Question 26 (part 2) · LEK · Phobias

A 26-year-old male presented to his GP with a recurrent cough. The doctor ordered blood tests and a chest X-ray. When the patient entered the examination room, his heart began to pound, he became sweaty and his muscles tensed. When he was sitting in a blood-draw chair and had a tourniquet put around his arm, his symptoms became more severe. His breaths became short, he began to hyperventilate and felt tingling in the hands, feet and around the mouth. When the nurse produced a needle, the patient fainted. He came round once an ammonia capsule was broken under his nose. He apologised for his behaviour and said he always behaved like that when he saw a needle. The situation is clinically closest to:

1. AA. agoraphobia.
2. BB. generalized anxiety disorder.
3. CC. panic attacks.
4. DD. a social phobia.
5. EE. a specific phobia.