Hemophobia or fear of blood is an uncontrolled fear at the level of strong panic attacks that occurs spontaneously. For the first time, hemophobia, as the term was used by the American psychiatrist George Weinberg in 1972. Fear of the form of blood significantly complicates a person’s life, and prevents adaptation in society.
Hemophobia is widespread, but few of the victims turn to specialists for help. Often in everyday life quite often we hear "I'm afraid to donate blood: from a finger, from a vein." This behavior is due to this phobia.
Hemophobia was characteristic of our ancestors, residual fears remained from those times, and are the reason for our “afraid”. People with this fear are often afraid of the thought of the important need to visit a hospital or undergo a variety of medical procedures. Especially frightening people is the need for blood donation. Hemophobia covers an internal state of fear, which is caused by an alleged or real encounter with blood.
Hemophobia (fear of blood) causes
The causes of hemophobia are psychological. It was previously believed that this fear has a genetic predisposition, however, studies on identical twins have shown that the primary cause of phobia is society, as well as traumatic events, but not genetics. Therefore, in principle, this problem is solved, it is only necessary to find a good psychotherapist.
Hemophobia is divided into various groups. This unit is built on the reasons that cause a negative reaction of a person:
- fear of seeing someone else's blood;
- fear of seeing your blood;
- fear of seeing blood in animals, fish, people;
- fear of seeing blood in general.
Hemophobes, knowing about their fear, avoid the services of traditional medicine, and use it in the treatment of herbs, meditation. Some refuse to use meat for food and turn over time into full vegetarians.
Why is hemophobia afraid? The cause may be the alleged injury, which poses a danger to life and health, fear of a repeat of the previous ill state when giving blood. Fear can come from childhood, when a mother scolded cuts for minor injuries.
Fear of blood due to war is one of the real reasons for this phobia, which often affects both children and adults. This is facilitated by the media by openly broadcasting news channels from war zones, thereby provoking the development of hidden forms of phobias.
Often, the state of panic caused by hemophobia is attributed to a pain reaction accompanied by the appearance of bleeding, but not by the fear of blood itself. Or often this behavior is attributed to the state of stress that is experienced when others see injuries and injuries. It is worth noting that most suffering from severe forms of this phobia, not experiencing bleeding in ordinary life, reduce their source of fears to zero.
Hemophobia (fear of blood) symptoms
Hemophobia is manifested in uncontrolled fear at the level of panic attacks and is marked by the following symptoms: loss of consciousness at the sight of one’s and someone else’s blood, pallor of the face, trembling, palpitations, difficulty breathing, horror in the eyes, jumps in blood pressure, tremor. Hemophobes do not tolerate and therefore be afraid of all kinds of vaccinations, passing tests (from a finger or from a vein).
Symptoms of hemophobia are often manifested in a panic state, which occurs unpredictably, and is an attack of short-term anxiety. At the same time, hemophobia also complain of other unpleasant physical sensations. The following sensations arise: sweating, internal trembling, suffocation, chills, discomfort in the chest area, nausea, instability, dizziness, numbness in the extremities, decreased randomness of thinking. Sometimes it seems to hemophobia that at the sight of blood they can go crazy, therefore they avoid this at all costs, receiving a danger command from the body.
Hemophobia treatment
Hemophobia is attributed to obsessive conditions, which are characterized by a strong fear of the type of blood itself, not only in itself, but also in other people. It follows that it is necessary for a person to develop resistance to the type of blood.
Hemophobia, as a serious disease, is rare. Often, phobia is noted by minor manifestations that must be addressed by psychotherapeutic methods. Often a person exaggerates the degree of fear. Therefore, it is inappropriate to talk about the need for professional treatment of hemophobia.
How to bring hemophobia to life? It is necessary to tilt the head to the knees, thus increasing blood pressure. To overcome bouts of hemophobia is also possible with the help of special exercises to help cope with panic fear. To do this, you need to tighten the muscles, while moving the limbs. This exercise stimulates blood circulation, and also pushes fainting.
In some cases, you need to look for the causes of hemophobia in the deep changes in the psyche. An example is schizophrenia , manic psychosis . In this case, hemophobia needs to be closely studied and consulted with specialists. If hemophobia is expressed by obvious fears: a person does not go outside, making his home safe (knives, razors, paper books, notebooks are cleared, furniture corners are chipped), then in this case, a psychiatrist cannot do without treating uncontrolled pathological fear.
Hello, I have a normal attitude to blood in films, in animals, when I cut myself, too, there are no problems, I also saw photos from crime scenes more than once, but recently I came up to give first aid on the street, at first everything was fine, not disgust, not horror , and literally after about 5 minutes the head was spinning rapidly and almost lost consciousness, the same problem with blood donation or injections. What to do with it?
Hello, Nastya. Only a gradual method of training can overcome hemophobia. In your case, we recommend that you do not provide first aid to other people so that you do not have to provide assistance to you.
You should prepare for blood donations and injections in advance, setting yourself up for a positive outcome of the procedure: “Everything will be fine, I will adequately tolerate blood donations and injections, my breathing is even, and by the power of my mind I attract positive emotions”. By repeating these verbal settings, you can achieve the desired results in getting rid of this phobia.
I am 16. When I see blood, I feel bad, a strong ringing in my ears begins, it gets dark in my eyes and I lose consciousness ... Very often this happens :( Is it hemophobia or what? I suffer from anemia, so I thought maybe because of it, tell me you are welcome.
Diana, in your case, the symptoms of hemophobia are intertwined with anemia.
A drop in arterial and venous pressure provokes a darker in the eyes and you lose consciousness. Treat the underlying disease anemia, and hemophobia can be dealt with on your own through a psychological attitude.
