Specialised emetophobia treatment
Our clinical psychologists help you overcome your emetophobia (fear of vomiting) in a science-based, two- session treatment conducted over two consecutive days.
We’ll help you decide if this treatment is right for you.
Emetophobia can be very limiting but it's often treatable
Although vomiting does not occur frequently, emetophobia can still be highly disruptive. Social events, public transport, sick children, classrooms, and theme parks are situations many people with a fear of vomiting tend to avoid.
After treatment, people often experience the following improvements in daily life:
- Being able to care for family members or friends when they feel unwell
- Travelling by public transport in a more relaxed way
- Going out without constantly being on alert
Different forms of emetophobia
Emetophobia can take different forms. We specialise in treating emetophobia where the fear is mainly triggered by someone else vomiting nearby.
If the fear is exclusively about vomiting yourself, this treatment is unfortunately not suitable. In that case, cognitive behavioural therapy or – when a traumatic memory is involved – EMDR may be more appropriate.
Symptoms of emetophobia
If you have emetophobia, you know that vomiting is rarely dangerous. Still, your body can react with intense fear when someone nearby might vomit, or when you feel this could happen. The fear response is often immediate and difficult to control.
Common experiences associated with emetophobia include:
Intense startle
Fast heartbeat
Sweating
Nausea
Shaking
Fast breathing
Avoidance
Urge to escape
The Memrec treatment method is grounded in scientific research.
Developed through the research of our founder, Prof. Dr. Merel Kindt, and her colleagues at the University of Amsterdam, the Memrec method is used at Kindt Clinics to treat phobias. The treatment is short, effective, and in most cases suitable for the fear of sick.
We plan 3 appointments
1
Intake session
In the intake session (often online), we discuss your fear and decide together how to approach the treatment.
2
Treatment session
During the treatment session, we briefly activate the fear once. You then take a single dose of a beta-blocker, which does its work while you relax.3
Test
You return the next day. In the same situation, you experience that the intense fear is gone. After a successful treatment, the phobia no longer controls you.
More than 3,000 people have overcome their phobia at Kindt Clinics
Nina’s experience:
“For years, I tried everything to get rid of my fear of vomiting. For a long time, it had a major impact on my life. I underwent various therapies and had already come a long way. And yet it still regularly got in my way.”
I did believe that exposure would be the best method, but I thought it simply wasn’t something you could organise. That changed when I heard about the therapy at Kindt. I felt that my fear was taken very seriously, and I was guided with great care from start to finish. And with great success. On the second day, I quite literally faced my fear, without feeling real fear anymore. So incredibly special!! I cannot thank the person who vomited before me often enough, and of course also the therapist who supported me. I will never forget this experience.
Frequently asked questions
Twice. The intake session is often done online, via video. For the treatment itself, you then come to our clinic twice — usually on two consecutive days.
Every case of emetophobia is different. For example, the fear may be triggered mainly by the sound, sight, or smell of someone vomiting – or by all three combined. There may have been a negative experience, but often there hasn’t. That is why we tailor the treatment to your specific form of emetophobia.
Nine out of ten treatments are successful in one go. If not, we try it again.
It can be hard to imagine getting rid of your phobia – you may have lived with it for a long time. Still, this is what happens. You may still feel some tension and disgust around vomiting, but the irrational fear is gone.