A programme on Emet (UK VIEWERS).

[Tasha'93]

I don't know if anyone will read or come across this post in time, but if there are any members on here that are living in the UK, I just wanted to let you know that a programme called 'The Panic Room' and it is looking at different phobias, just read the info on it and this episode is on the fear of vomit and birds. It's on 'Really' channel, which is 267 for Virgin viewers and it starts at 11pm tonight, so around five minutes time. I think i'm going to watch it! I feel slightly nervous about it, but it should be interesting I think. I hope some of you get to watch it and hopefully we can discuss it here afterwards?

[olschesky]

let us know how it is.....i wonder if us people in the usa could find it online.....

[Tasha'93]

I'll definitely let you know all about it afterwards, I hope there is a way you can view it in the US!

[Tasha'93]

Right the programme has just finished, and, i'm not going to lie, it was quite difficult to watch in places. It was based on two phobia's - emetophobia, which we all know is the phobia of vomit and another which is the phobia of birds (I can't remember the name for it now!). The lady who suffered with emetophobia was treated by a psychologist who was specially trained to do hypnotherapy. It didn't show you everything he said through the hypno. process but it showed snippets, he would say things like "a few friends have come over and brought their toddlers. One of them has just been sick on the floor. It is being quickly cleaned up and is now a 'so what' situation, there is nothing to fear here..' e.t.c. Then it would switch to the 'panic room', in which the lady would stand looking at a screen and pictures of people looking as though they were going to be sick would come up, so for example a girl doubled over holding her stomach in pulic whilst her mother held a paper bag next to her and then a bowl of vegetable soup, in which after was poured all over the floor to look like vomit.

After that she had a few more chats with the psychologist, talking about where she believes her fear stems from and he gave her some feedback on it along with a chat about rational thinking. After that, it was back into the panic room & this time she had to take a drink of juice, hold it in her mouth, and them spit it into a bucket, whilst being told to make noises as if she was wretching, so make the experience as real as possible. She then did the same again with vegetable soup.

Her final time in the panic room was quite traumatic, I thought anyway. She also seemed as though she was ready to run out and to be honest, I don't blame her. Firstly she had a blank sheet/screen type thing infront of her and there was a man (live, in the room with her) behind the screen, doubled over and coughing, clearly ready to vomit. She had to look at this for 10 seconds, and then it stopped. A couple of seconds later the screen came up and she was told to watch the man physically vomit infront of her. (I'm assuming it was fake but he was a damn good actor, that's all i'm saying!) It was quite hard for me to watch actually, I thought with it being on tv and 'not real' essentially, I wouldn't have a problem watching but I did. Had a little cry a couple of times throughout but I didn't turn it over once which I was so tempted to do more than once! - I just wanted to share that with you, incase any of you were interested I suppose!

[emmalinda]

thats horrible! i dont think i agree with that kind of treatment. i dont even know how that would desensitise you. especially if its called a 'panic room'.

[asianeko]

Did it show how she did? Like... did she feel like she was headed toward recovery after this process? I always thought that desensitization (if not taken slowly) actually made our phobia worse.

[sage]

Sounds harsh. Depending on the person, it could work though. I'd be interested in hearing how she does 6 months then a year or even two down the road...

[Tasha'93]

Hi everyone. It showed a little clip of her at the end saying it's made her less in fear, as in everyday would be a struggle but things have now become easier for her and it no long takes over her life in the way it did before.

To be honest, I think if I was in that 'panic room' situation I would have a nervous breakdown. I don't know she could physically stand there without either falling over or at least running for the door when watching someone vomit infront of her. It was so graphic and real. I did cry watching it, I could imagine every inch of fear she must of been feeling at that point. I suppose the old saying 'no pain, no gain' come in here doesn't it? I guess to fully recover from this we will have to see or do things that we may find so hard but, in the end, surely it's worth it?

[orton99]

Hey Tash, sorry I missed this as it sounded really interesting. I've just checked on the Skybox for the next week and there don't seem to be any repeat showings unfortunately.

The experiment with the vegetable soup is strange because I suggested it to my CBT therapist last week as a possible piece of exposure for me, although my idea was to hold it in my mouth and then spit it out into a washbasin so I can pretend it actually is... In fact, I also suggested trying to make it even more realistic by firstly warming it up in the microwave for obvious reasons and lacing it with parmesan cheese, which as far as I'm concerned tastes just like...

She was impressed that I came up with the idea without any prompting but also cautioned me not to try it straight away as it "sounds a bit extreme". Actually I do see this as one of the last pieces of exposure, so there are no worries on that score!