Nothing happens when you see blood in a movie. But at the sight of any burn, cut, or at least even a bruise on another person’s body, panic and a terrible feeling of abdominal pain immediately arise.
I work as a cook, sometimes I can hurt my hand with a knife, if everything is fine, I feel fine, but if I am cut harder, then it blows away: it makes me sick, it gets dark in my eyes, it closes my eyes and blows to the side, I’m panting and have panic fear or something, even with my mind I understand that nothing terrible happened. I don’t understand what is wrong with me. There were no stressful situations in this area.
Alesia, according to the described symptoms, your condition is a panic attack.
I have never noticed a fear of blood for myself until recently. I started pancakes (with stones on the water) and threw one stone unsuccessfully, cutting my finger. I did not immediately pay attention to this, it seemed that I just did not scratch much, but then I feel something flowing from my finger. I looked blood. I told my friends that I’m going to wash a wound. And after 5 seconds all the symptoms from the text began. Everything in the eyes darkened, ringing in the ears, weakness, and there was nothing left to do, just to lie down so as not to fall. Well friends were nearby, helped. The main thing is that I’m not so afraid of blood, but on a subconscious level there is a phobia.
I am very afraid when they take blood from me everywhere and injections, vaccinations, etc. My head starts spinning, I feel sick and when I leave the office I hear all the sounds so far as if I were in the forest and it gets dark in my eyes. Tomorrow they will take from Vienna - roaring all day. I am 16 years old.
Anastasia, warn the medical staff about feeling unwell before taking the blood. This will help you in a timely manner. In turn, you should also help yourself with positive thinking: think at the time of the analysis that gives you joy, for example, about your personal sympathy.
My son warned during blood donation that he might become ill, and they still gave him a test tube in another office, so he barely survived and threw it into sweat and chills.
When blood is taken from my finger, my head begins to feel dizzy, it rings so hard in my ears that I don’t hear any extraneous sounds, it gets dark in my eyes and I see nothing.
My problem is that I, not being afraid of the sight of my own blood, am afraid of the sight of a stranger. It is becoming very bad: dizzy, limbs trembling, pulse quickens, I want to run away from a bloody sight, and I react painlessly to my own cut or menstruation. How to be
Maria, you can work out a calm attitude to the type of blood in another person by increasing training: first we look at the small size of the bloody wound, and eventually we tune in and look at the bigger wound, etc.
Thank you for your help, those who contact you really get a good and complete answer to your question! I would like to know if you host receptions in person? And then, in addition to what Vedmesh N. answers, nothing is known. I would personally contact you and I think many others too, and would be satisfied.
Anatoly, our site provides remote advisory assistance, we personally do not conduct receptions. For a full-time solution to your problem, you can sign up to a specialist by phone, which is available on the site.
I can’t even hear about blood, not to see it. When someone begins to talk about something related to physiology, I begin to experience a strong sense of anxiety. If I see bleeding in books, films - I leaf through, close my eyes. I could endure a fit of fear, but I lose consciousness and feel completely helpless, it is very depressing. I am afraid of losing consciousness, it is even more fear of losing control of myself. Do I need to go to a psychologist or can I get rid of this phobia on my own?
Lisa, you can get rid of hemophobia yourself. Many students of medical institutes during their studies discover this phobia, but by the end of their studies it disappears from them. This is explained by constant practice and observation of body fluid. Only by the method of training - first we look at our blood (cut a finger, take blood from a finger), then at another person - for example, we help a child after a fall, treat a wound, and so accustom ourselves to the form of blood. When watching a movie with unpleasant scenes, think about which food coloring was used to replace blood: tomato or cranberry juice. Set yourself up for the fact that cinema is just a game and you are being deceived by passing off a substitute for blood.
I’m not afraid from the vein, but from my finger it’s a whole nightmare (my head is spinning, my legs are cringing, I feel sick! I can see little blood, when I see a lot of blood loss or an open fracture, it becomes bad, my head is spinning, God, how difficult it is to live with such an ailment (I'm an adult guy, I am 30 years old, he is already a father .. Can I do something about this ??? Or is that all ..
Anton, we recommend developing a habit of the object of your fear, because nausea, dizziness usually occurs when blood is drawn from a vein, and not from a finger. So your problem has a psychological cause of origin. With repeated contact with the object of your fear (blood) and the right attitude in your mind, you will gain an understanding that nothing bad happens when you see a physiological fluid.
Fear of blood is easily eliminated through meditation. For some time, the constant repetition of certain words will affect the subconscious and the conscious. Inspire yourself: "I am strong and worthy to endure the delivery of blood from my finger, my breathing will be even, and unnecessary emotions are disabled."
Thanks Vedmesh N.A. I’ll definitely try it, since childhood it was like that, the main thing in our family is 3 brothers, and only I lose consciousness when I see blood, even ashamed of my relatives. I will try your advice, I believe that it will work out)
I have a very strange phobia, like blood, I'm not afraid of either my own or someone else’s, no animals, fish, and so on, but when my mother tells me it is time to go donate blood or give Mantoux, vaccinations. It doesn’t matter when they take blood from me, even if I don’t look at it, it starts to ripple in my eyes, makes me sick, and then I also vomit and I really want to use the toilet. I do not know what is this? This happens all the time when blood is taken after Mantoux or vaccination. This is generally funny, and moreover, when they tell me that I need to go to the hospital, I’m not afraid to do it, but on the contrary I want to go there, thinking that I will overcome my phobia, but I don’t understand what kind of phobia it is! !!! although I’m 11, I’m not small to be afraid of this !!! Tell me, what is this phobia ?????
Daria, the causes of your condition - nausea, vomiting are psychological problems provoked by the upcoming fear of injections and pain from them. The fear of pain is called algophobia, the fear of injections and needles - trypanophobia.