Fear of Needles and Sharp Objects

A needle phobia can be classified as a fear of needles, a fear of pointed objects, a fear of pain and a fear of injections.  Most children have a fear of needles but they usually outgrow this.   For those who don't outgrow it, there can be many reasons:

• A past painful and traumatic experience
• Influence of a parent or sibling who is frightened
• Extreme sensitivity to pain
• A feeling of loss of control
• Repulsion at objects being stuck into or through their body
• Repulsion at objects being inside a blood vessel

Needle phobia is a defined medical condition which affects more than 10% of the population to an extent that it causes them to avoid needed medical care. 

A child's health can be severely affected, even when they are older, if they are unable to have inoculations.  A person unable to have a routine test, like a blood test can find that their illness worsens if their Dr is unable to diagnose and treat the problem effectively. In some cases the patients are near death and refuse all care because they are just too afraid.  A few of them die - not directly but indirectly - because they cannot access life-saving medical care.

Even the chance to travel to exotic countries can be curtailed, if the person is unable to be inoculated against local diseases. 

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