Free Emetophobia Self Help:
Learn how to overcome Emetophobia at home:
This page is dedicated to helping you understand what psychological processes are feeding your Emetophobia and then how to use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to overcome your phobia without the need for therapy.
However, self-help is not for everyone, and if you struggle or feel you need the help of a trained therapist, please don’t hesitate to book in a session.
I am an Emetophobia specialist and author of:
What is emetophobia?
Emetophobia is the fear of vomiting. If you experience emetophobia you may notice intense anxiety around vomiting, sickness bugs, or witnessing others vomit.
How is it treated?
Emetophobia is highly treatable using Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT) and a process known as exposure and response prevention (ERP).
Can I treat myself?
The simple answer is yes. Although some may require the help of a trained CBT therapist to guide them in this process, it is possible to treat your Emetophobia yourself.
How?
Self help for emetophobia relies on a few main things:
Understanding: The first step is to understand what is causing your fear and how the actions we take to help our anxiety might actually be the very thing causing our problem.
Courage: Emetophobia is an anxiety disorder. Which means you probably wish your “anxiety” could just disappear. The only way to overcome this is to have the courage to face your fears. This type of treatment uses something called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) which in theory sounds scary, however most people realise how useful and effective it can be from day one.
Practice: Exposure is not about just facing our fears once. You have to do it over and over until you are confident. Just like a person who is afraid of public speaking. Facing their fear once doesn’t fully overcome their fear. They need to practice practice practice public speaking, until they are no longer anxious.
What maintains our anxiety and emetophobia?
Emetophobia is maintained by 8 key processes. By understanding and overcoming these you can break out of the fear of vomiting. While these terms might be confusing, they are actually really simple concepts that you can understand in just a few minutes.
Watch each video below to understand each topic.
These processes are:
1 - Safety seeking behaviours. 2 - Reassurance seeking. 3 - Experiential avoidance. 4 - Self-focused attention.
5 - Avoidance of cues associated with vomiting. 6 - Hyper vigilance. 7 - Mental planning. 8 - Excessive worrying.
Remember, understanding is good, however doing is better. Each video has specific advise on how to overcome these processes. For effective self-help, work on removing each process one by one. Don’t just watch them all in one go and hope to be cured. Put in the work and try it out.
Safety-seeking behaviours are the biggest thing that feeds our anxiety. Understand them and its easy to cure Emetophobia
1 - Safety seeking behaviours:
2 - Reassurance seeking:
Reassurance seeking reduces our anxiety in the short term, but becomes addictive and feeds emetophobia in the long term.
“Experiential avoidance”, the type of avoidance you have most likely never heard of. Understanding it is key to curing Emetophobia.
3 - Experiential avoidance:
4 - Self-focused attention:
But why am I always feeling nauseous? It must mean I will be sick right? Lets explore how you are actually the cause of your own nausea.
Avoiding anything that reminds you of vomiting? Great in the short term. Terrible in the long term.
5 - Avoidance of cues associated with vomiting:
Always on edge? Able to easily notice signs of sickness? Well lets talk about why always looking for danger is feeding your Emetophobia.
6 - Hyper vigilance:
Do you overthink and plan for the worst? Do you know exactly where toilets are in every situation? Well lets explore why this is actually a bad thing.
7 - Mental planning:
8 - Excessive worrying:
Worrying is uncontrollable! WRONG!
It may feel that way, but its an action within our control.
If you have watched these videos and feel confident you understand these concepts, then move onto the next step of tying out Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).
However, if you have watched these videos and are confused or unable to put these skills into practice, you may need the help of a trained therapist. Feel free to reach out or book a session.
Need more help?
Emetophobia expert and author of:
What is Exposure and Response Prevention:
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a CBT tool that is highly effective at overcoming anxiety. It involves strategically facing your fears, while stopping the use of unhelpful behaviours which are useful in the short term, but maintain your anxiety around vomiting in the long term.
Watch this video for a full explanation.
How to use Exposure and Response Prevention:
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a really easy CBT tool that you can use at home.
Watch this video for a full explanation of how to use ERP.
Words:
Cartoons:
Images:
Sounds:
Videos:
Woman retching and briefly throwing up off camera:
Man projectile vomiting:
Woman vomiting around food:
Scene from the comedy film bridesmaids. Contains scenes of food poisoning, diarrhoea and vomiting from multiple cast members:
How to use exposure to feared symptoms:
How to use exposure to feared situations:
Coming soon…….