The Checkup

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Emetophobes, avert your eyes

If you are an emetophobe, you've probably been trying hard to avoid watching (or even listening to) the footage of Falcon Heene, the boy who didn't get into that helium balloon, tossing his cookies during his family's interview on "Good Morning America."

Even for those of us who don't have an irrational fear of vomiting or of witnessing others as they lose their lunch, the scene's pretty wrenching and may make us feel like hurling. But for an emetophobe (emesis = vomiting, phobe = fear), just the thought of watching a kid or anyone else vomit is terrifying to the core.

Though it's thought to be among the more common phobias, emetophobia has been little studied, so we don't know much about what causes it or how to fix it. One study showed that it tends to take hold early -- around age 9 -- and to last a long time (a mean duration of 22 years). Emetophobes -- or, as some apparently call themselves, emets -- may avoid going out much for fear they'll puke in public or see someone else do so. They may become picky eaters, avoiding anything they think might make them sick. And, according to Washington psychotherapist Jerilyn Ross, who has treated a number of people with fear of vomiting, some women even put off getting pregnant because they so dread the idea of morning sickness -- and worry that they might not be able to care for their children if such care involved overseeing upchucking.

Ross says that when the fear of vomiting is so severe it makes a person rearrange his activities -- even if he has never had a bad experience involving vomit, as Ross says is usually the case -- it crosses the line to become a phobia.

People with an extreme fear of vomiting "shouldn't have to live secretly and privately," Ross says. Why not start here? Do you worry irrationally about getting sick or seeing someone else get sick?

-- Jennifer LaRue Huget

sb10 wrote: I guess it's nice to know I'm not alone. I know it's completely irrational, but knowing doesn't stop the rapid heart rate or the clammy feeling I get when I have reason to think about such things. Yes, reading this article (I had to skim over certain sections) and writing this reply has made me feel panicky.

I have developed a plethora of behaviors to try and keep myself out of the danger zone, so to speak. For example, it takes an extreme emergency to get me to go into the bathroom at a bar or nightclub, for fear of what I might find in there. It's also one of the reasons I'll excuse myself from groups of people who are getting drunk . . . too risky.

I don't think I could raise children -- I'd be useless if they needed my help.

Sarahfran wrote: Starting around age 8 or 9 and continuing on into adulthood, I used to take the most extreme measures to avoid vomiting -- sleeping on the basement floor whenever a sibling was sick, eating only the most bland foods for years. Oddly, what cured me was having a baby. I told my husband before our child was born that I'd be happy to change any number of diapers, but if the baby was throwing up, it was up to him to deal with it. Turns out I had a baby with reflux who spent the first seven months of her life vomiting many, many times daily. Between the fog of parenthood and the hormones of motherhood, I learned to deal. I guess that was real-life exposure therapy!