Are you dreading your COVID-19 vaccination because of needle phobia?

As the varying COVID-19 vaccinations continue to be rolled out across the world, it brings an incredible amount of relief and hope for many people.  However, for those who are suffering with Trypanophobia, otherwise known as an extreme fear or phobia of needles, it is likely to be an incredibly anxiety provoking time.

Trypanophobia is an extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles.  If you have trypanophobia, you may dread medical procedures, and are likely to experience high blood pressure and an elevated heart rate in the days leading up to it.  At the time of the event, your blood pressure may rapidly drop and you may even faint.  Other common symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, nausea, rapid breathing, sweating, trembling and panic attacks.

If you can relate to the above, the good news is that you can be helped to overcome your phobia – permanently.  We are only born with 2 fears: the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling.  Other fears are learned, probably through an unpleasant experience, and from this we create certain patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.  Any learned behaviour can be unlearned, through breaking down the neurological pathways that have formed, and new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving can be installed.

 

1. Align your Breathing

 

When we are stressed and anxious, our natural breathing can go out of sync and we can breathe in more than we breathe out.  The oxygen we inhale reacts with the water in our blood to produce carbon dioxide.  Excessive carbon dioxide raises our heart rate and blood pressure, thereby increasing the physical symptoms of anxiety and actually causing us to feel worse!

Instead, breathe in through the nose for the count of 3 and out of the mouth for the count of 5.  This will force out any excessive carbon dioxide and restore balance in the body.  Be flexible and use your imagination.  You could even imagine breathing in a colour that represents to you calm and relaxing feelings, and breathing out a colour that represents to you tension and anxiety.  This technique will put you back in control very quickly.

 

2. Use the Power of Your Subconscious Mind

 

Believe it or not, we are naturally in the state of hypnosis at least twice a day, during which we have direct communication with our subconscious mind.

Imagine it’s time for you to wake up, your alarm clock goes off and you hit the snooze button.  “Just 10 minutes more” you tell yourself.  You go into that drifting, daydreamy state, not fully awake but not asleep either.  Later, it’s the end of the day, you are in bed and ready to go to sleep.  You find yourself starting to drift off, not quite asleep yet but not awake either.  During both of these times you are in hypnosis.

It does not seem like it but these are two of your most resourceful periods of time.  When you are in these states if you repeat positive affirmations to yourself in your mind, you will be communicating those messages directly to your subconscious mind.  It does not matter whether you consciously believe them, your subconscious mind will accept them as truth and the messages will affect your conscious thinking, feelings and behaviour.

For example: “I am calm and relaxed when having injections.”

 

3. Write it Down

 

Write down all of your fears, negative thoughts and feelings onto a piece of paper.  On a separate piece of paper write down re-framed versions of each fear, thought or feeling.

For example, if the fear is, “the injection may go wrong,” reframe it to “the injection will go well.”

Reframe the word ‘fear’ to ‘healthy respect.’  Repeat: “I have a healthy respect for injections.”  Doesn’t that look, sound and feel so much better?

Then, tear up or burn the original piece of paper and acknowledge what happens to you on the inside.  The reframed sentences become your positive affirmations to repeat in your power states.

 

4. Practice, Practice, Practice

 

Spend a few moments allowing yourself to relax in whatever way is right for you.  Close your eyes and go inside.  In your mind project yourself into the future and imagine yourself on the days leading up to the vaccination going about your daily routine, and whenever the injection comes into your mind, tell yourself that you are calm and relaxed.

Then mentally rehearse the day of the vaccination, from getting up in the morning, travelling there, successfully having the vaccination with it going smoothly and well, to travelling and being back at home.  Really bring it alive by using your senses – see yourself in the image, calm and relaxed, hear the calm and relaxing thoughts you have, and immerse yourself in the feelings of how calm and relaxed you really are.

Use your imagination, which is the language of the subconscious mind, and mental rehearsal to imprint in your mind how well your vaccination will go.

 

5. Applied Tension

 

Applied tension is a simple technique to increase blood pressure back to normal levels so that you do not faint.

1. Sit down somewhere comfortable.
2. Tense the muscles in your arms, upper body and legs, and hold this tension for 10 to 15 seconds, or until you start to feel the warmth rising in your face.
3. Release the tension and go back to your normal sitting position.
4. After about 25 seconds, go through the tension procedure again until you feel the warmth in your face.
5. Repeat this sequence 5 times.

Practise this sequence 3 times every day for about a week before your vaccination. If you get headaches after doing this exercise, take care not to tense the muscles in your face and head. Also, be careful when tensing any part of your body where you have any health problems.

Credit: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

 

6. Distract Yourself

 

During the vaccination, distract yourself from it with a magazine, your phone, count in your mind or sing your favourite song.  Another idea is to take yourself on a journey in your mind and imagine yourself in one of your favourite places.  It could be a peaceful beach or a lovely garden.  It really doesn’t matter where you are; as long as it looks, sounds and feels good to you.  You will be surprised how quickly the vaccination is over when your mind is distracted.

 

7. Seek Help

 

There are many different therapeutic approaches out there that can help people to overcome a needle phobia.  From subconscious modalities such as Hypnotherapy and Neuro Linguistic Programming, to conscious modalities including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.  If having the COVID-19 vaccination seems impossible due to your fear, it may be time to seek professional intervention.  Remember that we are here to help you.