Post by admin: Research: Emetophobia (fear of vomiting)

Hi there! I'm a clinical psychology PhD candidate researcher at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State College of Medicine. I study eating disorders in populations that are usually overlooked by traditional eating disorder researchers.

With my colleague Andrea Rigby (AndreaRG) at Penn State, I’m developing a new questionnaire to measure thoughts and feelings linked to emetophobia (the intense fear of vomiting).

In my clinical work, I have treated adults and kids with severe, disabling emetophobia and seen how this disorder can affect people, but as you probably know, there’s a lack of research on this disorder. Our ultimate goal in developing this questionnaire is to identify thoughts and behaviors that maintain this fear and that could be targeted in exposure-based psychotherapy. You don’t have to have emetophobia to take the survey, but if you do, we are extremely interested in your feedback on our questions.

Here’s the link to our survey: https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/for ... lDnGPyjFAx

Content warning for the survey: There are no graphic descriptions, but the items do ask about situations and experiences that people with emetophobia find really frightening and upsetting. The words v**** and n*******, and the phrase s****** v**** are used throughout.

This is a voluntary research study; there is no compensation or direct benefit. Your responses will be completely anonymous. Responses to the survey will not be linked to your Reddit username, and you will not be asked to provide any identifying information.

It should take about 20 minutes to answer all the questions; if you decide to give us feedback within the survey, it will take longer. If you have any questions about the survey, about vomit phobia, or about eating concerns, or anything that you’d like to ask privately, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. Legally, I can’t give clinical or medical advice, but I can point you towards helpful resources and strategies, and answer questions about how emetophobia treatment works!

Thank you in advance for your help!

Hana Zickgraf