Algophobia

Algophobia is an intense, persistent fear of pain that can produce anxiety and avoidance of situations associated with pain.

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Fear-avoidance model: A model explaining how fear of pain can promote avoidance, disability, and persistent pain. It describes how anticipated pain can turn fear into restricted activity and lasting impairment.
Pain: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Pain is the feared experience at the center of algophobia.
Needle phobia: A marked fear of needles or injections that can lead to distress and avoidance of medical care. It is narrower than algophobia, targeting needles rather than pain broadly.
Nosophobia: An excessive fear of developing a disease. It centers on illness, while algophobia centers on pain itself.
Classical conditioning: A learning process in which a stimulus acquires meaning through association with another stimulus. Painful experiences can teach someone to fear previously neutral situations.
Specific phobia: An anxiety disorder marked by persistent, disproportionate fear of a particular object or situation. Algophobia is commonly described as a specific fear focused on pain.
Dental anxiety: Fear or anxiety associated with dental treatment, its sounds, sensations, or expected pain. Fear of pain is one reason people delay or avoid dental care.
Thanatophobia: An intense fear of death or dying. Fear of death may involve pain, but its central threat is mortality.
Exposure therapy: A psychological treatment that reduces avoidance by gradually confronting feared situations. Graded exposure can help weaken fear linked to anticipated pain.
Fear: An emotional response to a perceived threat that can prepare the body for defensive action. Fear is the core response that becomes persistent and impairing in algophobia.