Quote Originally Posted by ashmg1984 View Post
I just started CBT yesterday and am terrified. My therapist gave me homework to listen to 5 minutes of v* sounds per day until I see him next week. The hard part about this is finding the sounds. Has anyone else every started with this? He recommended I look for apps for my smartphone. The more and more I think about what else I will have to do as part of my exposure therapy, the more frightened I get. I broke down in bed last night bawling because I don't think I can do this (thankfully my loving husband is extremely comforting and supportive). I have come to the realization that I have never actually seen a person v* and now, I will have to see it quite frequently as part of my therapy. I am feeling angry about my fear and have been having urges to send an e-mail to my therapist to say I won't be able to go through with this. But I have been dealing with this fear for 20+ years (I am 27) and I am sick of it. It is so debilitating and no one understands what it is like to feel so closed off and afraid.

I am afraid I won't have the courage to go through the therapy...but if I don't, I will continue to be miserable and scared. I feel very conflicted.
Your therapist does not sound like much help there. Exposure Therapy is based on the following principles:
- Graded (step by step, starting at step 1 and not jumping to step 4 etc)
- Repeated (for example, 3 times a week or 3 times a day)...
- Time Specific e.g. half hour
- Without distraction - not using your ipod/watching tv/reading a book or holding your best friends hand while doing the exercises...

all this... until your anxiety reduces to less than 40% per stage... so its good to document/record it... say you started looking at photo 1... and you were 90% anxious before the exercise, you were 70% during the exercise and then 72% after the exercise.. repeat repeat repeat until you end with 40% or less... and it can take time but you define the pace...

You set the pace and define what you are comfortable with. If you don't want to start with sounds then you can start with photos. If you feel okay starting with sounds then start off with some silly sounds or short sounds. This is a fantastic resource, search for emetophobia resource org.


Look at Exposure 1-12 at the top bar. The whole site is great so have a look see. It is mentioned in this forum at several points so it's not like I am recommending something private/not recognized by these users. Any questions then feel free to post back.

The aim of the game is to watch/listen until you are bored. Sometimes there is a push from the therapist as you have a number of sessions to do it within etc.