Hiding the sharps bin because seeing it sets me off

A specific technique taught by somebody trained is worth ten pieces of general advice from anybody, including me.

Bryn M, answering your question directly rather than going round the houses.

My partner learned to do it, which I resisted because I felt it was my responsibility, and which was the right answer for about eight months.

Somebody in this circle described their phobia as a body response rather than a thought, and that distinction got me to the right kind of help.

I would say to anybody starting: tell your prescriber the actual word. I described mine as being a bit nervous and got advice for being a bit nervous.

I have read this twice now. Thank you for writing it.

Mine improved and then regressed during a very stressful autumn, and I had to accept that it is not a linear thing and I had not failed.

Gently disagreeing with Isla, or rather adding the other half of it.

I keep a small written plan of my own steps and I still read it sometimes, eighteen months in. It costs me nothing and it steadies me.

Please do not let anybody, clinical or otherwise, make you feel unreasonable about this. Mine was dismissed twice before it was taken seriously and the delay cost me a year.

A phobia is a different thing from being nervous, and I spent a year being told to just get on with it before somebody used the right word for what I had.

Coming back to say I did it alone, calmly, last Tuesday, and then sat down and cried a bit. Both parts are the update.

I worked with someone for six sessions, specifically on this, and it was the best thing I did that year. It is a treatable thing and it does not have to be endured.

What I would say is that this is not the same as squeamishness and you do not need to justify it as more than that.

My GP took it seriously the moment I described the fainting rather than the fear. The physical detail was what got me the referral.

I could not be in the room with the box for the first fortnight. That is where I started and I now do this weekly without difficulty.

Applied tension helped my fainting more than anything else. It was taught to me properly, it is a specific technique, and it is worth asking about by name.

Coming back to what Tavita wrote further up, because it is the bit I keep thinking about.

Mine came from a childhood hospital experience I had not connected to any of this until a therapist asked, and that connection was most of the work.

I practised with the pen without doing anything, several times a day, for two weeks. Getting used to holding it was a real step and I nearly skipped it.