Emetophobia - The Hidden Fear
By Tonia Jordan
Emetophobia is, quite simply, the fear of vomiting. For most people, vomiting is a natural occurrence, but some regard it as something that invokes great fear and distress. It can lead to anti-social behavior, high stress and obsessive-compulsive habits.
For most people, vomiting causes discomfort, but for the Emetophobics (or Emets), it is beyond the point of discomfort; it is a source of great anxiety. Many Emets would rather lose a limb than be sick; some say they would even rather die.
Many Emets know the cause of their fear. It is generally triggered by some event in the person's childhood. Some event happens that teaches the person to have fear or anxiety associated with vomiting. Many times it is a traumatic event, or even displeasure from a parent when the person vomits. (Parents with emetophobia often contribute to their children's fear)
There are a few behaviors that are common to nearly all Emets. They include limiting a diet (by processing foods as "safe" or "unsafe"), fear of travel, not drinking alcohol, fear of eating in public, fear of people who are ill. Some women Emets even avoid pregnancy, for fear of morning sickness.
Most Emets can count on one hand the number of times they've been sick in their entire lives. Talking about it, or even thinking about it, can cause great stress. Emetophobia can cause panic attacks, and can make someone crave social isolation as the fear takes over their daily lives. In an effort to deal with the phobia, the Emet seeks to control all aspects of their life by pushing out situations that they cannot control, like being in public.
Emetophobia is not well-known., and that is due in part to those who suffer from it. Emets usually keep it secret, mostly in fear of public disapproval. Remember, for Emets it is a sense of extreme anxiety, and often embarrassment. They become skilled in coming up with excuses to avoid situations which may present their fear.
Many who have this fear don't know that there is a name for it, and they often don't realize that others suffer from the same anxiety. With the great secrecy involved in the disorder, it is not easy to determine the amount of sufferers, though one website dedicated to support for sufferers claims it is the UK's 5th biggest phobia.
There are many websites devoted to sufferers of emetophobia. To find them, all you need to do is plug the word into a search engine, but are those websites really helpful? In one sense, they give hope to sufferers by showing them that they are not alone. It also gives a great deal of information that is not commonly known, as well as resources for treatment and cures.
Yet, when a phobia becomes worse with obsession, these "support groups" may only lead to more damaging behavior. By focusing more on the fear itself (there are claims by some to have gone decades without vomiting), the phobic can often become worse, their anti-social and obsessive behavior increasing. The phobic becomes more obsessed with the fear instead of seeking to overcome it.
There are many treatments to this phobia, as there are with others. Therapy can work for some, alternative treatments for others. Either way, Emets need to learn to control their fear, or at least find a healthy way to live with it.
If you suffer from emetophobia, don't let it control your life. Life is too short to let fear take over. Remember: You are in control.
Tonia Jordan is an author on http://www.writing.com/ which is a site for Writers.
She is also a stringer for the Standard Speaker, a Pennsylvania newspaper, and is editor of Word of Mouth Magazine.
She is also an Emet.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tonia_Jordan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Emetophobia---The-Hidden-Fear&id=286051
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Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
The Truth About Emetophobia
Emetophobia Information and Advice
This article intends to offer its readers a brief overview of Emetophobia. The articles discussions will include; what Emetophobia is, its symptoms, causality and consequences.
The word Emetophobia can be broken down into two components, firstly its route word 'emesis' which means an instance of vomiting, and phobia which can be defined as 'an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear'. However Emetophobia is defined as 'an intense fear or anxiety of/or pertaining to vomiting (being sick)'. People who suffer from Emetophobia are known as being 'Emetophobic'. Emetophobia can also be more specific, and people who are Emetophobic can also be placed into sub categories, the recognised sub categories of Emetophobia include; people with a fear of vomiting as a whole, people who fear vomiting in public, people who fear seeing vomit or other people vomiting and people who fear the feeling of nausea (the feeling normally felt before being sick).
So what causes Emetophobia? Well as with most phobias there is a lack of physical evidence to truly define and detail the components of Emetophobia, however Emetophobia is widely considered one of the most common phobias in the world. It is believed that most phobias can stem from experiences individuals have faced in childhood, however sources also suggest that Emetophobia can develop at any point in an individual's life, and can seriously affect people's activities of daily living. Emetophobia may be bought on by a particularly distressing event that may concern vomiting or it may be bought on as a response to other events in a person's life.
