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Emetophobia


Emetophobia is a phobia that causes overwhelming, intense anxiety pertaining to vomiting. This specific phobia can also include subcategories of what causes the anxiety, including a fear of vomiting in public, a fear of seeing vomit, a fear of watching the action of vomiting or fear of being nauseated. It is common for emetophobics to be underweight, or even anorexic, due to strict diets and restrictions they make for themselves. The thought of someone possibly vomiting can cause the phobic person to engage in extreme behaviors to escape the perceived (and sometimes very real) threat of that particular situation, in which the phobic person will go to great lengths to avoid even potential situations that could even be perceived as "threatening".

Emetophobia is clinically considered an "elusive predicament" because limited research has been done pertaining to it. The fear of vomiting receives little attention compared with other irrational fears. Emetophobia is not limited by age or maturity level. There are cases of emetophobia present in childhood and adolescence, as well as adulthood.

The event of vomiting may scare away anyone with this peculiar phobia. Some may fear someone throwing up while another may fear themselves throwing up. Some may have both. Some may have anxiety which makes them feel like they will throw up when it actually might not.

The root word for emetophobia is "emesis", from the Greek word emein which means "an act or instance of vomiting" with "-phobia” meaning "an exaggerated usually inexplicable fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation."

People with emetophobia frequently report a vomit related traumatic event, such as a long bout of stomach flu, accidentally vomiting in public, or having to witness someone else vomit, as the start of the emetophobia. They may also be afraid of hearing that someone is feeling like vomiting or that someone has vomited, usually in conjunction with the fears of seeing someone vomit or seeing vomit.


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