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Hemophobia

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Hemophobia
Hemophobia, Fear of Blood
Sylvia Sinclair, Student
Elfie Neber, Behavioral Sciences Faculty

Throughout history human behavior hasn’t always been completely logical. Actions play a huge role in how we view and act on our fears. But one of the stranger things that we as humans can do is trick ourselves into being afraid of something that couldn’t possibly hurt us, which in the end becomes a personal phobia. A phobia is a fear of something, like snakes, spiders and blood. The fear of blood is also known as hemophobia. While reviewing this phobia there were a couple of things that stood out, and seemed more interesting to me. Including the symptoms, causes and consequences that hemophobia contains. Some may find the fear of blood to be irrational, others may find it as a reminder of a tragic event that had happened which causes the fear to become a phobia. As many phobias root from an event that triggers the fear. They all happen to have symptoms that are clearly noticeable. Having the fear of blood can be quite annoying because of the symptoms it comes with. Anxiety, nausea, fainting and vomiting can result from the sight of blood for hemophobics. Not only their own blood bothers them but the blod of animals, meat and sometimes the thought of blood can trigger at any time. This is followed by a sudden drop in blood pressure and heart rate that leads the individual to faint, become pale or weak, which are not seen often in other phobia reactions. Hemophobia is a very serious phobia and should be kept monitored and maintained. With each phobia there is something that has to have caused them. For each person it may be different because everyone views things differently. But for this phobia the main and most common cause is a traumatic event that has happened and in the end caused them to fear blood. Sometimes this phobia is a root from other, for example they may fear germs, others blood may contain germs. That will in the end “get them”. So



References: Kılıç, C., Ak, S., & Ak, H. (2014). Anxiety sensitivity: Another reason to separate dental fears from blood–injury fears?. Journal Of Anxiety Disorders, 28(2), 280-282. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.01.001 Sanford, J. (2013). BLOOD, SWEAT AND FEARS A COMMON PHOBIAS ODD PATHOPHYSICLOCY. Stanford Medicine, 30(1), 30-35. Smith, N. B., & Meuret, A. E. (2012). The role of painful events and pain perception in blood-injection-injury fears. Journal Of Behavior Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry, 53(4), 1045-1048. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.03.006 Vossbeck-Elsebusch, A. N., & Gerlach, A. L. (2012). The relation between disgust-sensitivity, blood-injection-injury fears and vasovagal symptoms in blood donors: Disgust sensitivity cannot explain fainting or blood donation-related symptoms. Journal Of Behavior Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry, 43(1), 607-613. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.08.005 Yuan-Chang, H., Lung, Y., Hsiun-ing, C., Hui-Ling, L., Yu-Min, K., & Jen, C. J. (2012). Blood Pressure Variations Real-Time Reflect the Conditioned Fear Learning and Memory. Plos ONE, 7(4), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032855

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