Open AccessEmetophobia: A fear of vomiting
Author(s) -
Abhijeet Faye,
Sushil Gawande,
Rahul Tadke,
Vivek Kirpekar,
Sudhir Bhave
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
indian journal of psychiatry/indian journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1998-3794
pISSN - 0019-5545
DOI - 10.4103/0019-5545.120556
Subject(s) - vomiting , nausea , anxiety , feeling , psychology , medicine , pediatrics , psychiatry , anesthesia , social psychology
Emetophobia is an intense, irrational fear of vomiting including fear of feeling nausea, seeing or hearing another person vomit, or seeing vomitus itself. It may occur at any age and we need to understand its symptomatology. We report a case of emetophobic child whose fear of vomiting started after an attack of acute appendicitis. In the initial stage, fear was limited to vomiting, later it became generalized to a fear of seeing the vomitus, worries that parents may suffer vomiting, fear of vomiting in public places followed by avoiding social activities. Patient improved on short course of anti-anxiety drugs and Graded Exposure Therapy.