• Fear of smelling sick or seeing someone being sick.
• Avoiding eating out because of fear of food poisoning.
• Avoiding hospitals, doctors surgeries where people may have stomach bugs.
• Avoiding pregnancy because of the possibility of morning sickness
• Raised anxiety in Autumn because of the increased risk of bugs
• Being excessively concerned about hygiene, hand washing, disinfecting and bleaching.
• Raised anxiety when reading about sickness or seeing something on the television.
• Avoiding foreign travel because of a risk of getting food poisoning.
• Avoiding eating in public.

Emetophobia with other, associated fears

Emetophobia is often accompanied by other fears and phobias such as a fear of gagging (choking), A feeling of a 'lump' in the throat, fear of not being able to breath deeply or a terror of feeling closed in with no escape.

What causes Emetophobia?

The most common cause of Emetophobia is a 'trigger' event from early childhood. Most often something that happened to initiate that feeling of being out of control, as though your airways were blocked causing a momentary feeling of panic, it can even be linked to the embarassment of being sick in public or 'making a mess' and being told off.

Treatment for Emetophobia at Fareham Hypnotherapy

Many of the current 'talking' therapies will look for ways to 'cope' with this debilitating fear, even to the point of using 'exposure' techniques to decrease your anxiety around sickness. Here at Fareham Hypnotherapy, using Pure Hypnoanalysis, we will work to find the original cause of the fear and allow your subconscious mind to finally and permanently discharge the 'bottled up' emotions that accompanied the original event. This gentle therapy will ensure that you no longer have to cope with that feeling of being out of control - you will be free of the symptoms forever.

Read what some ex-emetophobics have to say about Pure Hypnoanalysis - this first letter is from a young lady who made a round trip of about 140 miles or so every week to see me....! she was so determined to rid herself of this phobia that she would have travelled 10 times that distance - I have reproduced her letter in full in the hope that someone may be reading this and, like her, take that first step to living a normal, happy life again!

It was the early hours of Sunday morning and I couldn’t sleep, I was very tired but too much was running through my mind. So I got up and went downstairs to use the internet. I had decided enough was enough and I needed to try and do something about my problem! So I started searching the web, I had to see if someone else had similar anxiety’s as me.
My problem was a major fear of being sick, pathetic I know, but it really had taken over, it was ruining my life, my relationship was suffering and my social life with family & friends wasn’t as it should be. Last night was my friend’s birthday and a big group of us had been out celebrating at ‘the dogs’. I had never been to ‘the dogs’ so was excited to be there but we were due to eat a meal and this was playing on my mind. I was anxious as I always am when I eat out, somewhere new, not sure who was cooking my food, if they had washed their hands, did they have an illness, my friends would be watching me, telling me I didn’t eat very much, etc etc etc. Then to make matters worse my friend sat next to me and when I greeted her and asked how she was she told me she had just got over a terrible sickness bug…..I froze, I didn’t want to be sitting next to her, my very own friend, I felt terrible, but as she was speaking to me, I felt myself turning away from her, making me feel very rude. All of these thoughts were running around in my head and I found myself unable to enjoy her company. I hated myself and so wanted to enjoy her night with her but I just couldn’t wait to get home. The final straw was when my friend went to the ladies and asked me to hold her bag, I did, but I felt myself wanting to wash my hands immediately, it was like I was holding something infested. I suddenly realised things had got so bad and I knew I had to do something about it.
As soon as I found Ginny’s website I started to smile (cry in fact) with happiness that I wasn’t alone, I had found hope and couldn’t believe my eyes when I read “what an ex-emetophobic has to say about Pure Hypnoanalysis” I could relate to everything this person was saying, I ran and woke my partner (I wouldn’t normally do this, especially early hours of the morning, as he ‘doesn’t do mornings’ but I knew he would be pleased to see what I had found and that I wanted to get help. He actually said that “I could have written that” Well now I can and it really is all thanks to Ginny, she is amazing.
I remember wanting to phone her straight away, but I told myself I couldn’t, it was a Sunday and still very early hours of the morning! So I went back to bed and finally managed to sleep, waking again and wishing the day away, so I could call her first thing on Monday. This may sound strange but as soon as I spoke to Ginny, I felt very close to her, like she was an old family friend. Her voice was very comforting and I explained why I was calling her with no trouble at all and before I knew it I had booked my appointment to see her a few days later. I was like a big kid, so excited and counting down the days!
Ginny made me feel at ease, very relaxed and I instantly trusted her. I am so grateful to have found her website and I honestly recommend her to everyone. I have even told friends that they would benefit from seeing her even if they don’t think they have a problem with anything. Her sessions are great and you learn a lot about yourself. I used to get a feeling that I was looking down on myself and seeing things in a different light, in a better light, with much more understanding.
Thank You Ginny, since my last session I have eaten my first steak. I would never eat steak as the blood I saw on plates had put me off for life (well so I thought) I enjoyed every single mouthful and it was the nicest thing I have ever eaten. Ginny you are amazing and a real life saver, I will always be grateful.

