What to do if you suffer from injection phobia? – Practice healing

A short intervention program helps overcome fear of injections

For people with injection phobia, being vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 is a very difficult step. Even images circulating in the media currently of injections or injections sometimes stir up a sweat of fear on their foreheads, vaccination for them is out of the question. However, in most cases, sufferers can definitely be helped to overcome their phobia.

Images of syringes squeezed in the upper arms are currently in almost all media and this is not a problem for most people. “But for those who suffer from injection phobia, it is difficult to tolerate,” the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry says in a current press release. Phobias can also become a big problem for those affected, especially now when vaccinations against COVID-19 are so important. However, in most cases, the phobia can be overcome with a special short program at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry.

Phobias often develop in childhood

Aversion to injection is not uncommon and is present in most people. But some are very afraid of injections and often blood and / or injuries. The Max Planck Institute reports that phobia of blood, injection, or injury usually develops in childhood and, if left untreated, affects sufferers throughout their lives.

Fears can be so strong that those affected are only aware of necessary medical interventions or preventive measures under too much pressure or not at all – perhaps with corresponding negative consequences for their health.

Children were affected much more

The Max Planck Institute estimates that about 20 percent of children and adolescents have injection phobia, which will affect one in five of this age group. However, over the course of its entire life, the prevalence is only about three percent, as the incidence of the disease decreases dramatically in old age, according to the institute.

Help those affected

If you want to get your injection phobia under control, especially with regard to the COVID-19 vaccine, you can find help at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry. The institute reported that “exposure in vivo” is the preferred treatment for hematophobia, injection, and injury. During treatment, those affected will be gradually identified and confronted with the feared event.

“When it comes to injection phobia, sufferers first look at pictures, then film the situation with their therapists until they are ready to receive an injection,” says the Max Planck Institute. The treatment takes about six sessions and can help many affected people.

A ‘very effective’ treatment

“The short intervention is very effective, even if the fear does not go away completely after that. It is usually easy to implement vaccinations or other interventions,” confirms Dr. Angelica Erhardt, Head of the Outpatient Department at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry. The short program can be completed on an outpatient basis at MPI, but inpatient patients can also participate. The Max Planck Institute provides treatment and registration information on its site website. (fp)