Facing the Fear of Vomiting: How ERP Helps Women Reclaim Their Lives
Facing the Fear of Vomiting: How ERP Helps Women Reclaim Their Lives
Emetophobia, the intense fear of vomiting, can take over your life. It’s more than just feeling grossed out by vomit — it’s overwhelming and debilitating. Some people fear vomiting themselves, while others panic when someone nearby feels sick. It is not uncommon for people with emetophobia to also have generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. This phobia occurs more in females, and the typical age of onset is 9 years old. Many women with emetophobia report symptoms for over 25 years (Hennemann et al., 2025 & Petell & Bilsky, 2023)!
For many, emetophobia leads to physical symptoms, panic attacks, obsessive rituals, and emotional isolation. People with emetophobia engage in safety behaviors such as excessive cooking of food, hand washing, and cleaning (Keyes et al., 2017). They will obsessively check sell-by dates at the grocery store before purchasing food items. To alleviate their discomfort, they may carry anti-nausea medication, antacids, ginger candies, and crackers (Simons & Vloet, 2016).
Women with emetophobia report having lower life satisfaction and will go to extreme lengths to avoid activities that may cause them to get sick. Women with emetophobia report avoiding restaurants, social events, relationships, plane trips, boat rides, and other places that may cause them to vomit. They will even delay having children due to a fear of morning sickness in pregnancy.
If this sounds familiar, I want you to know that healing is possible. Evidence-based treatments exist, and a compassionate therapist who is willing to walk beside you is key. Most research studies suggest that exposure with response prevention, a type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, helps women with emetophobia. Therapists will never push you into anything before you’re ready. Treatment does not require intentionally vomiting. The goal of therapy isn’t to throw up on purpose, but to handle the uncertainty. Exposure work is gentle and gradual, allowing you to face fears safely at your own pace.
If you think you might have emetophobia, this probably sounds really scary! It’s human nature to pull away from anything that feels uncomfortable. Yet in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), we ask you to face those uncomfortable things on purpose. We’re asking you to do things that feel really hard and really scary.
Understanding emetophobia is important, but knowing how it’s treated is where hope begins. ERP is hard, but emetophobia is hard too, and at least treatment offers the hope that things can get better. Avoidance can shrink life without actually guaranteeing safety. ERP helps you build confidence that you can cope even when uncertainty shows up.
Treatment isn’t about “just getting over it.” It’s about being heard, understood, and supported while learning new ways to respond to fear. Whether you’ve struggled for months or decades, recovery is possible — and you don’t have to face it alone. The international OCD Foundation (IOCDF.org) has a search feature on its website that would help you find a therapist in your area who is trained in ERP.
References
Hennemann, S., Weirich, A., Meule, A., Bräscher, A.-K., & Witthöft, M. (2025). German version of the specific phobia of vomiting inventory (SPOVI): Psychometric properties and correlates in a clinical and non-clinical sample. BMC Psychiatry, 25(1), 305. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-06744-0
Keyes, A., Gilpin, H. R., & Veale, D. (2018). Phenomenology, epidemiology, co-morbidity and treatment of a specific phobia of vomiting: A systematic review of an understudied disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 60, 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2017.12.002
Petell, J. A., & Bilsky, S. A. (2025). An Examination of the Association between Emotion Regulation and Emetophobia Symptoms. Psychological Reports, 128(5), 3412–3427. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941231213855
Simons, M., & Vloet, T. D. (2018). Emetophobia – A Metacognitive Therapeutic Approach for an Overlooked Disorder. Zeitschrift Für Kinder- Und Jugendpsychiatrie Und Psychotherapie, 46(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1024/1422-4917/a000464
