BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Asia/Kuching BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20200315T000000 RDATE:20380119T111407 TZOFFSETFROM:+0800 TZOFFSETTO:+0800 TZNAME:Asia/Kuching +08 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:fe79de88723796de05aa8c346e6ecd8c CATEGORIES:Stories CREATED:20210316T164542 SUMMARY:Trypanophobia in the Era of COVID-19 Vaccinations DESCRIPTION:
Trypanophobia in the Era of COVID-19 Vaccinations
Dr Amanda Albert
After such an
unprecedented pandemic, the world at large breathed a collective sigh of re
lief when
hailing the advent of the COVID-19 vaccine this year. For t
hose who fear getting a needle in the arm,
this relief is usually mix
ed with some anxiety regarding the process.
Fear or ph
obia?
Fear of needles is no
t uncommon – needles pierce the skin and cause pain, and some postulate tha
t
avoidance of this pain is an evolutionary instinct. The human race
survived by avoiding pain and
injury with a fear instinct, creating a
human predisposition to this fear of needles. However, it is
when th
is fear reaches the extreme level of phobia, affecting one’s ability to obt
ain the vaccine or
undergo any other medical procedure involving need
les, that a problem arises. A fear and a phobia
are not the same.
There exists several different medical terms for phobia of variou
s kinds of needles, but the specific
phobia of medical procedures inv
olving needles is called trypanophobia. It is one of the specific
pho
bias listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, F
ifth Edition (DSM-V),
one of the major references used by mental heal
th professionals. This phobia is diagnosed when a
person has an immed
iate and marked fear response to medical needles. Symptoms include fainting
,
dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting, sweating and palpita
tions. This fear continues for at
least six months and causes the per
son to avoid the trigger with intense fear and anxiety. This fear
res
ponse is usually out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the needle
. It is also out of
proportion to the person’s sociocultural context,
meaning his fear responses are different from the
fear responses of
those in his social circles and cultural background. In certain cases, pers
ons with
this phobia have been known to completely avoid going to cli
nics or hospitals, despite having
illnesses that require treatment.
p>
There are no current statistics available in Malaysia, but glob
al estimates indicate that at least one in
ten people suffer from try
panophobia. Even action film star Jackie Chan, who performs all of his own<
br /> stunts, reports suffering from it! Studies also show that four out of
five people with trypanophobia
report having a first-degree family m
ember with the same – however, experts believe this may be
due to lea
rned behaviour more than actual genetic inheritance.
I
think I have trypanophobia – what next?
Many people simply avoid the triggers to their phobias. This
may be well and good if one has a
phobia of spiders, for example, but
it is not always possible or practical, such as is the case with
som
e other phobias. It would be a challenge to go through life never having a
vaccine, never
boarding a flight, or never entering a lift! The good
news is that there is help available should you
suffer from trypanoph
obia, or any other specific phobias for that matter.
The main
component of this is exposure therapy, a form of psychological therapy whic
h can be
undertaken with a qualified therapist, usually a clinical ps
ychologist. During a course of up to twenty
sessions, a person goes t
hrough gradual exposure to the triggers that cause their phobias together with their therapist, while learning practical ways to deal with the f
ear responses.
In this context, the person may first learn to
read about needles with their therapist, which
practising dealing wit
h his fear. Once his fear response to reading about needles is under better
control, he may then look at pictures of needles, then later watch v
ideos of procedures involving
needles. This may progress to attending
a session where someone else is having a procedure done in
person, a
nd the final step would be to have a medical procedure done involving needl
es himself.
The aim is to gradually reduce and hopefully eliminate th
e fear response, and in many cases, this
therapy has been found to be
highly effective.
Medications are not usually used for specif
ic phobias per se, but may be used in some cases to treat
unmanageabl
e anxiety occurring as an effect of phobias. This is usually short-term, an
d the mainstay
of treatment is still psychological therapy.
But my vaccination slot is next week – I have run out of time f
or therapy!
Fear (or phobia
) not – according to experts in the field, there are some practical things
you can do to
cope.