Understanding and Treating Emetophobia
Emetophobia is the fear of vomit or vomiting. Many people with emetophobia experience an intense fear of throwing up which can include seeing vomit, being around someone who is vomiting, or vomiting themselves. Seeing a video of someone throwing up, being near someone who tells you they have a stomach bug, or feeling nauseous are examples of situations that can cause anxiety about throwing up.
Generally, people don’t like throwing up yet they don’t think much about it. If they have a stomach bug, they may vomit and then continue to go about their day. If you have emetophobia you’re likely to experience consistent worry about vomit which can consume your thoughts. The fear is intense enough to impact your daily life. For example, you may avoid eating certain foods, consistently check your food and sell by dates due to worry that it may make you sick, and avoid certain social situations.
Emetophobia is a specific phobia and phobias cause anxiety and panic either based on direct exposure to what you are afraid of (vomit) or anticipated exposure (the idea of vomit). If you hear, see, or feel like you may vomit, you may feel anxious, nervous, panicked, or overwhelmed. This can lead to anxiety symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweating, shaking, having an upset stomach, feeling tightness and pressure in your body, or lightheadedness/dizziness.
Avoidance Behavior Caused by Emetophobia
With emetophobia, you may be afraid of not being able to stop vomiting, feeling unpleasant physical sensations, loss of control, or feelings of embarrassment. Your fear may lead you to engage in safety behaviors used to try to prevent a feared situation from happening or to help you feel more comfortable. Examples of emetophobia safety behaviors are sleeping with a trash can near the bed, staying close to a bathroom, and avoiding situations that may make you feel motion sickness or nauseous such as being on the water, being on a rollercoaster, or taking a long car ride.
Avoidance is a key part of anxiety. When you feel anxious about something, it is natural to want to avoid it. Other examples of avoidance in emetophobia include avoiding foods that made you feel sick in the past, avoiding new foods, avoiding eating when not at home, avoiding being around people who are sick or prone to throwing up (intoxicated people at parties, babies or children), and avoiding seeing videos or movies featuring vomiting.
Due to fear of getting sick/nauseous and then throwing up, you may also wash your hands excessively, overcook food, throw foods away before they expire, or frequently check your body for signs of illness.
Emetophobia Exposure Therapy – Decreasing Anxiety Over Time
Exposure therapy involves gradually and systematically confronting, rather than avoiding, anxiety-provoking situations to decrease anxiety over time. With emetophobia, exposure can include exposure to physical sensations associated with throwing up.
For example, if you are worried that dizziness may lead to nausea and throwing up, you may practice spinning fast in a chair to expose yourself to the feeling of dizziness. You may also practice watching videos of people throwing up, eating foods you usually avoid, or writing a script of a scene of you throwing up and then reading this script over and over again with your therapist’s guidance.
Exposure therapy also involves decreasing safety and avoidance behaviors you have adapted. For example, you may practice not washing your hands, not checking your food as you eat, not being near trash cans or bathrooms, etc.
This article provides an overview of exposure therapy for emetophobia.
Treatment Options at CBT Denver
While emetophobia can be a consuming condition that takes over your life, with evidence-based treatments such as exposure therapy, it is possible to decrease your fear and reclaim your life. To learn more about treatment for emetophobia, please contact us at CBT Denver.