No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Trypanophobia-an extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures: An overview
Abstract
A phobia is an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared stimulus. Trypanophobia is an extreme reaction of fear to the use of needles in any type of medical environment. While many people experience some degree of aversion to receiving a shot at the doctor's office, persons who suffer from trypanophobia tend to take on levels of anxiety that can result in the occurrence of a panic attack. This extreme aversion to needles can lead to serious health issues, as the phobia will motivate individuals to forego medical treatments and tests that involve the use of a need to inject medication or to take blood samples. Trypanophobia is a most common phobia. This is not a fear of any needle but a fear of needles used by medical practitioners. In the present article, we have concentrated on phobia as well as trypanophobia; symptoms, types, comorbidty and triggers as well as possible treatments associated with trypanophobia.The aim of present article is to provide in depth knowledge about clinical aspects of trypanophobia.
... Fear of needles is known as trypanophobia, and it is considered as an extreme fear of medical procedures. [2,3] It is also referred to as aichmophobia, belonephobia, ornithophobia, names that are actually technically incorrect because they denote simply a "fear of pins/needles" and do not refer to the medical aspect of trypanophobia. [2] Needle phobia now being included under the diagnostic category of BII phobia in American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. ...
... [2,3] It is also referred to as aichmophobia, belonephobia, ornithophobia, names that are actually technically incorrect because they denote simply a "fear of pins/needles" and do not refer to the medical aspect of trypanophobia. [2] Needle phobia now being included under the diagnostic category of BII phobia in American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. [3,4] The primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of needle phobia among dental patients. ...
... [4] A phobia is defined as "an irrational, intense fear of an object or situation that poses little or no actual danger." [2] Developmental fears are typically transitory and may resolve in childhood, including fear of the dark, strangers, and loud noises. However in some cases, fear of the certain situations or objects may remain throughout adolescence and can be problematic into adulthood. ...
Background: The extent of the needle phobia and its effect on the patients in the community is the topic which still remains largely unexplored. The presence of needle phobia may influence the future dental treatment by the patient. Thus, the present study was planned to check the nature and prevalence of needle phobia among dental college patients. Materials and Methods: The study was carried with the help of 16 questionnaires specially formulated for the present study. The study included 343 patients came to the outpatient department of the dental college, and the observation was recorded and analyzed. Results: Most of the male and female participants had the experience of the needle phobia due to the experience shared by parents, friends, or relatives in their previous life. Due to needle phobia the most of the patient becomes somewhat anxious, and needle phobia had little impact on the life of the patients. According to our study, 13.3% of male participants and 14.6% of the female participants had avoided dental treatment due to fear of needles. Conclusion: The procedure of needle injection is a routine procedure in the dental clinics and hospitals for giving anesthesia to the patient. Therefore, these types of studies calculating the prevalence of needle phobia help to know about the view of the patient and ultimately the community toward the needle phobia. Hence that necessary steps can be taken.
This article aims to find out the reasons for Lecturers and Education Personnel who have not implemented Covid-19 Vaccination as a causal phenomenon and understand the behavior conditions in the community especially higher education units in Madiun City as a consequence phenomenon, viewed from a value perspective and community norms in accepting issue regarding Covid-19 Vaccination as one of the requirements for implementing limited face-to-face meetings learning. The method used is a qualitative method with the type of ecology psychology. Data analysis in this study was carried out inductively. The research subjects were determined purposively by considering the criteria are: Lecturers and Education Personnel at the University in Madiun City who have not been vaccinated for Covid-19. The results of the study show that positive verbal persuasion fosters efficacy for research subjects in making decisions regarding the perception of Covid-19 vaccination as a limited face-to-face meeting learning, otherwise, negative verbal persuasion increasingly makes research subjects carry out denial and self-defense the perception of Covid-19 vaccination as a limited face-to-face meeting learning. In Conclusion, is Covid-19 vaccination for lectures and education personnel, not a mandatory prerequisite for preparing and implementing limited face-to-face meeting learning in Universities in Madiun City.
To evaluate the effectiveness of different pain-relieving interventions to reduce pain from immunization in adults.
MEDLINE (1950 to October Week 3 2008) PsycINFO (1967 to December Week 1 2008), CINAHL (1982 to October Week 4 2008), EMBASE (1980 to 2008 Week 43) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (3rd Quarter 2008).
Databases were searched for trials of pharmacological, behavioural, physical or operator-dependant techniques to reduce pain from immunization in adults. The primary outcome was pain as assessed by visual analogue scale or other numeric rating scale.
Six studies representing 853 participants were identified. One study evaluating pharmacological interventions (lidocaine-prilocaine) found them to be effective in reducing pain from immunization. Similarly, two studies evaluating physical pain relieving techniques, either skin cooling interventions (Fluori-Methane) or tactile stimulation (manual pressure at the site of injection) found them to reduce pain. One study of jet injectors found them to be more painful than conventional needle and syringe. Neither freezing needles nor warming vaccines was found to be effective in reducing pain. No studies investigated psychological interventions or oral analgesics (acetaminophen and ibuprofen).
There was limited evidence to support the use of lidocaine-prilocaine, Fluori-Methane and manual pressure for reducing immunization pain in adults. There was limited evidence of more pain with jet injectors compared to needle and syringe. Due to limited data, we recommend further investigation of methods to reduce immunization pain in adults, primarily psychological and physical techniques.
