Emetophobia: Evidence-Based Strategies to Address Fear of Vomiting

For many clients, the fear of vomiting isn’t just unpleasant—it’s life-limiting. It dictates what they eat, where they go, who they’re near, and whether they can fully live. This rarely-talked-about phobia hides behind misdiagnoses and shame, leaving clients—and often their clinicians—confused about what’s really going on. Yet up to 8 percent of the population experiences emetophobia at a clinically significant level, and without proper treatment, it can quietly dismantle relationships, careers, and a sense of safety in one’s own body.

This course clarifies an often-misunderstood condition—showing how emetophobia develops, why it’s misdiagnosed as OCD, panic, or ARFID, and what clients actually fear. Through a precise, compassionate lens, Dr. Smith shows clinicians how to identify, conceptualize, and treat it effectively.

Dr. Melanie Smith, PhD, LMHC, CCTP-II, is a licensed mental-health counselor and certified eating-disorder specialist with nearly two decades of clinical experience. She is known nationally for her work at the intersection of anxiety, trauma, and eating-disorder treatment. Having personally experienced emetophobia herself, Dr. Smith brings lived experience that transforms this course from theory into insight—bridging science, skill, and humanity for clinicians who want to help their clients reclaim their lives.

Delivered as a dynamic, evidence-based training, the course blends CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) approaches within a compassionate, stepwise framework. Dr. Smith models how to assess core fears, differentiate between disgust- and fear-based responses, and use “judicious safety behaviors” and graded exposure to achieve real progress—without overwhelming the client or reinforcing avoidance. Her approach is practical, trauma-informed, and infused with humor and humility, helping clinicians feel both capable and grounded when addressing this challenging topic.

Throughout the training, you’ll explore how emetophobia interacts with the gut-brain connection and physiological cues, the impact of safety behaviors and reassurance-seeking, and how to integrate imaginal, interoceptive, and in-vivo exposures safely. Dr. Smith demonstrates assessment tools, clinical interviewing strategies, and treatment adaptations for children and adolescents, highlighting family involvement, nutritional monitoring, and collaboration with medical providers when indicated. She concludes with strategies for relapse prevention and maintaining progress in high-stress periods.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn to identify the cognitive, behavioral, and physiological patterns that define emetophobia and distinguish it from related disorders.

• Gain step-by-step methods for designing individualized exposure hierarchies—including imaginal, interoceptive, and in-vivo techniques—using a compassionate, evidence-based framework.

• Understand when and how to modify traditional ERP to accommodate disgust-based responses and maintain therapeutic alliance.

Why This Course?

• Emetophobia is highly prevalent yet profoundly underrecognized—this course equips you to spot and treat it accurately.

• Dr Smith’s combination of clinical expertise and lived experience gives clinicians both confidence and practical competence.

• You’ll leave with actionable strategies and resources to immediately apply in your clinical work.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify key cognitive, behavioral, and physiological features of emetophobia.

• Apply differential diagnosis and case-conceptualization strategies to distinguish emetophobia from related conditions.

• Describe how interoceptive and exposure-based interventions can be tailored to effectively reduce fearful responding and avoidance behaviors.

• Develop individualized exposure hierarchies and behavioral experiments to help clients confront and tolerate distress.

Clinicians rarely receive formal training in this topic—but once they do, they see the change it makes. Empower your clients to move beyond avoidance and reclaim their lives.

Enroll today in Emetophobia: Evidence-Based Strategies to Address Fear of Vomiting.

This is a non-interactive, self-study program and consists of over 2 hours of video instruction and a post-test.