Fear Of Pins And Needles

The fear of pins and needles is known as Belonephobia. This does not indicate the physical sensation of being “on pins and needles”: it refers to the sharp objects themselves.

Reasons For This Phobia

Those with Belonephobia will be frightened of pins and needles because they can cause injuries and pain. The sharp points of these small objects may have resulted in some past injury that remains in the psyche. Whenever the phobic person is around triggers, they will remember being struck by a pin, or some other negative memory. These “flashbacks” can be a primary reason for this phobia.

Past Experiences Can Trigger Phobias

Obvious triggers such as sewing kits, where needles are stored, will be avoided. Crafts and other hobbies or tasks that require the use of pins and needles will be shunned. For some, needles in syringes will also be a powerful triggers for symptoms, which may include intense anxiety, nausea, headaches, dizziness, and a sense of doom.

Blood Tests, Etc. Can Be Triggers

If medical needles are a trigger, they person with Belonephobia will often forego necessary medical treatments, such as inoculations or blood tests, because they cannot face the idea of feeling the prick of a needle in the arm. For certain people who’ve been subjected to many such tests, the experience of getting pricked by a needle can cause the phobia to develop. Sometimes, giving blood can cause bruising and pain where the needle enters the skin. Inexperienced nurses or medical staff may cause trauma to the skin, and this is often a trigger for the fear of pins and needles.

Belonephobia May Start In Childhood

How early do phobias start, anyway?

While it’s relatively simple for a healthy person to avoid pins and needles, there will always be times when they must be confronted in some way. Sometimes, this phobia develops in childhood, after a bad experience at the doctor or hospital. As well, fear of sewing needles may occur when children are struck by a pin accidentally, while having their clothes tailored, or learning to sew. Often, phobias get their start in childhood, where emotional pain and suffering are stored in the brain.

Treatment Strategies

If this phobia begins in childhood, it may require some work to eradicate it. Getting at the root of fears is a crucial first step in addressing the fear of pins and needles. Sometimes, alternative therapies such as cognitive re-mapping, and “tapping” therapy, where the subject’s forehead is repeated tapped to retrain the brain, can be successful treatments. Traditional psychotherapy can also be an excellent way to dredge of painful memories and share feelings. By expressing the reasons for your fears and anxieties, you may find release, and this catharsis makes getting past a phobia much easier.

Occasionally, the need for medication that takes the edge off fears will be the best way of coping with Belonephobia. Anti-depressants can ease physical symptoms and restore a sense of perspective and well-being. However, sometimes simply finding someone sympathetic to talk to you about the phobia can be very positive.

Getting At The Root Of Your Fear

Figuring out why you fear pins and needles is important. If you’ve suffered pain and trauma from a past experience with needles, then that is obviously the starting point for you. In some cases, though, where no such prior injury or bad experience exists, it can be more complicated to ascertain the reasons for this phobia. A trained mental health therapist can find ways to bring forth any repressed or subconscious reasons for the fear of pins and needles.

The fear of pins and needles is also referred to as:

• needle fear
• needle phobia
• pin phobia
• pin fear

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