton University Hospital, in a leaflet on needle phobias (see References) explains the techniques that can lessen the likelihood of fainting during medical procedures. These include lying down or having legs elevated while receiving an injection then staying in this position until it feels comfortable, and tensing and relaxing your hands and feet to help lessen the likelihood of fainting.

However, if you think you suffer from a vasovagal response, please don’t try to self diagnose nor attempt to treat yourself. Discuss your concerns with the nurse or doctor and ask them to guide you through the techniques.

A genetic component

The vasovagal response to being punctured by a needle or other sharp object is thought to be genetic, and seems to run in families. If you suspect yourself, or a family member, has this issue, it’s important to consult with a medical practitioner to rule out any serious conditions that might be causing this response.

An inherited response?

There is a hypothesis that this genetic predisposition may be an inherited response that helped our ancestors survive. The vasovagal fainting response can be triggered by being punctured in any way – swords, arrows, knives and of course needles. Perhaps because of this overwhelming response, our ancestors avoided the risk of infection and haemorrhage. They may even have avoided death in battle. After all, as soon as they were injured they passed out, leaving them to get up to fight another day.

Perhaps it’s why you are here today! An interesting conjecture.

“As a long-time needle-phobia sufferer, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced me to face my fear. I suffer from vaso-vagal syncope related to injections which adds a complexity and fear to vaccinations... Jane was absolutely determined to find an approach that would work for me and by investing time in listening to me, she did...
I am happy to say that we got there and I was able to email her a photo of myself at the pharmacy, proudly holding my vaccination card.”

— Ash, December 2021

A vasovagal response may lead to an associative response (how we normally get phobias) detailed below. Dr Hamilton adds, “With repeated needle exposure, those with an inherited vasovagal shock reflex tend to develop a fear of needles.”

In this instance, the sufferer may need both complementary support to overcome the psychological aspects of their induced fear response, and medical support to manage the dramatic drop in blood pressure.

Dealing with vasovagal responses

Rewind Phobia Therapy is usually the best approach to neutralise the phobia response, and hypnotherapy is also useful in helping to embed a new, more helpful behaviours and responses to replace the phobic response.

But hypnotherapists cannot change genetics nor change an innate physiological response.

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I can help you manage your feelings and reactions to getting an injection, and your emotional responses, but not your physiological responses.

In the case of the vasovagal response, medical support or intervention will always be needed.

Hyperalgesic Needle Phobia

Around 10% of people with needle phobias have a hyperalgesic fear of needles. This is when there is an inherited hypersensitivity to pain (hyperalgesia) meaning the injection is unbearably and disproportionately painful. Symptoms include extreme unexplained anxiety, elevated blood pressure and increased heart rate at the immediate point of being pierced by the needle.

Usually a form of gel or cream anaesthetic would solve the problem.

However, its possible that this unbearable pain has created a phobia and intense fear - understandably - and its therefore necessary to treat the phobia first.

Associative Phobias

Have you heard of Pavlov’s dog? Pavlov identified that a dog could be trained to salivate when it heard a little bell (in fact he observed they responded to footsteps and a journalist asked if they would also respond to a bell which made a better story so it’s the one we tell). This is called a conditioned response. The dog learns to associate the sound of the bell with the delivery of food and its automatic response is salivation.

Most phobias are the result of a traumatic event that embeds a link between an object or event with an overwhelming emotional experience. The object or event, although not perhaps the primary cause of the overwhelming fear, becomes permanently associated.

A frightening experience involving an injection may link overwhelming emotions and trauma to the needle, or equally to blood, doctors or hospitals. This is the way most phobias are formed and is something Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help with.

Trypanophobia and Iatrophobia

Trypanophobia is the fear of medical procedures and Iatrophobia is a distrust of doctors.

For some people, perhaps those who have had challenging medical procedures or long histories of illness, it might become a natural progression to develop a fear of all doctors, hospitals or procedures.

Operant Conditioning

Two psychologists, Watson and Rayner, demonstrated this in their ‘Little Albert’ Experiments.

Poor Little Albert

Little Albert was introduced to a white rat and showed no fear. Then, a frightening loud, sudden noise was introduced every time he met the white rat. This was repeated many times.

The poor child developed a fear of white fluffy things. The Little Albert experiment demonstrates empirical evidence of classically conditioning a person. Watson and Rayner knew that there are two innate fears, sudden loud noise and falling, so they aimed to create a phobic response and certainly succeeded.

Poor Little Albert was scared of white fluffy things ever since…

I don’t think Watson and Rayner would pass their safeguarding training today!

Most phobias start as associative (associating pain and fear with the original injection or sight of blood) and are embedded through operant conditioning (a child forced to face this fear with every vaccine is conditioned to see avoidance as bringing relief or a reward).

So Little Albert now had this phobia for the rest of his life. Whether or not the white rat developed a phobia of small boys was not recorded!

The advice remains, ‘don’t try this at home’.

Resistive Phobias

In the time when people thought a trauma resulting from an event would be as short as the experience, some children were forced to have a vaccine by being restrained. The idea was that it would be like pulling off a plaster. A short sharp stab of pain and instant relief, soon to be forgotten.

However, being held down or restrained is a huge cause of trauma in itself. Feeling powerless, trapped and perhaps, betrayed, is now associated with the injection.

Today, we might act out or rehearse for the child what will happen when we get to the doctor; or the doctor might playfully distract the child before the injection and the parent would appropriately soothe him afterwards.

What is Rewind Phobia Therapy?

