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blood phobia

a persistent and irrational fear of blood, specifically of seeing blood. Situations in which blood may be encountered are often avoided or else endured with intense anxiety or distress. An individual confronting blood experiences a subjective feeling of disgust and fears the consequences of the situation, such as fainting. In certain diagnostic classifications, such as DSM–IV–TR and DSM–5, blood phobia is identified as a specific phobia, blood-injection-injury type. Blood phobia rarely is called hematophobia or hemophobia.

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Psychology term of the day

February 17th 2025

sexually dimorphic nucleus

sexually dimorphic nucleus

a nucleus of the central nervous system that differs in size between males and females. In humans, for example, a nucleus in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus that synthesizes gonadotropin-releasing hormone tends to be larger and more active in males than in females because gonadotropin release is continuous (it is cyclical in females). In songbirds whose males sing more than females, several brain nuclei associated with both song learning and song production are larger in males than in females.