Aichmophobia () is a kind of

specific phobia Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or concept which poses little or no actual danger. Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the o ...

, the morbid fear of sharp things. It is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''aichmē'' (point) and ''phobos'' (fear). This fear may also be referred to as belonephobia or enetophobia. Sometimes this general term is used to refer to what is more specifically called

fear of needles Fear of needles, known in medical literature as needle phobia, is the extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. It is occasionally referred to as '' aichmophobia'', although this term may also refer to a more ...

, or needle phobia, or trypanophobia. Fear of needles is the extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving

injection Injection or injected may refer to: Science and technology * Injective function, a mathematical function mapping distinct arguments to distinct values * Injection (medicine), insertion of liquid into the body with a syringe * Injection, in broadca ...

s or

hypodermic needle A hypodermic needle (from Greek Language, Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)) is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. As one of the most important intravenous inventions in the field of drug admini ...

s. Not to be confused with similar condition (

avoidance behavior Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD), or anxious personality disorder, is a cluster C personality disorder characterized by excessive social anxiety and inhibition, fear of intimacy (despite an intense desire for it), severe feelings of inadeq ...

) the

visual looming syndrome ''Looming'' is a term found in the study of perception, as it relates directly to psychology. Looming occurs when an object begins moving closer to the eye. As the resulting image becomes increasingly larger on the perceiver's retina, i.e., when ...

, where the patient does not fear sharp items, but feels pain or discomfort at gazing upon sharp objects nearby.

References

{{reflist Phobias

See also

References