I went to see Ginny as I had a problem with emetophobia, and this had "ruled my life" for some years. That sounds a little serious, but indeed, it had "ruled my life". Anything I did in my life, my phobia would raise its ugly head and say "hang on, you cant do that, you might be sick!" so there we are, the mind is a very powerful thing, and I allowed it to decide what happened in my life, or more to the point, what didnt happen! So I avoided so much in my life that could have been a "threat" to me, that I wondered how far it would go, and to be honest, I had got to a point in my life where I wanted to be "me", and this "thing" in my head wasnt allowing me to do that.

I knew it would be difficult, but wanted to get it sorted. I had in the past had counselling, psychotherapy, and also hypnotherapy (but only suggestion therapy)! I had read books, been to see <name of stage hypnotist> in London (which was very expensive and ended up just being a workshop with his assistants and him on the stage - so you did not get personal attention from him!) Anyway, I had tried most things to help me, but then I came across hypnoanalysis. Well, I have to say that when I first read about it I was not entirely convinced, but I knew in the back of my mind that the other therapies had not worked because I felt there was something locked away in my head that was causing my problem, and I wanted to get rid of it. Hypnoanalysis does that, it gets into the real depths of your mind and brings these emotions to the surface that you had locked away for years or decades.

I spent most of my life trying to make others happy because I felt guilty for something, which I thought was to do with just being here and in the way, but it went much deeper than that, and it seemed to attach itself to that phobia as soon as I became a parent myself, and I let it grow and grow over the years. As I said, the mind is a very powerful thing. Thanks to Ginny, I now feel that I am as good as anyone else, I have nothing to feel guilty about, and can live my life the way I want. Thats quite amazing, because I never thought I would be able to do that. I think if you have a phobia/anxiety etc, you sometimes get to the point where you "give in" and accept that that is the way your life is to be, and that is "you", but it is not!!! I actually went out for dinner with someone this week, and had Salmon. Now, people may think "whats so special about that?" Well, if you have emetophobia, you avoid anything that could be a risk, and any food that could possibly upset your stomach comes into that catagory. But I had Salmon and thoroughly enjoyed it!!! I am now looking forward to things, rather than always thinking ahead with dread at what might happen. And its weird, because it is also helping me with other things in my life which I would not have connected with it. I have suffered with IBS for years, but that now seems to be settling down and feels much better, perhaps because I am not in a constant state of anxiety?!

If you are considering hypnotherapy, choose someone who does pure hypnoanalysis - its permanent, its not a quick fix for six months or whatever, this is a life changing therapy!!!

November 2009

We offer a free Initial Consultation so that you can come and have a chat about your symptoms and be reassured that we are caring specialists with the skill and expertise to help you resolve your problem..