Fear Of Blood Research Articles

Blood phobics and nonphobics: Psychological differences and affect during exposure

This study compared psychological dimensions of blood phobics and nonphobic controls, examined affect in response to phobic and neutral stimuli, and investigated the relationship between reported feelings of faintness and blood pressure. Blood phobics (24 adults with extreme Mutilation Questionnaire scores) and 24 nonphobics completed several psychological measures and viewed one of two 60 sec surgery scenes and a 60 sec neutral scene in counterbalanced order. Subjective, psychophysiologic, and motoric measures of affect were assessed. On questionnaires, phobics reported greater anxiety sensitivity, empathic distress, fear and insecurity, and nightmares, but no difference in autonomic arousal, muscle tension, motion sickness, or other empathy domains. During surgery scenes, phobics had more negative affect than controls; however, phobics were more anxious during only one of the two surgeries, and often only when the surgery was presented prior to the neutral scene. Fainting did not occur, and self-reported feelings of faintness were unrelated to blood pressure changes. The findings highlight the lack of information on blood phobic stimulus properties, fainting's relationship to self-reports and blood pressure, and the specific emotion experienced in blood phobia.

Applied tension, exposure in vivo, and tension-only in the treatment of blood phobia

Thirty patients with phobia for blood, wounds and injuries were treated individually with applied tension (AT), exposure in vivo (E), or tension-only (T) for 5 sessions. They were assessed on self-report, behavioral and physiological measures before and after treatment, and at a 1 yr follow-up. All groups improved significantly, and the improvements were maintained at follow-up. Applying stringent criteria, 90% of the AT-, 80% of the T-, and 40% of the E-patients were clinically improved at the end of treatment. The corresponding figures at follow-up were 100, 90 and 50%, respectively. AT differed significantly, and T marginally from E at both assessments. Applied tension, or tension-only should, from a clinical point of view, be considered the treatment of choice for blood phobia.

Applied tension, applied relaxation, and the combination in the treatment of blood phobia

Thirty patients with phobia for blood, wounds and injuries were treated individually with applied tension, applied relaxation, or the combination of these two methods for 5, 9 and 10 sessions. respectively. They were assessed on self-report, behavioral and physiological measures before and after treatment, and at a 6-month follow-up. All groups improved significantly on 11 12 measures, and the improvements were maintained at follow-up. Applying stringent criteria, 73% of the patients were clinically improved at the end of treatment and 77% were so at follow-up. Despite a failure to find between-group differences, on many measures there was a trend favoring applied tension. Since this method is as effective as the other treatments in only half the time. applied tension should clinically be the treatment of choice for blood phobia.

Psychophysiological Characteristics of Anxiety Patients and Controls

87 patients with panic syndrome or agoraphobia with panic were compared with 28 generalized anxiety patients and 29 controls. Psychophysiological measures included rating scales, autonomic responses patterns, auditory thresholds and vigilance characteristics. In panic patients the state anxiety and the blood and injury phobia were significantly higher than in generalized anxiety patients. The generalized anxiety group could be characterized by high trait anxiety, suicidal ideation and lower capacity for sustained attention. Phasic electrodermal response amplitudes to the first verbal stimulus were significantly higher on the nondominant hands of the panic patients and on the dominant hands of the generalized anxiety patients. At 8,000 Hz panic and generalized anxiety patients showed opposite asymmetries of auditory thresholds with a left ear advantage for generalized anxiety patients and a right ear advantage for panic patients. These results suggest a relative left-hemispheric activation dominance in panic patients and a relative right-hemispheric dominance in generalized anxiety patients. The most consistent background factors in both anxiety groups were the highly significantly increased dysfunctional attitudes, first of all the high level of external control compared to controls.

A specific behavioral method for treatment of blood phobia

The rationale and practice of applied tension are described. The purpose of this treatment method, specially developed for blood phobia, is to teach the patient a coping skill which will enable him/her to reverse the fall in blood pressure, and thus prevent fainting. Treatment is short, only 5 sessions, and the preliminary outcome data are very promising. A 6-month follow-up showed that the results were maintained.

