Emetophobia - Fear Of Vomiting

Emetophobia, the fear of vomiting, is an irrational human behavior in which the thought of vomiting or being near someone who's vomiting is scary. In fact, some people fear vomiting so much they throw up when they see someone vomiting, or on seeing vomit itself. At times, the thought of getting sick is also referred to as Emetophobia. When one comes across a sick / ill person, he/she gets scared and/or nervous about falling sick the very next moment.

Emetophobia also involves people staying away from doing certain things like socializing & partying out, eating outside home, traveling in bus or boarding a flight, etc. just because they fear that doing such things will cause them to get sick. As we've just seen, emetophobia occurs in two forms - one's fear of vomiting or falling sick himself/herself and one's fear of being around people who are sick or are seen vomiting.

Emetophobia is mostly caused during childhood, when the child had been sick and had a hard time vomiting or cried while vomiting, or had seen the same happening with someone else. In certain cases, people have also been found to be emetophobic not from childhood, but by seeing a very close relative vomiting - these cases are on the emotional side, still irrational really. Some people can go to just about any length to avoid sickness or vomiting - women who actually wish to conceive will avoid pregnancy for the fear of morning sickness.

Ultimately, we see that it turns out to be true that it's all in the person's mind.

On this page, we will look at understanding Emetophobia - its causes. We'll further look at the treatment options for this fear of vomiting. To ensure a quick read, we'll try to keep it short, while keeping it informative and helpful.

So, what causes emetophobia in the first place? Well, one answer holds true in a majority of the cases, for not just emetophobia, but just about any fear or phobia - Childhood observations and beliefs. In certain cases however, it has also been observed that people become phobic of certain things, situations, activities, etc. at different points, after childhood or even adolescence, in life. Even in such cases, emetophobia occurs usually because of some beliefs and observations. Also, punishment from parents upon vomiting has been found to be one of the causes for occurrence of emetophobia.

One of the best treatment options is Desensitization. It involves exposing the person having emetophobia to pictures and videos, or even showing live instances, of people vomiting. With the passing time, the fear grows to a saturation point and ultimately becomes something the person doesn't even notice. This effective method has been found to make the fear's effect to die down over time. Another solution is CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy). This therapy involves studying the phobic person's case by understanding what caused emetophobia in him/her. The irrational behaviors are addressed to and the thought process of the person is reversed, thus leading to curing emetophobia. Also, some confidence building solutions like Clinical Hypnotherapy and sickness-countering medication have been found to work wonders in some cases.

Ultimately, it's all in the mind, and if one can develop newer, positive beliefs and thought processes, the cure for emetophobia comes easy and at zero cost.

Emetophobia discussion on "This Morning" show:

Emetophobia on Wikipedia - Wikipedia article on Emetophobia

Emetophobia Eraser Program - A simple program that will help rid you of your Emetophobia