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Emotional Eating (Expert Forum)
Emetophobia
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions in the Emotional Eating forum are answered by Dr. Roger Gould. Topics covered include anger and eating, anxiety and eating, binge eating, depression and eating, eating to "fit in", emotional eating, fill the void eating, guilt and eating, loneliness and eating, social eating, and stress and eating.
Emetophobia
by Janwisp, May 15, 2008 02:08PM
My 8 yr old daughter is showing the signs of becoming an emetophobic. At school,she has witnessed classmates vomitting and suffers from mild panic attacks thinking she is going to vomit. It is now starting to effect what she eats, obviously associating what ever food she has eaten near an episode of seeing someone vomit. She has always been a good eater, a good varied diet, but her fear is now starting to cause restrictions. When she remembers seeing someone vomits, she suffers from cold sweats and nausea, and her whole body starts to shake. She herself has vomitted once recently (a stomach bug) and the distress that followed this was heart rending for her and for me. How can I help her overcome this fear before it restricts her any further?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., May 15, 2008 05:34PM
, May 15, 2008 05:34PM
To: janwisp
You are right to address this as early as possible. You can get professional help or try helping yourself. The way to do that is by talking her through each episode, helping her put her fears into words, and then countering that with " reality", i.e. that there is nothing to fear. That is a start and may be all you need, but if it persists, you should see a child psychotherapist.
Member Comments (2)
by Janwisp, May 18, 2008 09:58AM
To: Roger Gould, M.D.
Thank you very much, I'm already doing what you mentioned, especially after my daughter herself vomitted, showing her that although the experience wasn't pleasant, she is now absolutely fine, nothing to worry about etc. I will keep on with this and hopefully we can help her turn it around. I know it really is up to her to deal with it, but the whole family is supportive and we always talk thru an episode, re-enforcing that all is ok. Thank you for your comments and support. :o)