Subjectively rated physiological and cognitive symptoms in six different clinical phobias

The purpose of the present study was an attempt to describe clinical symptoms in terms of physiological reactions and negative cognitions experienced by phobic patients. A total of 267 clinical phobic patients divided among blood phobia, small animals phobia, dental phobia, claustrophobia, social phobia and agoraphobia, participated in the study. The patients within each phobic category were separated into a Conditioned and an Indirect Acquisition group, based on their answers to a set of specific questions concerning the etiology of the phobia. All patients rated (0–4) how intensively they experienced 11 specified physiological reactions and 10 negative cognitions when confronted with their phobic situation in vivo. A mean score was calculated for each item within each group, and an item rank-order hierarchy was set up for each group. Differences between items within each hierarchy were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVAs and Turkey's HSD-tests. Results showed particular idiosyncratic patterns of responding for the blood phobic, agoraphobic and social phobic groups as well as several commonalities among all the groups concerning activation of specific physiological reactions and negative cognitions. A more fine-grained analysis of the data is best made by direct visual inspection of the figures in this paper.

Behavioural Psychotherapy for a Blood and Needle Phobic Mastectomy Patient Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy

A 50-year-old married woman who had had a radical mastectomy was on the threshold of ceasing to take adjuvant chemotherapy because of a longstanding needle and blood phobia and a recently acquired conditioned nausea response to hospital and medical situations. A cognitive-behavioural therapy programme incorporating relaxation training, imaginal systematic densitization and video modelling, allowed her to complete the chemotherapy course and to feel less anxious in hospital and medical settings.

Physiological responses in blood phobics

Eighteen patients with blood phobia were shown a film of thoracic operations containing large amounts of blood. Their heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were measured continuously before, during and after the watching of the film. The group data showed a diphasic response; an increase in HR and BP from baseline to the beginning of the film, and then a sharp drop in these parameters with the lowest values 4 min after the film was turned off. Individual data from 5 patients who fainted or were on the edge of doing so, showed massive bradycardia or drop in BP or both. In all of these patients at least one (range 1–33) 5-sec period of asystole was recorded. Possible theoretical explanations for this characteristic response pattern are discussed.

Exposure in vivo vs applied relaxation in the treatment of blood phobia

Eighteen patients with phobia for bloodt, wounds and injuries were treated with exposure in vivo or applied relaxation. They were assessed on different self-report, behavioral and physiological measures before and after treatment. The patients were treated individually for 9 sessions, 1 per week. The within-group comparisons showed that both groups had improved significantly on most of the measures and that these improvements were sustained or furthered at the 6-month follow-up. Furthermore, 10 of the 16 who completed the treatment became blood donors. The between-group comparisons showed exposure to be better than applied relaxation on three of the self-report measures at post-treatment assessment, but not at follow-up. The groups did equally well on the behavioral and physiological measures. The conclusion that can be drawn is that the coping-orientated method of applied relaxation is as effective as exposure in vivo in the treatment of blood phobia.

The use of systematic desensitization in the treatment of blood phobia

A phobia for blood in a 23-yr-old male was treated with systematic desensitization. Anatomical slides, objects associated with blood, and slides of the patient going through the process of giving blood were later incorporated into the treatment procedure. Following treatment, the patient was able to give blood himself with “minimal anxiety”. An 8 month follow-up revealed no evidence of return of blood-related anxiety.

Blood phobia—beware

In every day life, many people complain that they are afraid of the sight of blood. Stories of trainee medical doctors fainting on first witnessing an operation abound. Many people turn away from films of operations. Despite this, there are few accounts of the treatment of patients presenting with blood phobia as a main complaint. Standard texts on phobias (e.g. Marks, 1969; Rachman, 1974) do not mention it, nor do texts on behavioural treatment (e.g. Yates, 1970). The purpose of this short report is to describe the treatment of a long-standing, circumscribed blood phobia in a 16 yr old boy, and to draw attention to some special considerations surrounding the treatment of blood phobic patients.