Overcoming Medical Phobias: How to Conquer Fear of Blood, Needles, Doctors, and Dentists [Paperback]

Martin Antony PhD (Author), Mark Watling MD (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2006

Overcome Your Fear of Doctors, Blood, Needles, and More-You Can Do It!

Does even the thought of a visit to the doctor's office start your heart racing? You're not alone. Some 30 million of us have a significant fear of doctors, dentists, medical procedures, blood, needles, and so forth. These fears might already have inconvenienced you, but if you're avoiding necessary medical attention, you could be putting yourself in great physical danger.

But you don't have to live with these fears anymore. This book can help you overcome your medical phobia, maybe in less time that you ever thought possible. Start by learning about your fears, where they might come from, what factors influence them, and how you can best prepare to overcome them. Then you'll gradually and safely confront your specific fears. The book also includes information about avoiding relapse so you can maintain your progress, as well as steps for helping someone you care about who suffers from a medical phobia.

• Learn about your fears, how they may have begun, and the methods used to treat them
• Prepare for treatment, either on your own or with the help of a professional
• Explore exposure-based strategies for overcoming your fears
• Learn strategies to prevent fainting
• Plan relapse-prevention strategies to maintain your progress
• Engage your family and friends as sources of support

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book brings hope and help to a lot of peo ple who are suffer ing need lessly from fears of blood, injections, or medical procedures. It not only explains why these fears are there in the first place, but also gives the reader clear and solid solu tions to the problem.
Antony and Watling have done a tremendous job of synthesizing the best available scientific data and presenting it in a straight for ward, reader-friendly for mat. They take the reader step-by-step through the process, showing them why they feel the way they do and how to get better by facing their fears gradually."
—David F. Tolin, Ph.D., director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at The Institute of Living and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine

“Of all phobias, medical fears are the most serious because they can stop people seeking life-saving medical care. Fortunately here is a book that outlines in a clear, stepwise manner a plan to help people with medical phobias. Drawing on the best available scientific knowledge of evidence-based therapies, the authors translate these treatments into a straight forward and potentially lifesaving program. In an easy-to-read style, the authors explain where medical fears come from and then what to do about them. For any one who avoids medical or dental care because of fear or because they may faint, there is no better place to begin treatment than with reading this book and then doing what it says. For psychologists and other mental health professionals, this book provides an excellent work book to use when work ing with people suffering from medical phobias.”
—Andrew Page, associate professor of psychology at the University of Western Australia in Crawley, Australia

From the Publisher

Written by anxiety expert Martin Antony and Mark Watling this easy-to-read and practical guide will teach readers who experience extreme fear in situations involving blood, injections, surgery, physicians, and dental procedures, how to understand and overcome their medical phobia.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (March 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572243872
• ISBN-13: 978-1572243873
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #758,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a "graduate of the program"... If you have and want to overcome a medical phobia, buy this book., July 23, 2007

By 

Davide B. "Davide B." (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Overcoming Medical Phobias: How to Conquer Fear of Blood, Needles, Doctors, and Dentists (Paperback)

To put the review in context, a bit of background might be helpful: I'm a 35 year old man who's been deathly afraid of having my blood drawn for as long as I can remember. My phobia had become so bad that for some years now, I'd been skipping the blood work portion of my yearly medical checkups (which is probably the most important part). Every time I needed to go to get my blood drawn, I'd come up with an excuse and not go. I also used to feel intense discomfort and anxiety whenever I saw a needle in someone's arm on TV or in a movie (whether it was real or a special effect); if I could (i.e. If I was at home), I'd curl up into the fetal position (and if I couldn't, I'd cover or close my eyes and want to curl up into the fetal position).

Wanting to overcome my fear, I bought this book. At first I wasn't thrilled with the idea of exposure therapy (and thought "so you mean the way to get over my fear is to look at and otherwise expose myself to the thing/situation I'm afraid of?"). However, since the book states that despite the fact that you'll initially feel uncomfortable, little by little, the discomfort will go away, I decided to push myself and give it a try.

I've been subjecting myself to as intense an exposure regimen as I could take for about a month and a half now (going from short, 5 minute exposures to diagrams and photographs on images.google.com 2 - 4 days per week to longer exposures to photographs and YouTube videos for 15 minutes 4 - 6 days per week)... And today, I graduated. My goal was to be able to go to the lab, sit down in "the chair" without any fuss, stick my arm out and get my blood drawn (without fainting or having to have my blood drawn lying down for fear of fainting). And that's exactly what I did.

Having my blood drawn is still not my favorite thing and I didn't look at the needle in my arm today but if I had to do it again next week, I could.

In short, if you have a medical phobia that you want to overcome, this approach works (and if you have a history of fainting, the skills you learn in the chapter about preventing fainting will do just that).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So upsetting I couldn't sleep even after taking a xanax, May 23, 2011

By 

Mediphobe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Overcoming Medical Phobias: How to Conquer Fear of Blood, Needles, Doctors, and Dentists (Paperback)

Maybe this book will be of use to certain types of people with certain phobias...but reading it scared the daylights out of me and was a total disaster.

I wasn't surprised that they recommended a graduated approach of exposure to your phobia. So, for example, if you're afraid of needles, you might be told to look at increasingly more graphic images/videos of needles, preferably pre-screened by a friend or therapist. So far, I get it.

But they don't stop there. Ultimately they work up to recommending things like getting a physical exam each day for several days in a row if you're afraid of doctors (hey, not only is that terrifying...it's expensive!); or, if just afraid of needles, getting vaccinations that you mightn't ordinarily get (like for hepatitis) or getting a batch of blood test requisitions from your doc and then getting a blood test a day for several days in a row. A long, slow blood test, while you watch, without using any special coping strategies you may be used to using (like lying down or listening to music).

Oh and here's an image for you: "...let's suppose you conquered your fear of needles but later find yourself having blood drawn by an inexperienced lab technician who has to make five attempts to get the needle into your vein, causing a lot of distress and pain. Your fear of needles may be rekindled...it's essential that you make every attempt to get back into the situation as soon as possible."

This book is about exposure, exposure, exposure. Now, as I understand things, another approach to anxiety reduction (either separately or in conjunction with exposure) involves relaxation techniques. This book is quite honest in saying that it doesn't cover relaxation techniques, and it refers you to some other book if you'd like to learn more about relaxation.

If you think that this exposure approach might work for you, then go ahead and buy this book. But, personally speaking, I was shaking as I read this book; couldn't fall asleep till 4:30 AM even after popping a xanax; and my heart is pounding even as I write this review. Oh great, now I have a new kind of phobia--reading about phobia treatments.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars psychologist with a phobia of medical procedures, May 10, 2007

By 

Anthony Gunn (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Overcoming Medical Phobias: How to Conquer Fear of Blood, Needles, Doctors, and Dentists (Paperback)

After being brutally operated on without anesthetic in a third-world hospital as a teenager, I developed a phobia of medical procedures. Later as an adult I started passing out when given needles, which is both distressing and embarrassing. Even though I've since fixed my phobia, as a recovered medical procedures phobic and a psychologist specializing in the area of anxiety and phobias, I can say that this book is a must read on the topic. It's written in simple terms, is very easy to understand and is based on the latest scientific research. Added to this the author, Martin Antony, is a leading world expert in the area of anxiety.

Anthony Gunn, author of the books:

Fear Is Power: Turn Your Fears Into Success

Fix Your Phobia in 90 Minutes

Walking Tall: Overcoming Life's Little Challenges