Emetophobia – fear of vomiting – specialist treatment and counselling
Emetophobia - fear of vomiting. Our emetophobia specialists can help you overcome your phobia by replacing phobic behaviour and thinking with logic.
What is emetophobia?
Emetophobia, or a fear of vomiting, is often referred to as a specific phobia. This is where the specific individual has a specific phobia that relates to a specific object or situation; for example the fear of spiders, flying, or confined spaces.
The other two main types of phobia are 1) social phobias where the phobia relates to an excessive or unreasonable fear of social situations such as fear of public speaking or social anxiety; and 2) agoraphobia - the fear of being alone in a public place or a fear of open or public places.
Emetophobia is a fear of vomiting; seeing vomit; watching or hearing another person vomit; or even feeling sick. It’s a surprisingly common phobia and can affect people in a variety of different ways. It can begin at any age, although many adults who suffer from emetophobia report that they have experienced it, in some form, for as long as they can remember.
Emetophobia can affect all areas of your life, and you may have developed certain behavioural patterns or even obsessions in an effort to keep yourself ‘safe’. For instance, you might be most comfortable in a particular room of your home, or even outside.
The fear of throwing up is often triggered by a negative experience with vomiting. Many cite cases of the stomach flu, overindulging in alcohol, and food poisoning as the trigger for their phobia. But for others it is linked with lack of control. They may try to control themselves and their environment but vomiting is difficult or impossible to control. Sufferers often feel the need to take note of where the bathrooms are in a new building, and may feel extremely anxious about long car trips.
If you think you may be struggling with emetophobia, you are not alone - our emetophobia counselling and treatment can help.
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What are phobias - taking a closer look
Phobias are an extreme or irrational fear of an object or situation and can cause a lot of distress. As we have mentioned, they can restrict day-to-day life and, in severe cases, an individual may organise their life around avoiding the thing they’re afraid of. If the phobia can’t be avoided entirely, intense anxiety will result.
Around ten million people in the UK are affected by phobias. Phobias don’t care about your age, sex or social background. Anyone can be impacted.
Phobias are often developed in early childhood, teenage years, or even as late as early twenties. Within those early years, negative experiences can snowball in a child’s mind and lead to a very specific phobia.
It’s easy to see how a phobia might develop; for example being stuck in a lift for a few hours as a child can later manifest itself as claustrophobia. Similarly, the impact of a parent or sibling’s fear can have a knock on effect too. This is quite often found with phobias of dogs or spiders for example; where the child has watched the behaviours of their family members, and their behaviours go on to mirror that person.
Our approach to emetophobia counselling
The key is to replace phobic behaviour and thinking with logic. This is the tricky bit, but with expert help it is one hundred percent possible. If you, or someone you care about has a fear of vomit or vomiting, then you are most certainly not alone, and rest assured, we can help your phobia become a thing of the past.
Therapist, coaching psychologist and founder of Pinnacle Wellbeing, Richard Reid, is a specialist in phobia treatment psychology and has helped many clients overcome their phobias.
"The temptation is often to avoid the things that make us fearful. However, this often compounds our anxieties. Our therapies help you to find constructive and supportive ways to confront your phobias one step at a time; meaning that you find a pace which is appropriate to your individual situation and which allows your brain to develop a new outlook to those situations or triggers."
Therapist, coaching psychologist and founder of Pinnacle Wellbeing, Richard Reid.
Specialist emetophobia counselling and treatment
We believe that therapy is an effective way to treat phobias. The use of therapy can help you overcome your emetophobia as well as its symptoms and triggers. We can then build a tailor-made programme that works for you.
One of the most effective treatments is a form of psychotherapy called exposure therapy. Here, understanding the cause of a phobia is actually less important than focusing on how to treat the avoidance behaviour that has developed over time.
As you learn how to better manage and relate to your reactions, thoughts and feelings, you’ll find that your anxiety and fear are reduced and no longer in control of your life. Treatment is usually directed at one specific phobia at a time. Whilst your main phobia may fall under the fear of vomiting we can also help you overcome any secondary phobias or anxieties such as eating disorders or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
We know that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and that each client has their own set of unique needs and circumstances. We typically use a combination of therapies to treat phobias such as emetophobia; these include hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), alongside talking therapies such as counsellingand psychotherapy.
One of the most effective treatments we use for emetophobia is hypnotherapy.
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What is hypnotherapy?
We actually experience hypnosis all the time naturally. Daydreaming is a form of hypnosis, for example. Similarly, when we arrive at a destination in our car without being aware of how we got there. That’s a form of hypnosis too. We drift in and out of the state all the time.
All we really do with this form of treatment is harness that state to create a form of deep relaxation that enables us to access parts of the brain that are blocked by conscious thought.
By altering your state of consciousness, through the use of hypnosis and positive suggestion, we can help you to change aspects of yourself – for example your behaviour or your feelings.
How does hypnotherapy for emetophobia help?
Hypnotherapy can have a positive effect for people who are suffering from emetophobia. Through hypnosis we can teach you simple alternatives of how to express yourself so that you can strengthen relationships rather than damage them.
Hypnosis will change how you feel about yourself and how you interact with those closest to you, and the world in general. You’ll learn to express your feelings and needs positively and start to transform your thought patterns for the better.
How does a hypnotherapy session work?
During your first session of hypnotherapy, the clinical hypnotherapist will ask you specific questions about your lifestyle and overall health in order for you both to decide on what your goals will be during the therapy.
While under hypnosis, a patient will exhibit enhanced awareness and responsiveness, which allows the hypnotherapist to bypass the rational part of the brain to the more receptive subconscious and introduce new, positive thoughts and perspectives. You will also be more open to suggestion so that together we can help you change behaviour and overcome your phobia.
What can you expect from an emetophobia counselling session?
Our phobias treatment sessions are tailored to suit your needs. We work with individuals, couples, teens, and groups. Our sessions usually last from 30 minutes to an hour; our courses usually consist of around 6 to 12 sessions.
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