After 30 years of hell, Sarah beat her SPOV (specific fear of vomiting): "I feel amazing"

Sarah, like lots of people with deep-seated phobias, suffered in silence. For 30 years she endured crippling emetophobia - a fear of vomiting or encountering vomit.

People with a fear of vomiting may also suffer from other disorders and phobias, such as social anxiety, fear of flying and agoraphobia. These three are common because people with a fear of vomiting are often terrified of being sick/encountering sick in a restricted public place, such as a bar, workplace or school.

Therefore, they may restrict their social activities so they avoid any situations with alcohol, eating out or encountering specific foods like chicken or seafood. Emetophobics may also limit exposure to children for fear of germs - indeed, many who suffer from this disorder delay pregnancy or avoid it altogether because of the fear of morning sickness, just as Sarah did.

"I hid it from my friends and family - so many people never knew. It held me back so many ways in life. There were lots of things I wouldn't do and it impacted on my relationships and I've never had children because of it..." explained Sarah.

Sarah recently completed Cure your Emetophobia & Thrive, the most reliable way of curing a fear of vomiting, and is pleased to say: "I feel amazing - a different girl. I can't wait to go out live my life free of this phobia...I'm so positive I can go out and do anything I want now!"

She went through the programme, which isn't CBT, medication or therapy, with the aid of a licensed Thrive Programme Coach, who helped Sarah complete the exercises and learn how to thrive free of her phobia. It equipped her with the tools and knowledge she needed to beat emetophobia for good.

Asked if she would recommend the Cure Your Emetophobia and Thrive Programme to other SPOV (specific phobia of vomiting) sufferers, Sarah declared: "100%. Don't waste anymore of your life, allowing this to affect you. You have to put the work in but it's so worth it!"

What is emetophobia?

Emetophobia, the fear of vomiting, is widespread; it is one of the most common phobias for which people consult The Thrive Programme's licensed coaches. Research into emetophobia has suggested that prevalence of a fear of being sick ranges from 0.1 to 8.8% percent of the population (Hout & Bouman, 2011).

These different figures probably depend upon whether the researchers assessed participants for any sort of ‘fear’ of vomiting or solely focused upon a severe ‘phobia’. These prevalence figures suggest that somewhere between around 63,000 and 5.5 million people in the UK suffer from emetophobia.

Emetophobia is known by many names (emetophobia, specific phobia of vomiting (SPOV), vomit phobia, sickness phobia, fear of vomiting…) and is associated with other fears and disorders, such as phagophobia (a fear of gagging, swallowing or choking), a fear of pregnancy, social anxiety and obsessional disorders. People can fear vomiting themselves and/or others vomiting. Most individuals with emetophobia are female, with research studies revealing that 85-97% of their emetophobic participants are women (Hout & Bouman, 2011; Lipsitz et al., 2001; Veale & Lambrou, 2006).

Emetophobia tends to be a severe symptom and often significantly affects sufferers’ ability to lead normal lives. People with this fear often go to great lengths to avoid encountering anything that could lead to vomiting. They may, for example, be teetotal or heavily limit their alcohol consumption and avoid pubs or clubs where others may drink heavily and then vomit. They may worry a great deal about hygiene, and be fussy about making sure everywhere is clean. They may take excessive time off work or school because they worry about being exposed to germs that will cause them to be sick.

Many sufferers of emetophobia have unsuccessfully tried a range of treatments, such as CBT, exposure therapy, CRT. Veale and Lambrou (2006), for example, found that twenty-nine percent of their sample of vomit phobics had received some form of therapy for their fear, which overall they rated as largely ineffective. Veale and Lambrou (2006, p. 139) have stated that “clinicians generally regard it as challenging to treat because of high drop out or a poor response to treatment.”