THE PREMIER UK EMETOPHOBIA INFORMATION RESOURCE 

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“Emetophobia…  What’s that?”

‘The embarrassment of telling someone, yet again, that you’re emetophobic only sets off a long chain of questions from the people you’ve just told.  They don’t know what emetophobia is.  They think it only affects you when you’re ill.  They don’t realise the impact it has on your life and the strategies you have to come up with just to pretend that everything is normal.’

- Nicolette Heaton-Harris

 This is the reaction that Nicolette Heaton-Harris has come to expect when she tells people about the phobia that has threatened to take over her life.  Most people haven’t heard of it, but emetophobia, or an extreme fear of vomiting, is said to be the fifth most common phobia.  A new book, Living with Emetophobia: Coping with and Extreme Fear of Vomiting (published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers (ISBN 9781843105367, RRP £12.99) is an attempt to raise the profile of this secretive and misunderstood anxiety disorder.

Fear of vomiting can pervade all aspects of a sufferer’s life and can often lead to other related conditions, the most common being depression, agoraphobia or OCD. From avoiding certain situations or foods, to making life-changing decisions about relationships or pregnancy and bringing up children, Nicolette Heaton-Harris shows how her emetophobia has controlled her life. 

 The phobia doesn’t just affect sufferers when they feel unwell, it affects them every hour of every day.  There is the constant worry, the anxiety, the stress about catching a bug, of seeing someone be sick in public, of hearing a colleague mention that their child was poorly during the night or of hearing that there’s a bug going round

- Nicolette Heaton-Harris

 In order to get by, emetophobes have to come up with a range of coping strategies.  Going shopping late at night to avoid the crowds, holding their breath if they meet someone who has been ill and obsessively cleaning their houses are all parts of daily life for an emetophobe.  Nicolette reveals her list of ‘safe foods’ and the lengths she has to go to in order to avoid ‘danger foods’.  Restaurants are a no-go, so are most other social occasions: here there is the added risk that people might get drunk.

 For some, emetophobia can lead to self-harm or even suicide.  In her book, Nicolette suggests ways of pre-empting the anxieties and panic attacks that are part of the condition, and she calls for increased recognition of this very real phobia so that people suffering from emetophobia can be given the support they need.

 Living with Emetophobia: Coping with and Extreme Fear of Vomiting by Nicolette Heaton-Harris is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers (ISBN 9781843105367, RRP £12.99)

 About the Author:

Nicolette Heaton-Harris lives in Hampshire, UK, near the beach. A lifelong emetophobe and Coeliac sufferer, she has a particular interest in health.  She is the author of Teenage Pregnancy: A Parent's Guide and Children's Health: Combating Obesity, and also writes health stories for Patient UK.

 Notes to Editors:

According to Gut Reaction, an organisation offering support and information, emetophobia is defined as a fear of vomiting and people who suffer from it are known as emetophobes.

 Emetophobes fall into two categories: those who fear themselves vomiting and those who fear vomiting in others.

 Generally the phobia starts in childhood and when a parent is uneasy about vomiting, this sometimes leads to the child also developing the phobia. There doesn't appear to be any single cause for developing emetophobia although tentative links have been made with childhood abuse and bad experiences of vomiting e.g. due to food poisoning. However, in the vast majority of cases, the emetophobe has no idea why they have the phobia.

GUT REACTION - THE PREMIER UK EMETOPHOBIA INFORMATION RESOURCE 

Please note: I am not medically qualified and therefore cannot advise or comment upon medical conditions for which you are urged to contact your own GP for a professional opinion and/or referral. 

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