Emetophobia treatment with subconscious-facilitated exposure-response prevention: a review and case report

Emetophobia (fear of vomiting) is a persistent and severe specific phobia that can cause significant dysfunction in everyday life. It is an understudied phobia for which there is no manualized treatment method. The most commonly used technique for treating emetophobia is CBT involving exposure therapy. In this case report, we present a 15-year-old who underwent a variety of treatments used for emetophobia and OCD related to his phobia, and anxiety, beginning at the age of 5 years. Nonetheless, the patient's anxiety intensified significantly during adolescence. He began relying on his parents' reassurance multiple times a day to ensure he was safe. Despite the patient's engagement in traditional forms of exposure-response prevention (ERP) therapy, his symptoms were only greatly decreased following subconscious-facilitated ERP (sERP), defined as a hypnotically facilitated procedure wherein the patient's subconscious directs spontaneous imaginal exposures without conscious initiation. The novel use of hypnosis to facilitate sERP outlined in this paper may function as a workaround in the case of conscious resistance to ERP treatments. More research is needed to define the potential of sERP in the treatment of emetophobia.