ABSTRACT Objective: to discuss the social representations about peripheral venipuncture and the use of contrast media of people submitted to radiological examinations, referring to stressor concept. Method: this is qualitative research, outlined in the procedural approach of the Social Representation Theory, carried out with 57 users undergoing computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging at a university hospital in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In-depth individual interviews triggered by guiding questions were conducted in January 2019. The contents of the interviews were fully transcribed and content analysis was carried out in three stages (pre-analysis, material exploration and treatment/interpretation of results). We established thematic analysis based on the dimensions and representational origins, which made it possible to discuss the findings anchored in the concepts of stressors, allowing the identification of three categories based on intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal stressors. Results: puncture and examination were represented by individual, group, professional and therapeutic environment experiences, classified into the following categories: itinerary and conceptions on puncture and contrasted examinations based on intrapersonal stressors; shared relationships on puncture and examination, based on interpersonal stressors; and experiences in the therapeutic environment of a diagnostic imaging service, based on transpersonal stressors. Conclusion: the social representations were signified by examination, results and impacts on life, portraying stressors based on images/feelings of doubt and positive behaviors rationally justified, which explain human responses to reified content, enabling the restructuring of health care and nursing.