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Blushing: When a Common Reaction Becomes a Problem - Page 3

© Alexander L. Gerlach

Treatment

The three main problem areas for people with fear of blushing are the blushing itself, avoidance of situations because of anticipated blushing, and negative beliefs about how their blushing is viewed by others. Different treatments have focused on each area. Reduction of blushing itself by means of biofeedback has not been successful. Various forms of pharmacological treatments have been suggested. Most commonly, anxiety-reducing drugs are prescribed. Beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents (beta-blockers) have also been suggested. However, these drugs have not been shown to be effective in the case of chronic blushing. Recently, sympathectomy has been suggested. This is a surgical procedure in which nerves to the facial blood vessels that cause blushing are severed. Although this procedure has been reported to be successful in reducing the amount of blushing, it seems drastic and misdirected since no anatomic differences between frequent and infrequent blushers have been established.

Cognitive-behavioral treatment studies have proven to be very effective in reducing distress and anxiety, as well as blushing itself, in chronic blushers. Treatment involves correction of negative beliefs about how others regard blushing and how visible one’s own blushing really is, and it promotes exposure to and confrontation with feared situations. Patients learn to focus on the social situation itself and to tolerate blushing. Once anxiety is reduced, blushing itself will occur less frequently.

Although blushing seems harmless to most of us, fear of blushing can have severe consequences for certain people. To make matters worse, people who suffer from fear of blushing are often afraid to talk about their problem. They feel that being troubled by something that others accept without difficulty is embarrassing in itself. Unfortunately, the people most in need of effective and available treatment are often the ones least likely to ask for it.

Mr. Gerlach is a Research Scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Table of Contents Vol.16 Issue 5

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