Existing guides talk about topical anesthetics, extinction therapy, and distraction.
Topical Anaesthetics – they are not proven to help at all. Anxiety spikes when the anesthetics patches are taken off. None of the science supporting anxiety relief is even in injections.
Extinction & Exposure Therapy – Not totally sure to what degree it works. But now is the time to test it.
Distraction – was mentioned by a lot of people in how they personally deal with needle fear. Give yourself an unusual mental task to do. Explain why you’re getting vaccinated and what it means to you. The immunization process is short and a distraction technique does not need to last very long.
People do not like admitting that they have needle fear. Asking “Are you afraid of needles” people will not say yes, but saying “How afraid of needles are you” will get further into the actual percentage of people with needle fear, which is high.