Applied tension (AT) is a behavioral technique used to reduce symptoms such as dizziness and fainting in people with blood and injury phobias as well as medical patients undergoing invasive procedures. AT has been found to reduce dizziness and fainting in several studies of blood donors.
The purpose of this study was to examine the psychophysiological effects of AT in the context of blood donation.
Ninety-eight young adult blood donors wore ambulatory physiological monitors and were randomly assigned to one of two groups that practiced AT or one that did not. Measures of blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, and other physiological parameters were obtained while participants gave blood.
Donors who did not practice AT were more likely to report symptoms in the donation chair and generally displayed a pattern of physiological activity consistent with risk for a vasovagal reaction. For example, heart rate and total peripheral resistance decreased. The drop in heart rate was probably due at least in part to an increase in vagal parasympathetic nervous system activity, as suggested by an increase in high-frequency heart rate variability. In contrast, donors who practiced AT displayed stable heart rate and high-frequency heart rate variability.
The results suggest that the physiological effects of AT, particularly the inhibition of vagal activity, interfere with those promoting a vasovagal reaction. There may be a number of useful applications for AT in medical settings.
Blood-injury-injection (BII) phobia presents with a unique anxiety response that often involves blood pressure drops and pronounced bradycardia, which can culminate in fainting. The current recommended treatment for BII phobia is Applied Tension (AT), a tension technique that includes in vivo exposure. However, surprisingly little empirical evidence is available on the additive efficacy of tension beyond exposure alone. Our literature search yielded five controlled treatment studies for BII phobia, all from one research group. Beyond AT, these studies also tested Exposure only (E), Tension only, Applied Relaxation (AR), or a combination of AR and AT. Based on self-reported levels of anxiety, in-session avoidance and fainting, AT was superior over other conditions; however, when considering pre- to post-treatment effect sizes on BII-related questionnaires, E outperformed all other treatments. In addition, AT did not yield better results on physiological measures, and individuals with BII fears improved similarly within studies across treatment groups, regardless of fainting status. Heterogeneity in patient populations (e.g. extent of fainting-proneness), differential targeting of BII phobia manifestations, and small sample sizes may explain some of the variability in findings. Further research is needed to determine the efficacy of treatment techniques for BII phobia patients with and without fainting history.
A phobia is an excessive fear or dread of a situation or object which is out of keeping with the danger it may actually present. Phobias can be classified into 'simple phobias', 'social phobias' and agoraphobia. A number of psychological theories have been put forward to account for both the onset and maintenance of a phobia. The case of a social phobia is presented together with a cognitive behavioural intervention package.
Almost all dermatologic surgery is accomplished using local anesthesia. To make our patients more comfortable, there is a constant search for less painful methods of administering anesthetic agents. Topical EMLA as well as iontophoresis are both useful in this regard.
In this study we compared topical EMLA with lidocaine delivered by iontophoresis in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Our goal was to assess the degree of anesthesia obtained as well as the relative rapidity of onset.
A double-blind controlled study was performed on 10 healthy volunteers between 26 and 37 years of age. Three test sites were placed on each forearm. EMLA or a moisturizer control was placed on two of the three test sites on each arm. Each site was wiped free of cream and tested for sensitivity to pinprick 30 and 60 minutes after cream placement. One iontophoretic unit was placed on each forearm. Both units were saturated with anesthesia with the control unit being turned off. Sensitivity to pinprick was evaluated at the iontophoretic sites and one of the EMLA sites 30 minutes after site placement on the subject. The additional EMLA-treated site was tested in the same manner 60 minutes after placement.
Both EMLA cream and the iontophoretic unit delivered topical anesthesia greater than the control. Significantly more anesthesia was acquired 1 hour after application of EMLA than was seen 30 minutes earlier. The iontophoretic patch-treated area provided greater anesthesia than the EMLA-treated sites evaluated 30 and 60 minutes after placement. Both modalities provided significant anesthesia when left in place for 60 minutes.
Both iontophoresis of lidocaine and topical EMLA delivered significant, and sometimes complete, local anesthesia. A greater degree of anesthesia is delivered via iontophoresis after 30 minutes as compared with EMLA left on the skin for 30 or 60 minutes. Both modalities have important and unique advantages and disadvantages. Topical EMLA and iontophoretically delivered lidocaine are both valuable tools for the dermatologic surgeon.
Jet injection is a needle-free drug delivery method in which a high-speed stream of fluid impacts the skin and delivers drugs. Although a number of jet injectors are commercially available, especially for insulin delivery, they have a low market share compared to needles possibly due to occasional pain associated with jet injection. Jets employed by the traditional jet injectors penetrate deep into the dermal and sub-dermal regions where the nerve endings are abundantly located. To eliminate the pain associated with jet injections, we propose to utilize microjets that penetrate only into the superficial region of the skin. However, the choice of appropriate jet parameters for this purpose is challenging owing to the multiplicity of factors that determine the penetration depth. Here, we describe the dependence of jet injections into human skin on the power of the jet. Dermal delivery of liquid jets was quantified using two measurements, penetration of a radiolabeled solute, mannitol, into skin and the shape of jet dispersion in the skin which was visualized using sulforhodamine B. The dependence of the amount of liquid delivered in the skin and the geometric measurements of jet dispersion on nozzle diameter and jet velocity was captured by a single parameter, jet power.