Not sure if others have this same experience, but my emet has done nothing except get worse the older I get. I was thinking about things I've done in the past-things that, looking back, I cannot believe I was "brave" enough to do.
For instance, one time in high school I was at a party and a friend of mine drank too much. She was afraid she would get sick so she asked me to go to the bathroom with her. I waited outside the door for her while she stayed by toilet. After about 15 minutes, nothing happened so she came out. Afterwards, I called my mom to pick us up and I rode in the backseat with her and held her hand because she was so scared. Long story short, we made it home fine and nothing happened. Now, I wouldn't even be in the same car as a drunk person, let alone right next to them!
Another time, my (now ex) husband and I were on our honeymoon in Jamaica-I was in my early 20s. We spent a lot of time off the resort property, taking in the local sights and eating in tiny cafes sampling local cuisine (think jerk-spiced shrimp and conch) My obsessive fear about v* and fp* now would never allow me to even consider such a thing the way I am now.
I sometimes wish I could be as carefree as I used to be. I used to tell myself my "problem" would improve as I got older cause I would have real adult-type problems and have bigger things to worry about. Little did I know that I would gain real adult-type problems in addition to the ones I already had-sigh......