Emetophobia Information And Advice

This article intends to offer its readers a brief overview of Emetophobia. The articles discussions will include; what Emetophobia is, its symptoms, causality and consequences.

The word Emetophobia can be broken down into two components, firstly its route word 'emesis' which means an instance of vomiting, and phobia which can be defined as 'an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear'. However Emetophobia is defined as 'an intense fear or anxiety of/or pertaining to vomiting (being sick)'. People who suffer from Emetophobia are known as being 'Emetophobic'. Emetophobia can also be more specific, and people who are Emetophobic can also be placed into sub categories, the recognised sub categories of Emetophobia include; people with a fear of vomiting as a whole, people who fear vomiting in public, people who fear seeing vomit or other people vomiting and people who fear the feeling of nausea (the feeling normally felt before being sick).

So what causes Emetophobia? Well as with most phobias there is a lack of physical evidence to truly define and detail the components of Emetophobia, however Emetophobia is widely considered one of the most common phobias in the world. It is believed that most phobias can stem from experiences individuals have faced in childhood, however sources also suggest that Emetophobia can develop at any point in an individual's life, and can seriously affect people's activities of daily living. Emetophobia may be bought on by a particularly distressing event that may concern vomiting or it may be bought on as a response to other events in a person's life.

Emetophobia can be an extremely debilitating phobia, and Emetopobics face problems in all areas of their life's. Often people who suffer from Emetophobia will actively try to avoid situations that could pertain to vomit or people vomiting, no matter how small the chances, for example Emetophobics may avoid social gatherings where alcohol may be present, they may avoid certain foods for fear of being sick because of them, it has even been noted that some 'Emetophobes' will even avoid going into hospital or taking medication because of the chances of encountering vomit. Obviously the severity of Emetophobia can fluctuate, for example people with mild Emetophobia may just not drink alcohol to avoid being sick themselves, however in more extreme cases some women have said they have either delayed or not wanted to get pregnant because of a fear or morning sickness.

As aforementioned there is a lack of physical evidence concerning Emetophobia and alot of people have expressed the view that they found it hard to receive a diagnosis of being Emetophobic because of a lack of widely available information, and as a result some people believe there are no cures or help available. There are however a variety of different sources of help available, including, hypnosis, herbal remedies, medications, exposure therapy, counselling etc.