IF YOU’RE CONSIDERING HYPNOTHERAPY FOR EMETOPHOBIA you’ve probably already tried other types of emetophobia treatment and therapy. If so, you may have found that the ‘techniques’ they give you to ‘cope’ just don’t work.
Here at the Phobiaman Clinic, we don’t believe coping techniques are the answer. If you need a coping technique the phobia is still there. So instead, we like to change the unconscious patterns that formed your phobia in the first place.
Welcome to the PHOBIAMAN Clinic – Harley Street’s Leading Emetophobia Hypnotherapy Treatment Centre
My name is Alex and I’m the Treatment Director here at The Phobiaman Clinic. I’m a veteran member of Paul Mckenna’s team of training assistants and I’m a phobia treatment specialist.
I’ve been working in this field for over 20 years now. Together, with my team, we have developed the most effective emetophobia treatment programme available anywhere today.
Most therapists, and that includes hypnotherapists, do not specialise in phobia treatment. This means they don’t have anywhere near the same level of experience as we do when it comes to phobias.
With simple phobias that’s not necessarily such a big deal. Most phobias, such as fear of heights or spiders, are more easily treated and typically respond well to standard interventions. However, for more complex phobias – like emetophobia – working with a specialist really matters.
Emetophobia is more complicated in nature and it rarely responds to the standard phobia interventions that general clinics and therapists rely on.
If you would like to find out if our treatment program is going to be right for you, the first step is to call the PHOBIAMAN clinic on 0207 193 5194. Call and speak with one of our friendly therapists and we’ll see if we can help. Just call 0207 193 5194 and speak with a specialist today
What is Emetophobia?
Emetophobia is a social phobia that manifests as an extreme fear of vomiting or seeing others vomit.
It produces an immediate anxiety response to sick or vomiting that goes way beyond discomfort. It dominates your whole life, shaping decisions about where to go, what to eat, and even who to spend time with.
Like most anxiety disorders, it affects more women than men, and the impact can be profound. A fear of feeling sick interferes with all social interactions, including work, romantic relationships, friendships and family life.
Triggers and Symptoms of Emetophobia
Emetophobia is a specific phobia that can be triggered by a range of things:
- Another family member with the same sick fear
- The sight or smell of vomit
- People drinking alcohol
- Environments where a stranger might become sick, e.g. public transport.
- Traumatic events
- people coughing
- Losing control with no escape routes
- Overhearing talk of food poisoning or a sickness bug
Symptoms are as varied as the people with experiencing them. They include:
- Panic attacks
- Racing heart
- Sweating
- Nausea (ironically)
- Other physical symptoms of anxiety.
In severe cases, the fear can reach excessive levels, leading to social withdrawal, depression, avoidance behaviours and a constant state of feeling anxious.
Negative associations with specific places, foods, or situations can make daily life feel like a minefield, and the vicious circle of avoidance and anxiety is difficult to break without professional support.
If you would like to find out if our treatment program is going to be right for you, the first step is to call the PHOBIAMAN clinic on 0207 193 5194. Call and speak with one of our friendly therapists and we’ll see if we can help. Just call 0207 193 5194 and speak with a specialist today
How can Hypnotherapy for Emetophobia Help?
Emetophobia is a deep-rooted fear of vomit – an extreme fear that can feel impossible to overcome.
But breaking this cycle of fear and avoidance is not only possible, it’s easier than you might think with the right support. It just requires the right attitude and making this treatment the most important thing in your life for just a few weeks.
Our unique approach works with both the conscious and the subconscious mind, where the fears, beliefs and anything else that triggers emetophobia reside.
By working at each of these levels, we can help you begin to change your automatic fear of feeling sick and reduce the associated anxiety.
Morning Sickness and Emetophobia
For women with emetophobia, morning sickness can be terrifying. The very idea of going through pregnancy with a vomit phobia can be so intense that it even leads some women to delay or avoid starting a family altogether.
At the Phobiaman Clinic, our approach offers a lifeline. We don’t just use deep relaxation techniques and positive suggestions to help you cope. We change this pattern of the fear and physical sensations of anxiety itself.
Overcoming Panic Attacks and Emetophobia
Panic attacks are a common and distressing symptom for people with a fear of vomit. These sudden episodes of intense fear can feel overwhelming, and worrying about them can often bring them on.
Most therapists try and address this by teaching you coping techniques.
By addressing the underlying causes of your panic attacks, we help you reduce both the frequency and severity of these episodes, so you no longer have to worry about them at all. With time and the right treatment, you can move beyond panic and reclaim your life from emetophobia.
If you would like to find out if our treatment program is going to be right for you, the first step is to call the PHOBIAMAN clinic on 0207 193 5194. Call and speak with one of our friendly therapists and we’ll see if we can help. Just call 0207 193 5194 and speak with a specialist today
Is Hypnotherapy for Emetophobia really a Cure?
If you’ve ever tried to change an unconscious behaviour you’ll know how difficult this can be.
Hypnotherapy for emetophobia makes changing this unconscious behaviour easier because it by-passes the conscious mind, and this is why it’s so effective.
The unconscious mind has generated the behaviour of emetophobia because it believes (wrongly) that there is a threat to you. It’s not doing it to create a problem for you. It’s doing it to protect you.