Emetophobia can be an extremely debilitating phobia, and Emetopobics face problems in all areas of their lives. Often people who suffer from Emetophobia will actively try to avoid situations that could pertain to vomit or people vomiting, no matter how small the chances, for example Emetophobics may avoid social gatherings where alcohol may be present, they may avoid certain foods for fear of being sick because of them, it has even been noted that some 'Emetophobes' will even avoid going into hospital or taking medication because of the chances of encountering vomit. Obviously the severity of Emetophobia can fluctuate, for example people with mild Emetophobia may just not drink alcohol to avoid being sick themselves, however in more extreme cases some women have said they have either delayed or not wanted to get pregnant because of a fear or morning sickness.
As aforementioned there is a lack of physical evidence concerning Emetophobia and alot of people have expressed the view that they found it hard to receive a diagnosis of being Emetophobic because of a lack of widely available information, and as a result some people believe there are no cures or help available. There are however a variety of different sources of help available, including, hypnosis, herbal remedies, medications, exposure therapy, counselling etc.
Hopefully this article has given its readers an overview of Emetophobia and the issues surrounding it. As a closing point hopefully the article has also made its readers aware of the fact that Emetophobia is a common problem and that people suffering from it can find it an extremely difficult phobia to live with and as of such it should not be treated with disdain and disregard but rather with empathy and understanding.
The word Emetophobia can be broken down into two components, firstly its route word 'emesis' which means an instance of vomiting, and phobia which can be defined as 'an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear'. However Emetophobia is defined as 'an intense fear or anxiety of/or pertaining to vomiting (being sick)'. People who suffer from Emetophobia are known as being 'Emetophobic'. Emetophobia can also be more specific, and people who are Emetophobic can also be placed into sub categories, the recognised sub categories of Emetophobia include; people with a fear of vomiting as a whole, people who fear vomiting in public, people who fear seeing vomit or other people vomiting and people who fear the feeling of nausea (the feeling normally felt before being sick).
So what causes Emetophobia? Well as with most phobias there is a lack of physical evidence to truly define and detail the components of Emetophobia, however Emetophobia is widely considered one of the most common phobias in the world. It is believed that most phobias can stem from experiences individuals have faced in childhood, however sources also suggest that Emetophobia can develop at any point in an individual's life, and can seriously affect people's activities of daily living. Emetophobia may be bought on by a particularly distressing event that may concern vomiting or it may be bought on as a response to other events in a person's life.
Emetophobia can be an extremely debilitating phobia, and Emetopobics face problems in all areas of their lives. Often people who suffer from Emetophobia will actively try to avoid situations that could pertain to vomit or people vomiting, no matter how small the chances, for example Emetophobics may avoid social gatherings where alcohol may be present, they may avoid certain foods for fear of being sick because of them, it has even been noted that some 'Emetophobes' will even avoid going into hospital or taking medication because of the chances of encountering vomit. Obviously the severity of Emetophobia can fluctuate, for example people with mild Emetophobia may just not drink alcohol to avoid being sick themselves, however in more extreme cases some women have said they have either delayed or not wanted to get pregnant because of a fear or morning sickness.
As aforementioned there is a lack of physical evidence concerning Emetophobia and alot of people have expressed the view that they found it hard to receive a diagnosis of being Emetophobic because of a lack of widely available information, and as a result some people believe there are no cures or help available. There are however a variety of different sources of help available, including, hypnosis, herbal remedies, medications, exposure therapy, counselling etc.
Hopefully this article has given its readers an overview of Emetophobia and the issues surrounding it. As a closing point hopefully the article has also made its readers aware of the fact that Emetophobia is a common problem and that people suffering from it can find it an extremely difficult phobia to live with and as of such it should not be treated with disdain and disregard but rather with empathy and understanding.
Thank You for reading my Article i hope you found it interesting and informative, i have myself personal experience of emetophobia, and i would like to share with you the treatment that worked for me please visit http://emetophobicinformation.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_T_Jones |
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