Can Hypnosis help with Fear of Injections?
How are irrational fears created?
Most of us have had our first experiences with getting injections or blood drawn in early childhood. Early in life, we are the most vulnerable and, therefore, most prone to developing fears. We are less likely to understand situations at that age, and we might not even remember the initial event triggering a lifelong fear. As adults, the same experiences might be normal to us because we know what to expect and gauge dangers more realistically.
A relative who struggled with the fear of vaccinations or injections told me the following story about her first memories with getting shots:
Once a year, all children were made to line up quietly in front of the school nurse’s office to get their shots. Periodically piercing screams from inside the office would interrupt the silence. Each time, a fellow student would come out looking distraught with tears running down their cheeks. A teaching moment to most; dreadfully awaiting their turn, they knew it would be torturous. The nurse, who was not of the compassionate or gentle kind, did her best to meet those expectations.
Of course, not all of those kids would have had a fear of injections that lasted into adulthood. We know now that one crucial behavior that maintains fears of any kind is avoidance. Our fantasy is good at imagining the most horrible things. Without experiences that disproof the rationality of fears, they can go freerunning in our minds for a long time.
People with phobias are also prone to having bad experiences because they perceive certain situations as extremely anxiety-provoking. Some people might have a very visceral response to injections or blood drawing to the point that they faint at the mere look of a needle. Repeated bad experiences can create such a conditioned response. They also consolidate the fear and the negative beliefs about how incapable one is of receiving injections.
What can hypnosis do?
Phobias and fears are mostly playing out in our minds and are making the feared situations unbearable. In a relaxed hypnotic state, one is much more likely to imagine the positive. Having a trusting relationship and the support of a skilled therapist helps this. Future doctor’s visits are rehearsed during hypnosis and serve to rewrite the conscious and subconscious expectations. A bonus of hypnosis is that the imagined content feels very real yet safe and controllable.
A part of the therapy is learning evidence-based techniques to deal with anxiety and gradually testing situations out in real life—the sum of these boosts coping skills and confidence, replacing dread with curiosity.
