How to Overcome Fear of Vomiting

The fear of vomiting, or emetophobia, is a common phobia. In its most extreme form, emetophobia leads to avoidance of social events for fear of vomiting in public or seeing someone else vomit. Even if you're unfortunate enough to suffer with this phobia, you can learn ways to overcome a fear of vomiting.

Instructions

• 1

  Talk to a trusted person about your fear of vomiting: a close friend, a minister, or a family member. When you talk about the problem, it helps to reduce some of the fear and isolation associated with this phobia.

• 2

  Learn why you vomit and its health benefits by reading a medical book. Vomiting serves a helpful purpose by removing harmful contents from the digestive tract. When you read and understand why it occurs, it helps to erase some of the fear and anxiety.

• 3

  Practice self-hypnosis. Lie down in a dark room and listen to soft, soothing music. Close your eyes until you feel completely relaxed. Visualize the image of someone vomiting, while remaining calm. Once you've mastered this image, create a picture in your mind of vomiting, while staying relaxed. Practice until the thought of you or someone else vomiting no longer causes anxiety.

• 4

  Share your fear of vomiting with others who have emetophobia. Online support groups exist for people with this phobia and even a society for emetophobia sufferers. Locate emetophobia groups online and discuss your fears.

• 5

  Talk to your doctor about your fear of vomiting. Emetophobia can sometimes signal depression or other mental health issues. If the phobia becomes incapacitating, medications used to treat anxiety or depression could help you better deal with it.

• 6

  Get to the root cause of the problem. Some people have a fear of vomiting because of a traumatic childhood experience, which they may not remember. See a psychiatrist to help you identify and better understand any contributing events. Once you know the cause, you can use hypnotherapy or cognitive therapy to treat the underlying fear.