General rant
Hello all, am new to this site so apologies if you've hear all this before. Feel free to skim and ignore! I'm 28 years old and have had emetophobia since I was about 9. It is such a hard phobia to live with and I think there is so little help out there for people who suffer. I have massive panic attacks and have had various therapists, none of whom seem to understand what it is like for the sufferer. I've had a range of idiots that have frightened me about the long term effects my condition will have on my health. Classic quotations include 'you're not eating/drinking enough to keep a small cat alive,' 'if you continue like this you will end up in hospital and will be force-fed,' and my all time favourite, 'next time you're feeling sick, we're thinking about giving you a large glass of milk which will actually induce vomitting.' Nice. Helpful. Reassuring. Definitely people you can put your faith in (!)
I've been diagnosed with an eating disorder due to the sheer amount of weight I've lost. The problem is that this phobia can easily make you anorexic. In my mind it's logical to think: If I don't eat then I can't be sick - there's nothing to bring up.
My husband is very understanding and supportive, but I know it really bothers him as he doesn't know what to do to help me and isn't sure what to do when I have anxiety attacks. He's insisted that I go back to the doctors to obtain more 'help;. I last had therapy 10 years ago and it did nothing except worry me more and make me realise that constant talking about sick was a sure fire way of making me think about it all the time, which in turn increased the number of panic attacks I was having, made me even more obsessed with what I ate, increased my hand washing routines to the point of excess and made me even more depressed (made me feel so feeble and incapable of dealing with something that most people accept as 'unpleasant but normal.')
What are therapists doing about this? There must be some alternative to the 'flooding' method they seem to keen to employ. I'm tired of feeling like I have to fight two battles at the same time; one with my own sanity about the phobia and the other with a bunch of individuals who have no concept of how truly terrifying it is for the sufferer. Therapist: Let's work on exposure - first you'll hear someone being sick, then you'll see a video of it, eventually you'll be sick yourself in a supported and comforting environment.' Yes. This will be MASSIVELY helpful. Who actually likes being sick? Who really thinks, 'God, what a glorious day, I think I'll enjoy it by throwing up?'
I feel like screaming at them. This is not the same as fearing spiders. Seeing a picture of a tiny spider and working your way up to being in the same room as one is a graduated process. How can you graduate sick? You can't. Simple as that. A little bit of sick is as bad as a lot of it. Do they honestly think that being a 'bit' sick is going to be any easier? Face it, vomit is very, very unpleasant - there is no graduation. And seeing as emetophobes will do everything in their power to avoid such situations I really don't see how flooding is a viable method of treatment.
Rant over. Let's all get back to being frightened and worrying ourselves sick (metaphorically speaking of course).
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