As an emetophobia therapist, I understand how difficult and triggering winter time and associated stomach virus outbreaks can be. Emetophobia (i.e., fear or phobia of vomiting) can become an incredibly debilitating anxiety disorder when not treated properly with Cognitive Behavioral Therapies. As we face the current norovirus outbreak across the United States, many people with a fear of vomiting are finding their symptoms exacerbated and are looking for help with their phobia. If you or a loved one are struggling with a fear of vomiting, relief is available. Below, I review the signs and symptoms of emetophobia, effective therapeutic treatment options, and coping strategies you can begin to implement today.
Emetophobia Cure / Emetophobia Therapy
Can a therapist help with my emetophobia?
The first step to understanding if you could benefit from therapy for emetophobia / fear of vomiting is to understand if your symptoms are reaching a clinical threshold. Here’s some questions to ask yourself: Do you find yourself flooded with fear when someone mentions they were recently sick with a stomach bug? Do you find yourself inclined to ask what’s wrong when someone says they don’t feel well and then feel a sense of relief if they say it’s cold symptoms and not GI related? Do you find yourself avoiding public restrooms, not touching certain things, excessively cleaning and increasing your hand washing frequency due to fear of catching norovirus? Do you find yourself researching ways to decrease your likelihood of contracting it? If so, you’re not alone. You may have emetophobia- also known as a Specific Phobia of vomiting.
The hallmark symptoms of emetophobia (phobia of vomiting) include:
1) Intense fear and anxiety associated with the thought or act of throw up/throwing up
2) Significant attempts to reduce the anxiety associated with throw up and/or avoid throwing up/getting sick
To meet diagnostic criteria for emetophobia, these symptoms have been present for at least 6 months and cause significant distress or impairment to daily functioning. The anxiety can be associated with fear of yourself throwing up, fear of being around others’ throwing up, and/or seeing/hearing/smelling vomit.
Effective Emetophobia Therapy / Fear of Vomiting Treatment
What is the most effective treatment for emetophobia?
If some or all of the symptoms above resonate with you, help is available. There are several effective treatments for fear of vomiting. These include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Exposure Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)- Distress Tolerance Skills
Dr. Sandra is an emetophobia therapist in Philadelphia suburbs, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and virtually in many states across the United States. She utilizes CBT, Exposure Therapy, ACT, and DBT skills to effectively treat emetophobia. The treatment takes an average of 6-12 sessions depending on the severity of the phobia.
Phobia of Vomiting Help / Emetophobia Tips
In many ways, the pain of the anxiety symptoms- time-consuming safety behaviors (i.e., researching, hand washing), rumination/worry about throwing up, and avoidance that gets in the way of day to day functioning- is far greater than the pain/discomfort associated with the 24-48 hour stomach bug. However, for someone with emetophobia- this does not feel true or worth risking. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and associated approaches help individuals with emetophobia begin to accept this truth using tangible coping strategies and graded exposure steps.
Here’s some emetophobia strategies to try at home:
- Distress Tolerance Strategies– Find a few strategies that work for you that you can utilize when feeling high anxiety/distress. Here’s some to try out:
- Splash cold water on your face or rub an ice cube on your forehead
- Paced breathing- breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds
- Notice as much as you can in your surroundings (i.e., counting colors you see, naming objects around you, tracing an object with your mind’s eye)
- Sensory grounding- mindfully attend to a specific sensation as much as you can, try to notice as much detail as possible about the taste/smell/sight etc. (e.g., tasting a sour candy/mint, looking at a tree, listening to a song)
- Gradually Reduce Safety/Avoidance Behaviors– Take note of things you avoid (i.e., attending crowded events, using public restrooms, eating certain foods) or do (i.e., washing hands, googling about stomach virus, overcooking food) to reduce your anxiety around getting sick. Begin to reduce these behaviors in a gradual nature. For example, beginning to use restrooms at friends’ houses or small public places and working up over time to higher traffic public restrooms. Specialized emetophobia therapy will help you generate a behavioral plan to reduce these behaviors.
- Create a Coping Card- Using the following prompts, generate some bullet points to read to yourself when coping through anxious moments and/or reducing your avoidance/safety behaviors.
- Why do you want to overcome emetophobia? (e.g., I don’t like feeling so anxious all the time, I want to get pregnant one day, etc.) What has this phobia cost you? (time, energy, values-based activities, money etc.)
- What would you tell a close friend feeling similarly to support them? Can you bring that support/compassion inward?
- At this present moment, are you safe/healthy? (We can’t know for sure what the future will bring, but we can ground ourselves in our present experience)
Why do you want to overcome emetophobia? (e.g., I don’t like feeling so anxious all the time, I want to get pregnant one day, etc.) What has this phobia cost you? (time, energy, values-based activities, money etc.)
Free Consultation for Emetophobia Therapy
Schedule a free 10 minute consultation call with emetophobia therapist, Dr. Sandra Ostroff.
Dr. Sandra is a Licensed Psychologist specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders, phobias (including emetophobia), panic disorder and OCD.