I treat most phobias with Rewind Trauma or Phobia Therapy.

Dr Muss Rewind Trauma Therapy, recently trialled at Cardiff University, is fast proving to be the most effective of all the Rewind approaches available. This works by creating an imaginary film in such a skilled way as to minimise or eliminate the possibility of re-traumatisation.

In Rewind Phobia, the imaginary film is ‘rewound’ in various ways and sometimes at various speeds in order to weaken the traumatic response and render it ‘extinct’. It is through the wonders of neuroscience that we are beginning to understand how this process works.

The Rewind process uses the plasticity of our mind and its ability to create new neural pathways. The terrifying memory is, in effect, moved from the fight, flight, fright part of the mind, to the part that stores narrative memories

I often suggest clients imagine they are Hitchcock when they create their imaginary film of their trauma. After all, it is a horror to them! The film is created on a screen in an imaginary cinema in order to create space between the client and the visualisation of their trauma.

The film can be one specific event, or a story arc including several linked events. If the phobia was created by witnessing an event, then the film is created associated (looking through their own eyes). If the film involved them personally, the film is generally created dissociated (they see themselves in the film). This minimises the possibility of retraumatisation.

Sense-Ability clients can play with camera angles, look at the events from a bird’s eye perspective or even create cartoons to avoid the re-traumatisation process. There is absolutely no need to re-experience the trauma or traumas in order to resolve them and this very much surprises most people.

Rewind Trauma Therapy is ideal for helping people overcome traumas associated with single events, or enduring and repeating frightening experiences associated with hospitals.

If the imaginary film links associated events to create a ‘story arc’, the ‘film’ may include the earliest and latest remembered events, and a significant event or events in the middle of the narrative. The whole film can then be rewound in the normal way. This only works if the events in question are clearly all part of a single trauma.

Moving and storing the memories

Sometimes a phobia develops because of what you imagine might happen, or because you have heard or seen someone else’s experience and your fear has developed and embedded.

The good news is that if our imaginations can create the fear, they can equally ‘uncreate’ it.

If you witnessed something that created your phobia, then Rewind Phobia Therapy would be the chosen approach.

If your phobia is more complex and involves a fear of doctors or hospitals too, then Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Rewind Trauma or Phobia therapy combined might provide the solution. Usually a couple of sessions of Rewind does the trick.

To read more about Rewind Trauma Therapy please see: Can I Recover from Trauma?

Sense-Ability Limits

As a trained and accredited Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and Dr Muss Rewind Trauma Therapist, I work within strict code of conduct and ethics and within the limits of my knowledge, skills and competence. In the case of needle phobias, if you have any doubt about the root of your phobia, I suggest a call to assess whether the therapy is suitable for you.

If after a short conversation, we are still not certain how to proceed I will suggest you contact your doctor in the first instance.

If you have a needle phobia of course it’s now very much in your own interest to address it. In the past you may have simply avoided the thing you were afraid of - needles, doctors, hospitals - but now that may not be an option.

A phobia, whatever it’s root, is genuinely distressing, overwhelming and out of your control. At Sense-Ability Hypnotherapy & Coaching you will be heard; believed and taken seriously. And together we can explore the nature of your needle fear or phobia, and ways to address it.

Is your Needle Phobia Simple or Complex?

Resolving needle phobia is not always straightforward. I recommend an initial consultation to talk about the root of the phobia, its associations and links such as being restrained, mocked, humiliated or teased, being emotionally coerced, other medical phobias, and bio-psychological issues such as hyperalgesia or the vasovagal response. Then we can discuss the best therapy for you.

How many sessions will I need?

Sometimes two Rewind Phobia sessions, two weeks apart, are sufficient. Often three to four weekly sessions involving Rewind Phobia Therapy and Hypnotherapy do the trick. It all depends on the nature of the original trauma and associated factors. Sometimes, clients don’t even know exactly what caused the fear and this becomes uncovered during therapy changing the course of treatment.

How much will it cost?

Please click on Sense-Ability Fees to find out more about fees and my fee and scaling policy.

I do want to make sure as many people as possible can access the treatment they need and that it it is affordable. If you are not in full time employment, or are on a low income, are on benefits or feel there are other exceptional circumstances that require fees to be discounted, do please ask about scaled charges.

Get in Touch to Find Out More

For a free half hour consultation or to book your initial assessment and neuroscience presentation, tailored to you and your needle or medical phobia, just text or email.

Jane Pendry
Sense-Ability Hypnotherapy & Coaching, UK
35 Farm Close Road
Wheatley
Oxfordshire
07843 813 883
jane@sense-ability.co.uk

Working online through most web video channels including Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp

Photos (c) Unsplash

Arm image flickr.com/photos/hushnaidoo
Vaccine phials: danielschludi.de
Covid vaccine and needle: Hakan Nural
White rat vaun0815
Tattoo: Allef Vinicius

References:

ABC News: Do You Have Needle Phobia?

Simply Psychology, the Little Albert Experiment: Little Albert Experiment | Simply Psychology

NHS leaflet (University Hospital Southampton): Blood, injury and needle phobias and procedural anxiety

Research in to Fear of Injections in Young Adults: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10812916 Fear of Injections in Young Adults: prevalence and associations

With thanks Dr Rachel Gillibrand, Dorothea Read and Jo Jones at the The Clinical Hypnotherapy School for their specialised training in Needle Phobia.

The official AFSFH blog on Needle Phobia by Trevor Eddolls includes some further interesting facts and summarises much of the information here.

Overcome Your Needle Phobia