A 2025 study in Prague (by Peléšková, Landová et al., 2025) found that where the disgust response is insufficient to protect a person from the threat of pathogens, a fear response will develop to protect the person instead.
Emetophobia Hypnotherapy gently works with the unconscious to help it realise that there is no threat, and therefore a different behaviour would be more effective. We validate the fear response and ask the unconscious to only use fear when its appropriate – but not around the things that usually trigger the emetophobia.
Understanding Emetophobia – The Fear of Vomiting
Emetophobia affects people who have it more than most other phobias do. So it’s more important than ever that it’s treated effectively.
This is simply because the objects of other phobias are more easily avoided. For example, someone with a fear of flying can just avoid flying.
But if you have emetophobia, the list of things you have to avoid is far longer, and often includes flying. But it’s not the flying itself that terrifies you, is it? It’s the thought of people being sick. The ‘what ifs’? And that can happen in many more places and contexts than just flying.
In fact, if you have emetophobia, almost any environment outside your home can seem terrifying to you. This might include boats, trains and buses.
Car journeys are a common trigger too, especially when access to a toilet is limited, which can heighten anxiety about feeling sick.
And it’s not just transport, either. The list is massive: hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, pubs, nightclubs, parties, schools – or anywhere there might be children, in fact. Public toilets are also often avoided due to fears of vomiting and exposure to germs. It even stops some people having a family.
The list just goes on and on. And that’s just worrying about other people.
When it comes to you it’s a whole different level. What if you eat something? Well you can forget dinner parties, restaurants, weddings and other formal events. Many people with emetophobia worry about catching germs or food poisoning, leading them to avoid certain foods and places to prevent feeling sick.
You might be affected by only some of these things, but it’s still a far longer list of things to avoid than most people with a phobia have to worry about.
The fear of feeling sick can make you feel anxious in many situations, creating a cycle of worry and avoidance. Emetophobia can severely impact your social life and overall lives, restricting daily functioning, personal freedom, and opportunities for connection.
But there is good news too:
The good news is that people are more likely to seek treatment for emetophobia for the same reason.
With any phobia, people only seek treatment for one of 2 reasons: either the fear is getting worse, or something has changed that means they can no longer avoid the thing that terrifies them.
If you would like to find out if our treatment program is going to be right for you, the first step is to call the PHOBIAMAN clinic on 0207 193 5194. Call and speak with one of our friendly therapists and we’ll see if we can help. Just call 0207 193 5194 and speak with a specialist today
Loneliness and Emetophobia Hypnotherapy
People with emetophobia can suffer from profound feelings of loneliness as well as their fear, more so those with other anxiety disorders. An emetophobic person often faces daily challenges, including avoiding certain foods, places, or social situations due to the intense fear of vomiting. You can feel like you are the only person in the world with emetophobia, but this is far from the case.
In the last 20 years thousands of people have come to our clinic for hypnotherapy for emetophobia treatment. In 2023, just after the lockdowns ended, people with emetophobia accounted for over 50% of our patients.
Emetophobia is more common than you think. Many people suffer from the emotional and physical effects of emetophobia. Celebrities with emetophobia include the actresses, Cameron Diaz, Kate Beckinsale and Denise Richards. They have all spoken about their struggles with emetophobia. And James Dean, the actor, reportedly suffered from the condition too.
Emetophobia Hypnotherapy for Children
At the Phobiaman Clinic, 24% of the patients we treat for emetophobia are children. Emetophobia can impact a sufferer’s life from a young age, affecting their confidence, school attendance, and social development.
The Child Mind Institute states that it is especially important that children with emetophobia are treated as early as possible. This is because the high levels of excaused by emetophobia can interrupt areas of childhood development, such as academic and social. It can also lead to other obsessive behaviours.
Children must be accompanied by a parent throughout the treatment.
Is Hypnosis the Best Therapy for Emetophobia?
Emetophobia – like all phobias – is a pattern where you experience something that is NOT a threat as if it were a life threatening event. For any therapy to work this pattern must be changed.
At The Phobiaman Clinic we have developed specialised methods that work with the part of your subconscious mind that generates this pattern. Our methods are completely unique and they are based on Eriksonian Hypnotherapy, NLP and Timeframing Therapy.
But the most important important ingredient of all is our decades of experience.
During the hypnotherapy sessions, the patient enters a deep trance-like relaxed state. It is within this state that your unconscious begins to change this pattern using the new patterns we have set up during the earlier stages of treatment.
Hypnotherapy also helps reduce general anxiety and improve self esteem, supporting emotional well-being and confidence generally. Many people not only overcome their fears through our approach, they also experience other positive changes in other areas leading to rapid and meaningful improvements in mental health.
Hypnotherapy for Emetophobia Near me
Whilst there are Phobiaman Therapists in other parts of the UK, we prefer patients to come to our Harley Street Clinic for emetophobia hypnotherapy in London. Emetophobia is more complex than most phobias and its treatment should left to our most experienced therapists.
Can Hypnotherapy Help My Emetophobia?
If you would like to find out if our treatment program is going to be right for you, the first step is to call the PHOBIAMAN clinic on 0207 193 5194. Call and speak with one of our friendly therapists and we’ll see if we can help. Just call 0207 193 5194 and speak with a specialist today.
If you are calling from overseas, the number including the international dialing code is +44 207 193 5194