As a hypnotherapist and counsellor, over the years, I have seen an increasing number of clients with emetophobia, so I know that the combination of hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help.
What is emetophobia?
Emetophobia is a specific phobia or fear of vomiting or seeing someone else vomit. People also dislike the sound of vomiting and fear others will be sick around them.
Other symptoms may include the inability to watch TV or movies that involve sickness and avoiding bad smells or places where people are sick, such as hospitals and nursing homes.
Sometimes it is related to something else. For example, travelling in a car, plane or boat.
For many people, it can be a fear of losing control.
It can start in children around eight or nine years of age. However, it can affect all ages, although more commonly seen in young people.
It is estimated to affect about 8% of the population.
This fear of being sick results in avoidance behaviours of foods and situations where they or someone else might be sick.
What causes emetophobia?
There are psychological, biological and social factors involved with the cause.
There may be an emotional situation where they were sick themselves or saw others being sick.
It is thought that a learned behaviour may also be involved. Certainly, I have seen teenagers with friends who also have the problem.
There may also be a genetic disposition if anxiety runs in families.
Are there any other conditions associated with emetophobia?
Yes, there are other conditions associated with this phobia, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, social anxiety, agoraphobia and generalised anxiety disorder. But not everyone gets all these associated conditions.
What is hypnotherapy?
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that uses hypnosis as a tool. It helps you subconsciously change your mindset to positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It’s often described as reprogramming your mind using suggestion, focused attention and imagination. It also helps the person to dissociate the negative thoughts from the negative feelings.
“a state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterised by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion”
Elkins et al 2015. p6.
Research and evidence show that hypnotherapy can help many different types of stress and anxiety problems, including fears and phobias such as emetophobia.
Treatments for emetophobia
- Hypnotherapy.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This is a talking therapy to help you understand your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Although it may take weeks or months to help the person change, CBT has lots of research to support its use.
- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a process of gradually exposing yourself to the triggers. For example, if you feel uncomfortable travelling on a bus, you might decide to ride it for one stop and then increase as you realise that you can cope. Hearing someone vomit might trigger more intense feelings so that the client will be exposed to the sounds of vomiting. One problem with this approach is that some people can’t cope with the intense feelings that they get, so they leave treatment early.
- Flooding is a technique that exposes the client to the intensity of the trigger until the intensity goes down. Many clients find this exposure treatment too harsh, especially if it is not explained well, so they refuse to proceed with treatment. (This process can be used successfully in hypnosis)
- Counselling. This therapy is about talking and expressing how you think, feel and behave so you can learn to understand it. There are many different approaches to counselling, so counselling techniques vary considerably.
- NLP (Neurolinguistic programming, fast phobia cure)
- Medication. Medication will help some people with the anxiety and depression that they may have with emetophobia.
- Combination therapy.
- Complementary /alternative therapies.
Hypnotherapy practice
Hypnotherapy can help the sufferer relax and reframe the fear of vomiting.
At the first session, hypnotherapy is explained, information is gathered through Socratic questioning, and the process of reframing starts.
Assessment is important as every person varies in the intensity and different aspects of emetophobia. Sometimes, assessment tools are used.
Understanding the individual’s fears and triggers helps develop a treatment plan, although sometimes, what the person says may not be the primary trigger.
During hypnosis, the hypnotherapist may include relaxation techniques, guided imagery, and breathing exercises.
Then, suggestions and planting positive affirmations and coping strategies
Some hypnotherapists choose to use regression therapy to address and reprocess past traumatic events (if applicable).
Other hypnotherapists, including myself, use a combination of hypnosis, NLP and CBT.
Finally…
If you want to learn more, please book a free initial consultation with me, and let me help you find the best solution for you.
Imagine feeling so much better, doing all the things you want to do, and not worrying about sickness anymore.
Regards
Linda
