Hello! I have emetophobia and social phobia. For the last year I've been seeing a therapist. CBT seems to work really well when it comes to the social phobia, but the emetophobia is as present as ever. I constantly worry about germs and bacteria, monitor other people to check if they're OK, wash my hands until they bleed, am seriously underweight, and worry, worry, worry, panic, freak out and so on.

The therapist says I can be cured if I expose *and* over-expose myself to the scary things. She wants me to touch things in public restrooms without washing my hands afterwards, lick/eat things that have been on the floor - stuff like that - and I just won't do that. Actually, since our last conversation about over-exposure I keep thinking I'd rather keep the phobia. It also seems to me that the therapist doesn't know how germs are spread, she talks about them as if you randomly catch things no matter what kind of hygiene habits you have ... and it makes it hard for me to trust her.

I just want to be able to have a normal life, do normal things, eat normal amounts of food and wash my hands 5-10 times every day instead of 50-100. Exposure seems hard and terrifying enough and over-exposure is simply unthinkable when I'm not even able to touch my food or my lips when I washed my hands only seconds ago. But at the same time ... disagreeing with the therapist feels silly.

Any thoughts? Is over-exposure really that important? When the therapist's suggestions terrifies me and makes me want to hold on to the phobia, is it just the way it is when the phobia is severe or should I try to find some other therapist?