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By Marilyn Smulders - November 18, 2009
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| Dal staffer Keri Irwin gets her H1N1 vaccination. (Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
Needle!
For some people, the word—almost as much as the sight of one sliding into skin—is enough for people to cringe, cry, even swoon if they’re standing in line waiting for one.
Experts believe fear of needles may be preventing people from rolling up their sleeves for the H1N1 vaccination.
"I think people may have concerns about vaccines for a variety of reasons, but pain and the actual fear of getting the injection is often the barrier that prevents people from getting the vaccine," said psychologist Christine Chambers, a Canada Research Chair in Pain and Child Health, based at Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
"Certainly people who are anxious in general are more likely to be fearful about other consequences and other side effects that they see might be associated with the vaccine."
Concerned that university-aged students who are making health decisions for themselves may be bypassing immunization for H1N1 because of their fear of needles, Dr. Chambers assures there are things they can do to reduce pain. For one, she suggests the purchase of a topical anesthetic cream or a patch and applying it 30 to 60 minutes before getting the needle.
She also advises practicing the art of distraction; in other words, try not to think about it so much. Bring along an ipod while you’re waiting in line or take a friend with you.
“The other thing to do is breathing exercises,” she says. “If your body is tense, the needle will hurt more. But we know simple deep breathing exercises—the kind you might do in yoga class—are effective at reducing pain.”
Dr. Chambers says needles are painful for some, but that the fear of the needle may be out of proportion to the actual pain. People who have had bad experiences in the past may have good reason to be fearful, she adds. If the anxiety is severe, Dr. Chambers advises students can contact Dalhousie Counselling Services for support.
Readers Say
November 19, 2009 8:05 AM
EFT is not only much more effective than approaches such as distraction and breathing, but is also easily learned by medical personnel and, once applied to a patient, will both relieve their immediate anxiety, and prevent it reappearing ever again - for the rest of their lives!
As one is apparently not allowed to add URLs in messages here, I can only suggest that interested readers Google "EFT" to access the EFT website, which will answer all your questions about this technique and allow you to download a free manual of instruction in using the technique. Also, if you enter "needle phobia" into the site's search facility, this will bring up a couple of dozen case reports documenting how this problem has been solved by EFT.
November 19, 2009 8:05 AM
EFT is not only much more effective than approaches such as distraction and breathing, but is also easily learned by medical personnel and, once applied to a patient, will both relieve their immediate anxiety, and prevent it reappearing ever again - for the rest of their lives!
As one is apparently not allowed to add URLs in messages here, I can only suggest that interested readers Google "EFT" to access the EFT website, which will answer all your questions about this technique and allow you to download a free manual of instruction in using the technique. Also, if you enter "needle phobia" into the site's search facility, this will bring up a couple of dozen case reports documenting how this problem has been solved by EFT.
November 23, 2009 4:30 PM
1. First and foremost, the claim that EFT is more effective than the strategies that Dr. Chambers discussed is WRONG.
2. EFT claims to be a form of "emotional acupuncture", where an individual's meridian points are tapped in order to treat their unbalanced energy meridians. This meridian unbalance is believed to be the cause of emotional issues.
3. Proponents of EFT make unsubstantiated claims that it can cure a host of psychological and physical problems in a matter of minutes.
4. Although I cannot comment on the "elegance" of EFT, I can say that there is no scientific evidence that it offers anything more than a placebo effect (see Assessment of the Emotional Freedom Technique: An Alternative Treatment for Fear in academic journal The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice for an example).
5. The interventions discussed by Dr. Chambers (topical anesthetics, distraction, relaxation) have been shown in numerous well-designed studies to reduce fear and pain in children and adults receiving needles and other medical procedures.
6. If you do have a needle phobia, there are a number of empirically supported interventions available (NOT EFT).
November 23, 2009 4:30 PM
1. First and foremost, the claim that EFT is more effective than the strategies that Dr. Chambers discussed is WRONG.
2. EFT claims to be a form of "emotional acupuncture", where an individual's meridian points are tapped in order to treat their unbalanced energy meridians. This meridian unbalance is believed to be the cause of emotional issues.
3. Proponents of EFT make unsubstantiated claims that it can cure a host of psychological and physical problems in a matter of minutes.
4. Although I cannot comment on the "elegance" of EFT, I can say that there is no scientific evidence that it offers anything more than a placebo effect (see Assessment of the Emotional Freedom Technique: An Alternative Treatment for Fear in academic journal The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice for an example).
5. The interventions discussed by Dr. Chambers (topical anesthetics, distraction, relaxation) have been shown in numerous well-designed studies to reduce fear and pain in children and adults receiving needles and other medical procedures.
6. If you do have a needle phobia, there are a number of empirically supported interventions available (NOT EFT).