Hypnotherapy Techniques for Emetophobia

Emetophobia, also known as the fear of vomiting, is a fear that affects many people. Even though it may sound harmless, living with emetophobia can be very controlling. Many emetophobia sufferers also deal with social phobia, not being able to eat out comfortably, or public transportation phobia.

You can read more about how to control emetophobia by adjusting a few routines in your life in my previous article, by clicking here. 

The first step for emetophobia relief is psychotherapy. But what happens when there is not much progress? A subconscious method like hypnotherapy can help accelerate success and help change subconscious beliefs and associations about vomiting.  

Hypnotherapy is not a “one size fits all” technique. There are many different hypnotic techniques that a hypnotherapist can use in order to provide relief to a client who deals with emetophobia.

Here are some common and effective hypnosis techniques that we, hypnotherapists, may use:

Regression hypnotherapy for emetophobia

Regression hypnosis is not advised in all situations but in the cases of emetophobia, regression can be beneficial to uncover the root cause. Sometimes there is a core memory that affects the person’s perception of vomiting. This could be an embarrassing memory of vomiting, witnessing someone vomiting or someone vomiting resulting in serious injury.  

With hypnosis not only we can uncover the initial event but also we can rescript the event and create positive or neutral associations around it instead.

Visualization in hypnosis for emetophobia

Visualization is a powerful technique that is frequently used during hypnosis. When visualization is used during hypnosis, the mind cannot really separate the imagination from reality, making the visualizations more powerful and vivid.  

Hypnotic visualization for emetophobia can help create a positive outcome in the mind and expect that outcome subconsciously when it comes to vomiting. For example, visualizing that you are calm and relaxed when vomiting during hypnosis can help your mind to expect that when it actually happens.

Hypnosis can help reconditioning the mind and creating positive associations around vomiting subconsciously.

Self-hypnosis for emetophobia

Self-hypnosis is a very powerful technique that involves a light state of trance. It can be a very powerful technique because we are very susceptible to our own words and thinking. You can learn more about how self-hypnosis works in my previous article, by clicking here.

Self-hypnosis can help emetophobia sufferers in numerous ways. For one, it can help manage daily stressors that contribute to increased anxiety. Second, it can help with being more in control of reactions when nausea or vomiting occurs. Finally, it can help overcome avoidance behaviors.

It’s important to note that self-hypnosis alone may not be helpful alone to overcome a very serious issue like fear of vomiting. It’s always better to work with a licensed professional in addition to practicing self-hypnosis regularly.

Regulating the nervous system with hypnotherapy

When the nervous system is in hyperarousal, it can feel like losing control completely. In this state, it’s very difficult to make the right choices and calm down. When someone deals with the fear of vomiting, their nervous system sends these wrong alarms even in unrelated situations.

Hypnosis is a state that is just the opposite of that. During hypnosis, the nervous system completely calms down. The body is relaxed, muscles can feel heavy or light and the mind is calm and at peace. In this state, we can make better choices and feel in control.

With hypnosis not only we can reintroduce this state of being to your mind but also we can train the mind to get to a similar state as needed. It is an important power to develop that will be useful in many ways.

Rewiring the patterns with hypnosis

Living with emetophobia, many emetophobia patients develop survival techniques based on fear. For example, they may avoid pregnancy to prevent nausea, they may monitor their young kids closely to make sure they don’t bring any gut bacteria or they may get used to eating “safe” foods. All these seem harmless however, these contribute to fear in the end as well.

Hypnotherapy allows us to look at all these triggering situations from a different perspective subconsciously. Finally, hypnosis allows reconditioning these avoidance patterns and helps make confident choices.

Empowering with hypnosis

One of the most powerful hypnotic techniques is self-empowerment. The subconscious self-image dictates the actions we are willing to take and the way we perceive ourselves. That subconscious image is the one that says “You’ve got this” or “See, you’re failing again”. Working with this image and improving it subconsciously can help overcome many issues. 

Especially when it comes to emetophobia, there is a lot of negative self-talk involved. Self-discouragement is the thing that gets in the way of taking a successful next step. During hypnosis, we can positively modify this self-image and implant the seeds of inner empowerment.

So next time there is an urge to take an avoidance action, there is the inner voice that says “You’ve got this!”.

Final words

Emetophobia is one of those fears that will take a lot from self-confidence and one’s ability to live freely and comfortably. If this is you, starting therapy and managing stress daily are the most important steps to start with. Hypnotherapy is a subconscious technique that will help you take positive action and change your subconscious beliefs about vomiting. So don’t wait, start taking control of emetophobia before it controls you!