What is it?What is it?
Emetophobia is a condition that is not widely diagnosed even though it is a fairly prevalent anxiety disorder. Furthermore, despite being a common anxiety disorder, not a lot is known about how many people it effects. What is known, however, is that more women have a fear of vomiting than men. An estimated 1.7-3.1% of males and 6-7% of females experience emetophobia.
Those with emetophobia have a fear of vomiting or seeing others being sick. They may also fear the feeling of being out of control while they are being sick or fear being sick in public which can trigger avoidance behaviours.
Emetophobia varies enormously in how it effects suffers; most worry excessively about being sick even though they are less likely than the general population to be sick because of all the steps they take to avoid being ill. For instance, suffers may be unable to leave home if there are any tummy bugs going around and they will avoid family and friends who have an illness. This can present quite a dilemma for mothers who can experience extreme panic if their child is ill and will feel terrified if they are actually sick. Many sufferers will also have a strict diet which is free from anything that might cause a stomach upset and some will avoid medications which list nausea as a side-effect. Many women will also dread the thought of being pregnant because of concerns about coping with ‘morning-sickness’.
Emetophobia Fact Sheet
To find out more information about emetophobia, click here to download a copy of our fact sheet.
Emetophobia Questionnaires
The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has produced two helpful scales for measuring symptoms of emetophobia which sufferers might find helpful to use when they see someone for help. These can be downloaded by clicking on the following links:
Specific Fear of Vomit Inventory
How we can help
Anxiety UK is a user-led charity with more than forty years experience in supporting those living with anxiety. By becoming a member of Anxiety UK, you will have access to a range of benefits, including:
- Access to reduced cost therapy within two weeks of submitting your therapy request
- Access to our helpline (available Monday-Friday, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm) staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety
- Receipt of four issues of Anxious Times, our quarterly members” magazine
- Access to the members only section of our website, featuring regular support surgeries facilitated by anxiety experts
- Access to specialist helplines, including the psychiatric pharmacy helpline and the psychology information helpline
And many, many other benefits that will help you manage your anxiety long term. To become a member of Anxiety UK click here or ring 08444 775 774 today.
Want to know more?
The Anxiety UK site has information on a range of resources to provide more detailed information and help.
Recommended reading
Living with Emetophobia is available to purchase from the Anxiety UK online shop. To find out more please click here.
Emetophobia, the extreme fear of vomiting, can affect just about every aspect of sufferer’s life, from everyday considerations (‘what food will be “safe” for me to eat?’) to matters that involve making huge, potentially devastating decisions (‘I can’t have this baby, I can’t face morning sickness’). Nicolette Heaton-Harris has first-hand experience of the phobia and its effects. She suggests strategies for coping with the high levels of anxiety that are intrinsic to the phobia, as well as pre-empting and avoiding anxiety attacks.
Louise, Anxiety UK member
Anxiety UK published a fact sheet, CD and audio tape which deals with Emetophobia and is available by clicking here.
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Personal experience
Do you suffer from emetophobia and want to share your experience with other people? Post your personal experience in the comments box below where it will be sent to our moderator for approval. Many people find this part of the site very useful when trying to understand their disorder so your comments really do make a difference. Please note, all comments submitted to the Anxiety UK website may be used by Anxiety UK for (but not limited to) publicity and promotional material.
