Podcast : Emetophobia - The Secret Phobia

Emetophobia: the Secret Phobia

Did you know that Rob nearly called the manual, ‘The Secret Phobia?’ When it was first launched in 2014, emetophobia really wasn’t widely known about, with a research study finding that around 68% of the interviewed psychologists, GPs and specialists hadn’t heard the term. Although social media has raised awareness of mental health problems, relatively speaking there’s still very little awareness of emetophobia in the wider population. Joe shares how he gets messages all the time from sufferers saying they didn’t know there was a term for how they felt, or even that there were other people out there going through the same problems.

Why is Emetophobia known as the secret phobia?

Social anxiety, low self-esteem and desire for control

Emetophobes tend to have high social anxiety and low self-esteem, particularly around their phobia, although they are experts at masking this. They often feel embarrassed about having this fear, and are extremely self-critical and self-judgemental for having a fear which they perceive as ‘silly’ or ‘ridiculous.’

Joe shares how, as an 18-year-old, he couldn’t tell anyone about his phobia, not even his then girlfriend, thinking people would think he was weird or bizarre for worrying about vomit.

When he couldn’t go on holiday, he told people he was afraid of flying - which he thought they’d be able to understand - instead of the fact he was really really terrified of vomiting on a plane. He told people he was a vegetarian, instead of saying he was terrified of meat or fish not being cooked properly. He checked every restaurant review before eating out, and would make excuses to friends if they had a rating of 4 stars or under.

He was scared that people may try and challenge him, and joke around with vomit, explaining that with a group of teenage boys, if you say you’re scared of going fast in a car, your mate will speed up ‘for a laugh.’

Staying in control of the narrative

Emetophobes make up excuses all the time to feel in control of people’s perceptions of them. The secrecy and excuses stop them being challenged on behaviour that seems idiosyncratic. It stops people belittling or diminishing something that seems so all-consuming into a ‘really? That’s all you’re worried about?’

Hiding your fear from friends and family

Most close friends and family don’t even know people have emetophobia. When you've got someone who has high social anxiety and low self-esteem and they've got a phobia which they think is silly or ridiculous or embarrassing or stupid (which it’s not!) they're likely to keep it hidden.

I didn’t even know there was a name for it!

Another reason emetophobia is considered a secret phobia is that many people with a fear of throwing up may not even realise they have it. They may notice certain behaviours or avoidances, such as not wanting to go out to certain places or events, but they may not connect it to their fear of vomiting.

Conclusion

It’s a double-edged sword: sufferers feel afraid to tell people about their phobia, but a lack of awareness about emetophobia contributes to feelings of embarrassment and isolation. In the podcast, Rob emphasises the importance of raising awareness and providing support for those with emetophobia, which is exactly what we’ve been doing for 30+ years.

We hope you found this podcast helpful. Please feel free to share it with friends and family to provide an insight into the certain challenges people who suffer from emetophobia face

Emetophobia meaning

We're often asked 'what does the word emetophobia actually mean?' Well it comes from the joining of two words in Ancient Greek... the word 'emeto' meaning 'vomit' or 'I vomit', and the word 'phobos' that in English translates into 'phobia', so 'emeto-phobia' is 'vomit phobia', or - more literally - 'A phobia of myself vomiting'.

Emetophobia meaning

All phobias - much like most things medical - are named with the nearest original Greek phrase. So, a fear of going out, particulalrly into wide open spaces is 'agoraphobia', stemming from the Greek work for 'meeting place' or 'market place'. 'Claustrophobia' comes from the word 'Claustrum' which means 'enclosure' or 'closed space' and translates into English as 'Cloister', which is basically an eclosed walkway within a Church.

Too easy? Ok, what about this one: Triskaidekaphobia? Any ideas? Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered from this phobia and would always try to have either 12 or 14 people to a meeting or dinner party, because he had a phobia of having 13 people sat at the same table. Triskaidekaphobia is a fear of the number 13. Many hotels won't have a floor numbered '13', they will go straight from 'floor 12' to 'floor 14'. In several UK Hospitals they wouldn't number an operating theatre as '13', and millions of people have '13' as their 'unlucky number'. A fear of the number 13 is thought to have started after 'The last supper' (Judas was last and 13th person to sit at the table), and became popular again 1300 years later - for all the wrong reasons - when the Knights Templar were all captured or killed on Friday 13th October, 1307, on the order of King Philip of France.

One last go... what do you think Siderodromophobia is a fear of? It's obvious isn't it... trains, or more specifically 'railroads'. Who'd have thought it? Comes from the Greek 'sideros' which means 'iron', and 'dromos' which means 'racecourse', so 'Iron Racecourse' is a train track. After that, the emetophobia meaning is quite obvious!

We - The Thrive Programme - were amongst the very first people to use this phrase in the UK, and back then most people had never heard of it. In those early days many people misspelt the name and called it 'emitophobia' in error, thinking that the word was derived from 'emission', which it isn't.

Emetophobia meaning

The above few paragraphs relate to the literal meaning of the word emetophobia, but what does it mean to the people who use it every day - the sufferers of the phobia? Most people who have emetophobia have a fear of themselves being sick, but many others also fear other people being sick. There are also those who dont fear for themselves at all, and ONLY fear others being ill. Either way, it's a complex phobia that ruins the life of those who suffer from it. Thankfully though, emetophobia-free is on hand to help you conquer it - once and for all.