Overcoming Medical Phobias: How to Conquer Fear of Blood, Needles, Doctors & Dentists

by Martin M. Antony, Mark Watling, Mark Watling MD

Book Overview

Does the mere thought of a visit to the doctor's office set your heart racing? If so, you're not alone. Upwards of 30 million of us fear doctors and medical procedures significantly enough to keep us... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572243872
• ISBN13: 9781572243873
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

medical phobias

I bought this book for my daughter who has been diagnosed with severe medical anxiety by a therapist. My daugheter read the book giving it a great review and stated that it follows the same information given to her by her therapist. Worth exploring.

From a "graduate of the program"... If you have and want to overcome a medical phobia, buy this book

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).

psychologist with a phobia of medical procedures

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

Excellent choice

Purchased this book to help a patient understand her previously undiagnosed medical phobia. She felt it to be extremely helpful; explaining the disorder, the nature of fainting, the course of treatment. She has used it along with our work together to begin to master her fears.

A step-by-step 'can do' program for overcoming phobias

While some folk dutifully see the doc and dentist while needed, others find their phobias of medical professionals so strong that they can't even make a preventative visit nor take common medical tests. This audience would do well to look at the self-help guide OVERCOMING MEDICAL PHOBIAS: HOW TO CONQUER FEAR OF BLOOD, NEEDLES, DOCTORS & DENTISTS. From the roots of fears and how to address underlying issues of such phobias to strategies for preventing fainting, stress and avoidance, this doesn't just admonish - it offers a step-by-step 'can do' program for overcoming phobias. A top pick. Diane C. Donovan, Editor California Bookwatch