Needle phobia is called trypanophobia, and it relates to an intense fear of needles. It is a fairly common phobia, though not as common as fear of snakes or spiders. I have seen several clients with needle phobia.
What does Needle Phobia look like?
Typically my clients will behave very uncomfortably when discussing heir problem with needles. They might fidget or screw their faces up when discussing the issue, perhaps race through the word ‘needle’ or even whisper it. Recently one client could not discuss the problem without tearing up.
What’s wrong with having this phobia?
This is a difficult phobia to have when dealing with health issues. While new technologies are being invented to bypass the taking of blood using needles, many procedures still rely heavily on needles. So, if you are avoiding medical checks such as blood tests because of this phobia, it could potentially seriously put you at risk of allowing a disease or health risk to grow, because you are not aware that there is anything wrong. This puts you in a reactive position, instead of being able to be proactive with your health.
Willow’s Fear of Needles
Willow was wanting to have children, but she knew that there would be a lot of visits to the doctors office and yes, needles would be involved. So, she had delayed and delayed and delayed. Her life was put on hold because of this needle phobia. She had not been to the doctors for 15 years because of this fear. She was now determined to get a hold of it and get over it.
Willow’s reaction to needles was extreme. She began sobbing when she described her phobia to me. She said she just felt overwhelmed by it. Overwhelm is a characteristic of anxiety and also depression, and so I asked Willow if she also experienced these feelings. ‘Yes’ she said. Willow had experienced many anxiety symptoms and described herself as highly sensitive. She was used to a feeling of butterflies in the stomach as well as nausea when she felt stressed. She experienced negative racing thoughts and a fast heartrate also.
In terms of depression, Willow did not relate to that so much, however she recognised that her confidence was low and that if she felt more confident, she would not feel so sensitive.
Overcoming Willow’s Needle Phobia
In treating Willow, I wanted to target the needles but also the general feeling of being unsafe that underlay her anxiety, that fight or flight response. I gathered the key events from her history which involved needles – there were four memories which were etched into her mind. These were effectively traumas in their own right. We then did an age regression back to the first time she felt unsafe. We went back to before Willow was even conceived.
When a client regresses back to before she was born, or even further, I know that the problem is deep seeded. Sometimes a client will go into a past life or else they may be hovering in the wings, waiting to come into this world. It will depend much on what the client’s belief framework is. I cannot say whether these recollections are true or metaphorical – that is not the point. What matters is that this is the way it makes sense on an unconscious level, where the problem is manufactured. In dealing with that representation, whether true or metaphorical, we can resolve the problem.
At this level, before Willow was conceived, we gave her the resources to come through this life with confidence, safety and reassurance. Willow was then able to bring these resources all the way through her life to evert needle based trauma, and beyond to every time she ever needed them. This rewriting of events on an unconscious level enables Willow’s unconscious mind to feel as though Willow actually handles things OK, and that she no longer needed to feel fearful.
I also taught Willow some mind training techniques to practice, leading up to her doctor’s visit, which reinforce the changes and give her more control over what she feels.
If you need help with needle phobia or any other psychologically based condition, we can help. Horizons Clinical Hypnotherapy Sunshine Coast