Emetophobia, the fear of vomit, causes and cures. Learn more about emetophobia treatment and overcome emetophobia

1. Emetophobia: The Fear of Vomit
Causes and Cures
Steve Rikard
www.EmetophobiaRecovery.org

2. What is Emetophobia?
Emetophobia is an extreme and irrational fear of vomiting. Emetophobes
experience intense anxiety over thoughts of themselves vomiting, others
vomiting in their vicinity, or simply seeing vomit. This is one of the most
common phobias in the world, but it is also a phobia which very few people
know about.
The fear of vomiting often spreads to become a fear of any situation with
which vomiting may be associated with. Examples of this include:
• Consuming alcohol or being around others who are consuming
alcohol
• Avoid eating unhealthy foods</li>
• Excessive cleanliness</li>
• Avoid eating in public or anywhere outside of their own home
• Avoid traveling by any means which might cause motion sickness
• Being in the vicinity of young toddlers
• Avoid anyone who is sick or may be sick, including family members
• Avoid infants
• Be afraid of pregnancy and the morning sickness that is associated
with it
• Avoid hospitals or any place where sick people might be
• Nightmares
In many emetophobes, these behaviors are taken to extremes, such as
obsessive checking of food expiration dates, eating only fruits and
vegetables, or an inability to take care of their own children. These fears can
be extremely debilitating, and greatly harm the emetophobe’s social life
Emetophobia has also been associated with a fear of not being in control.
This originates from viewing vomiting as something that strips you of
control over your own body. Of all things you can lose control of, losing
control of your own body might seem the most personal, so vomiting may be
avoided at all costs.

3. What Causes Emetophobia?
Most phobias, including emetophobia, usually develop from childhood
experiences that severely traumatized the individual. When a young child
experiences a trauma, their brain takes action to prevent that situation from
occurring again. In the case of a traumatic incident involving vomit, the
brain can imbue the individual with a fear of vomit in order to protect them.
The act of vomiting itself may not have been what caused the trauma.
Rather, the conditions surrounding the act of vomiting may have been what
was traumatic. For example, an individual may have thrown up during a
severe storm in which they had lost electricity to their house. The
frightening circumstances of storm become associated with the act of
vomiting in the individual’s mind, and thus the individual develops a fear of
vomiting.
In addition, parents can be a large factor in the development of emetophobia
in children. Parents who suffer from emetophobia often find themselves
unable to take care of their children when they are sick. Children who
observe their parent’s fear of vomiting can develop the same fear as a result.
For other people, emetophobia can result from an unusual lack of vomiting
as a child. At a young age most kids vomit on a regular basis and become
accustomed to it. But a child who does not vomit much may not become
accustomed to it, and may develop a fear of it later in life.
Emetophobes are also known to develop other fears caused by emetophobia.
These could include fear of germs, a fear of gagging, and claustrophobia.
It is important to remember that you are not born with emetophobia. Just as
you developed emetophobia in the first place, it is also possible to cure
emetophobia.

4. How Do You Cure Emetophobia?
Anti-Emetics
Anti-emetics are both prescription and non-prescription drugs that help
suppress nausea, and the need to vomit. They are typically used to fight
vertigo, motion sickness, and morning sickness. Like any medicine, anti-
emetics have the risk of side-effects, and some people prefer certain anti-
emetics to others. Common anti-emetics include:
Anxiety Medication
At its core, emetophobia is an anxiety disorder with vomit and nausea as the
specific trigger. Because of the obsessive nature of a phobia, many
emetophobes cause themselves more harm than help by worrying. Obsessive
anxiety can cause the opposite of a placebo effect, causing people to worry
themselves into feeling sick, even if there are not physical triggers to make
them sick..
Desensitization/Exposure Treatment
Desensitization is a process of progress exposure to things that trigger
anxiety/fear. While it can be detrimental to expose someone to a drastic
trigger, using this in a slow and controlled manner can help people overcome
fears.
For example, you might expose yourself to a sentence about vomit, then to a
picture of stick figures feeling sick, then to a cartoon picture of someone
about to get sick., and then further. This takes place with many more steps,
subtly, over a long period of time, exercising proper techniques to calm
yourself and fight fear.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is the standard professional
approach to treating all anxiety disorders. CBT typically uses controlled
desensitization with a professional therapist and analyzes the thoughts and
feelings that influence behaviors.

5. Take Action!
Learn more with these two excellent resources
Fighting Emetophobia
How to Handle Emetophobic Panic Attacks
With this FREE guide, you will learn:
• How to recognize a panic attack
• How to understand your fear
• How to calming your nerves
• How to fight your fear
• How to regroup and progress
Get it at my blog here: Emetophobia Recovery
Emetophobia Recovery System
By Rich Presta
The most comprehensive home-treatment
program available for Emetophobia.
Features:
• Cognitive behavioral therapy principles
• Neuro-linguistic progamming
• Half a dozen leading experts
• Audio and text for use anywhere
Learn about the Emetophobia Recovery System here