Resources for Emetophobia

If you want to help yourself or someone else better understand the meaning of emetophobia and how to treat it, books can be an important resource. Navigating definitions, misconceptions, symptoms and treatment, books support professionals, parents and individuals as they work to deepen their knowledge and arm themselves with the specialist knowledge and depth of understanding required to tackle an intense fear of vomiting.

What is Emetophobia?

Emetophobia, the extreme fear of vomiting, relates to both a fear of vomiting yourself or seeing others being sick.

The phobia can affect just about every aspect of an individual's life, from daily concerns to life decisions. It is often under researched despite being a prevalent phobia faced by children, teens and adults.

Books can help those impacted by emetophobia understand:

  • What emetophobia is and what is means?
  • How to treat emetophobia?
  • What are the symptoms of emetophobia?
  • Emetophobia therapy - what strategies are used by professionals?

Resources support adults, families and professional better understand the causes, common avoidance behaviors, and effective treatments for emetophobia.

  • Facing Mighty Fears About Throwing Up by Dawn Huebner, Liza Stevens

    Facing Mighty Fears About Throwing Up

    For ages 6+, this is a non-fiction book on emetophobia for children mini book tackling the fear of throwing up with tips and tricks alongside step-by-step guidelines using CBT strategies.

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  • Bodie and the Ghost Showdown by Ffion Jones, Kara McHale

    Bodie and the Ghost Showdown

    For ages 7+, this is a story-led gentle approach to exploring emetophobia with children offering tools to understand and overcome emetophobia and an accompanying guide for parents and caregivers.

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  • The Emetophobia Survival Guide by Emma Innes, Anna S. Christie

    The Emetophobia Survival Guide

    For ages 10+, this is a guide to living with and recovering from emetophobia for teens and young adults, covering how it can impact your life and how it can be treated. A guide with tips and advice from someone with lived experience of emetophobia.

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How to Treat Emetophobia?

Emetophobia is under-researched though there are key names with professional and lived experience seeking to open up research, support networks, and discussions around emetophobia.

Key Authors include: David Veale, Anna S. Christie, David Russ, Dr Ffion Jones and Emma Innes.

The lack of knowledge or research often leads clinicians to misdiagnose emetophobia, and families grappling to understand how they can overcome emetophobia and support those affected.

Treatment for emetophobia is typically based around the evidence-based treatment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).


  • Living with Emetophobia by Linda Dean, Nicolette Heaton-Harris

    Living with Emetophobia

    This accessible book contains practical advice for coping with emetophobia with personal accounts from those living with emetophobia and first-hand experience from the author.

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  • Free Yourself from Emetophobia by Alexandra Keyes, David Veale

    Free Yourself from Emetophobia

    This self-help guide helps individuals to better understand emetophobia and offer tools to overcome it. Using CBT alongside ERP techniques, this book also includes guidance on treatment and advice for friends, partners and family of adults and young people with emetophobia.

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  • Conquer Your Emetophobia by Anna S. Christie

    Conquer Your Emetophobia

    This guide to overcoming emetophobia from psychotherapist Anna Christie is informed by her own lived experience, follows steps to recovery and is informed by CBT, ERP and ACT.

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  • Emetophobia by Anna S. Christie, Dr David Russ, David Veale

    Emetophobia: Understanding and Treating Fear of Vomiting in Children and Adults

    This clinician's guide to the diagnosis and treatment of emetophobia contains guidance on how to employ CBT and ERP, as well as other approaches to treatment, such as ACT for all ages. It is a must-have for mental health professionals treating emetophobia.

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  • Children's Activity with Adult Guide

    An activity that parents and caregivers can use with a child to open up conversations about emetophobia and see that their emetophobia is separate from their own identity.

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  • Using Stories to Help Children Understand Emetophobia

    Dr Ffion Jones discusses how stories provide a safe distance for children to explore and understand their emetophobia in a gentle environment.

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  • How to Identify and Treat Emetophobia in Teenagers

    Emma Innes explores how parents and caregivers can spot signs for emetophobia in their teens and how they can support them to tackle the phobia.

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