Specific phobia of vomiting: a systematic review.

Emetophobia or SPOV (specific phobia for vomiting) is an anxiety disorder still little explored. In the DSM-5 (APA, 2013) it appears in anxiety disorders within the specific phobias section, in the wording "other". Specific phobia is an irrational and exaggerated fear of a peculiar or specific situation or object, which generates a deep and excessive anxious state. The exposure or anticipation of the phobic stimulus induces a strong anxiety crisis in the subject, which is why and for this reason the phobic subjects try in every way to avoid exposure to the stimulus that generates fear. Individuals are aware of their fear, they are able to describe it and they are also aware of its irrationality; but they failing to win it, they develop a series of strategies to deal with it. This work proposes an international systematic review of the literature based on Emetophobic Disorder. Literature studies of the last 18 years (2000-2018) have been considered. From the 23 selected empirical studies, we tried to investigate the different variables interconnected with the emetophobic disorder and what treatment, to date, is the most effective. The diagnosis of emetophobic disorder is very difficult to determine because the condition presents with symptoms that are also observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (Boschen, 2007; Veale, 2009; van Hout & Bouman, 2012).Therefore, the international literature review aims to highlight the importance of identifying the presence of other disorders in the emetophobic individual, not only for a diagnostic classification but also for an effective treatment.