Encephale
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Review Comparative Study
[Blood-injection-injury phobia: Physochophysiological and therapeutical specificities].
Seventy-five percent of patients with blood-injection-injury phobia (BII-phobia) report a history of fainting in response to phobic stimuli. This specificity may lead to medical conditions remaining undiagnosed and untreated, incurring considerable cost for the individual and society. The psychophysiology of BII-phobia remains poorly understood and the literature on effective treatments has been fairly sparse. Aims of the systematic review: to synthesize the psychophysiology of BII-phobia and to propose a systematic review of the literature on effectiveness of different treatments evaluated in this indication. ⋯ We have explained the psychophysiology of BII-phobia, the understanding of which is required to study and validate specific techniques, in order to improve the prognosis of this disorder, which is a public health issue.
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After Operation Desert Storm which took place in Iraq from August 1990 to July 1991 involving a coalition of 35 countries and a 700,000 strong contingent of mainly American men, some associations of war veterans, the media and researchers described a new diagnostic entity: the Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). ⋯ The GWS exists: it is not an "imaginary illness" but a serious public health issue which has led to tens of thousands of complaints and swallowed up millions of dollars. To reply to human suffering, a new nosographic entity can spread through society taking the epidemic expression of a somatised disorder via identification, imitation and suggestion mechanisms. This possibility questions not only mental health but also the sociology and politics. It is necessary to inform the leaders and the general population of the possibility of this type of mass reaction, which can take the shape of a highly contagious complex functional syndrome.