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Can anybody help me please? Im due to start CBT in 4 weeks time and im starting to worry about why sort of things i would have to do. Im looking forwrd to starting it as im hoping that this can be a lot of help to me as my phobia is at its worse at the minute. Im feeling anxious and panicing at the minute and i dont know why. I wish i could get rid of this feeling. I want to cry. Its so horrible feeling like this and knowin theres no cure for me. Any comments would b greatly appreciated thanx
Visit our community site to talk to others with similar concerns as yours, talking to someone else who can share their experiences often can help http://anxietyuk.healthunlocked.com/
Chris VSC
I have such a bad phobia of seeing others be sick. I’m 16 and I don’t know when it started I just know I’ve had it for years. When I’m sick myself I’m fine it doesn’t bother me at all, but if someone says they feel sick/or is sick in front of me my mind goes blank, my heart starts beating really fast, I sweat and start to shake, and if they are sick I will just run away without even thinking of it, (once at a family friends house my dad was drunk and he was asleep and he woke up and my mum went “you going to be sick?” and before I knew it I was in a bedroom upstairs!!)-so I’d dread it if I was In class with someone and they were sick, I’d run out :( Whenever i’ve seen someone being sick I have all the memories of it in my head, I can’t seem to get them out of my head. It controls my life, I find it hard to go to parties incase someone is sick, I don’t like going on roller-coasters (as much as I want to!) incase someone is sick, I don’t like being out in public or around drunk people incase of it, I don’t like going on buses, I don’t like being around children or babies incase they’re sick! I even turn away when a dog or cat is going to be sick! I don’t know whenever if I’m being stupid but I really can’t help it I wish I could :( I hate it so much, I hope some people read this and think the same because I don’t want to feel like the only one who feels like this! think I might need to get some help about it, or just hope it will go away as I get older because I feel like its putting me off from even having children when I’m older! I just hate it so much :( just feel like it controls my life and whenever I’m out anywhere it’s the big thing on my mind! :(
I suffered from this phobia for over 10 years and have only recently recovered. I never knew what I was suffering from and felt too ashamed to voice my concerns as every time I tried people would just laugh. My phobia started when I was about 8 and now I am 18 I would say I have made a full recovery. Reading the comments below I can fully understand everything you are going through. When I was at my worst I would run away from anyone who was ill, would get nervous at the thought of eating meat, be fearful of dark and crowded spaces and would avoid going on a boat. My teenage years were also tough as alcohol started to be introduced to the lives of those around me and I was too fearful to participate. Like many suffers, my phobia was triggered by a traumatic event, which I wont go into, and was crippling to my everyday life and led to severe anxiety.
I feel that the hardest part of the phobia is that no one understands what is wrong and you are often given a really unsympathetic ear. Even when I talk to good friends about it they look at me like I am mad. I fully understand the loneliness of this phobia.
I feel greatly saddened that so many of you are still suffering but I can promise you that it is possible to recover and move back to normality.
I only recently found out about the phobia and feel that it is not understood enough. Hopefully in the future the awareness will improve and suffers will have far greater support.
Although difficult, my recovery came as a result of normalising situations and convincing myself that I was going to be ok and even if I did feel ill then nothing serious was going to happen. Exposure to someone being ill was initially very hard to see but the more I have seen the less fearful I have become.
For those of you who are suffering, you must understand that you are not alone and there is nothing to be ashamed of. I am a firm believer that this illness can be cured slowly over time. In situations where you feel nervous just take deep breaths and tell yourself that nothing bad is going to happen. If you do find yourself in a tricky situation, close your eyes, cover your ears and move away if possible whilst all the time telling yourself that there is nothing to fear. After the event and things have calmed, confront your fear by going and speaking to the person. This will be difficult at first but over time things will get easier and will help to move the act of someone being sick closer and closer to something not to fear. With regards to food/travel/gatherings, once again, tell yourself that nothing is going to hurt you. Maybe take a small trip on a boat and make the situation as calm and safe as possible. Be out in the air on calm water with water and someone you feel relaxed around. Similarly, at a social event, put yourself in a position where you have an escape route. Although you will NOT need it, by putting yourself in situations where you feel safe and comfortable it will help to ease the phobia over time. Similarly, don’t hang around people who make you anxious. Instead stay with people that are calm and are not likely to bring up the topic.
I hope my comment will help those of you who are still suffering. The main way to help is to always put yourself in situations where you feel safe and always tell yourself that nothing bad will happen.
If anyone would like to contact me for support, I will always be willing to help.