Is Emetophobia a western disease?

[boholoop]

I have been reading reports on mental illness that indicate developed countries have a larger percenatge of the poulation suffering from mental health problems or phobias, and was wondering what the other members of the forum think?


The research basically says that people who do not have to rely on survival skills on a daily basis (unlike some in developing countries) have more chance of suffering from these kinds of problems. A human self-destruct gene come to mind!

[mia3]

It could be a number of things gentics, nature verses nurture.
Maybe things are so easy for us here we have too much time to
think. If i had to worry about when i was going to get my next
meal or how to stay warm or clothed maybe i wouldn't have the phobia,
instead i would be trying to survive. It's like Maslows hierarchy
of needs. In this country we are very luck, of course there are people
who go hungry, there is poverty but not like other countries. Closer to
the top of the hierarchy of needs many people fall short around the
middle of the ladder. Respect from others, self-esteem and achievement
. At the top, living to your full potential. Some people can come from
the worst homes and over come it . Some come from the best homes and
become the worst. Everybody is different.

[chicajojobe]

I think you have a good point about having less time to focus on things
like anxiety and emetophobia if you have to focus all of your energy
simply into survival. However, I don't think that alone would make it a
western disease. There are plenty of developed non-western countries.

[fabulouspaula]

I can see how that makes sense. In my Dad's frustration he sometimes says this phobia is a "rich person's illness". I suppose he means that people who don't have to work hard have the spare time to let their minds worry. I'm not sure how much truth there is behind that but I can definately see the basis behind it. And anyway, when I'm really busy doing something, like when it's time for final exams, my phobia's not as bad, likely because I have other things on my mind.

[mia3]

I just read what fabpaulas' dad thinks about the phobia alot of people
say stuff like that like "oh you think you have it bad." In
therapy I would tell the doctor i was ashamed of my illness and he
would say your problem are yours because your going through it and it's
ok. Everyone here knows it's not something you can snap out of or
we would of done it along time ago.

[samara's on tv]

A rich person's illness...sounds like something my dad might say. Although my parents have been rather supportive of my phobia. But it is true, when I'm doing something else I rarely think about my phobia. I always try to do things to keep my mind off of it. I'm sure that it's not just a western phenomina though, maybe there are Emetophobes in third world countries that we just don't know about? I mean when you are surrounded by that much disease and poverty it would be easy to develope a phobia.


~Monica

[boholoop]

I would have thought that in a circumstance where life and death are so close, human survival instinct would kick in and eradicate any source of further mental complication. I know that with anorexia people in developing countries believe it is absurd.

[Eternity]

It makes perfect sense that it would be a Western thing, since people who are truely poor, or starving think hugely differently to us, Im sure. If you were brought up wondering where your next meal was coming from, rather than watching tv and having to create life chaos just to feel something real, youd not be emetophobic... would you?
If you had the choice between drinking dirty water and dying of thirst, which would you chose? We can afford the luxury of phobia, because we've never known real suffering, and we never ever will. We're all of us terribly lucky.