Case Report of a Needle Phobia*

Blood-injury phobia is defined in the psychiatric literature as a fear of exposure to blood, injury, pain, needles, or deformities. ¹ In other phobias, exposure to the phobic cue usually causes tachycardia. In contrast, blood-injury phobia victims typically experience a diphasic cardiovascular response of an initial tachycardia, followed by bradycardia, hypotension, shock, vertigo, syncope, diaphoresis, nausea, and occasionally even coma, asystole, and death. ^{1 , 2} The concept of needle phobia is important for health care professionals to understand, since patients fearful of needles often avoid medical and dental treatment. Here a case of severe needle phobia in an otherwise nonphobic physician and his physiological response to having blood drawn is reported.