Epistaxiophobia (nosebleed phobia): symptoms, causes, treatment

This phobia is based on the anticipation of nosebleeds and the fear that this produces.

The world of phobias always involves very specific problems that, despite affecting very few people, can become real nightmares. The case of epistaxiophobia is an example of this, since in it, what produces an intense fear is something that is not usually among our usual concerns, nosebleeds, or nosebleeds.

In this article we will see what is epistaxiophobiaWhat are its symptoms and causes, and how psychologists intervene in this kind of disorders through psychotherapy.

• Article related: "Types of phobias: exploring the disorders of the fear".

What is epistaxiophobia?

As we have seen in advance, the epistaxiophobia can be summarized as an extreme fear of nosebleeds, usually one's own..

However, for it to be a true phobia, this disturbance has to be sufficiently intense and persistent to significantly damage the quality of the person who suffers this kind of experience. How is this determined? The person who experiences these crises of fear or anxiety can decide whether or not this experience makes him/her more unhappy, but ultimately it is the mental health professionals who make the diagnosis.

On the other hand, in the diagnosis this kind of experiences do not have an official name, given that there is a practically unlimited number of phobias, and that is why many of them are called phobias.and that is why many of them are included under the concept of specific phobia. This is also the case of epistaxiophobia.

Symptoms

Phobias are a class of anxiety disorders, and therefore most of the symptoms of epistaxiophobia are linked to this phenomenon. These symptoms can be divided into three types: physiological, cognitive and behavioral..

Physiological symptoms include accelerated respiratory rate, increased Blood pressure, tremors, nausea and dizziness, cold sweats and palpitations.cold sweat and pallor.

On the other hand, cognitive symptoms include catastrophic ideation (imagining the worst possible scenario), the impossibility of directing attention away from what is frightening, and the belief that one is helpless in the face of danger.

Finally, the behavioral symptoms of epistaxiophobia include flight and avoidance behaviorsthat is, actions aimed at avoiding the risk of a nosebleed or exposing oneself to being seen by others.

Causes

As is the case with all anxiety disorders of this type, epistaxiophobia does not have a single cause that is present in all patients with this phobia, but rather there is a multiplicity of factors that can lead to the development of this disorder..

It is very common that it appears as a result of one or more traumatic experiences, lived with special intensity and that may have left an important mark in the emotional memory of people.

It is also possible that in a relatively large proportion of the occasions in which a nosebleed has occurred something bad has happened, which contributes to stop seeing these experiences as something neutral beyond the inconvenience of losing blood from the nose for a moment.

On the other hand, social pressure and the possible loss of acceptance by others may be overstated and may be may be overestimated and constitute the main source of fear.

In any case, in this as in the rest of phobias, one of the aggravating factors of the anxiety crises experienced by this disorder is the anticipation that the symptoms of the phobia are going to manifest themselves. That is to say, that the existence of the disorder feeds on itself, creating a vicious circlecreating a vicious circle capable of making that for as much as the years go by everything remains the same.

Treatment of this disorder

Epistaxiophobia does not have a specific treatment, but the same procedures used in most phobias are applied: exposure, systematic desensitization and cognitive restructuring.. However, in this case it is difficult to cause real hemorrhages, so they are simulated (or else exposure through imagination is used).

The idea is to get the person used to exposing him/herself to what he/she is afraid of in a controlled environment, under the supervision of the therapist and following an ascending difficulty curve that prevents the patient from becoming frustrated. In this way, the person becomes more and more accustomed to facing what is causing him/her fear, and seeing that nothing bad happens as the situation is controlled and the level of difficulty is manageable, progress is made.progress is being made.

At the end of the treatment the symptoms will have diminished significantly, and although they will probably not disappear completely, they will cease to be an important problem that prevents the person from leading a normal life.