Man Claiming to Cure Phobias exposed by WGN News

[out_of_order]

Is this the author of The Emetophobia Recovery System and owner of this website? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_9c8Q_dH9Y

I don't know. I'm just asking. Because his name is on the Emetophobia Recovery System website as its author. http://emetophobiarecovery.com/

[JadeNight]

Is this the author of The Emetophobia Recovery System and owner of this website? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_9c8Q_dH9Y

I don't know. I'm just asking. Because his name is on the Emetophobia Recovery System website as its author. http://emetophobiarecovery.com/

I was always iffy about the "Emetophobia Recovery System" That Rich Presta alias is on the site.

Wow, Thanks for posting this. I am interested in what a mod or even the admin has to say about this discovery.

[out_of_order]

I was always iffy about the "Emetophobia Recovery System" That Rich Presta alias is on the site.

Wow, Thanks for posting this. I am interested in what a mod or even the admin has to say about this discovery.

Well, I contacted Sage and her reply was that she's known about this for a while but isn't too concerned about it.

[JadeNight]

Well, I contacted Sage and her reply was that she's known about this for a while but isn't too concerned about it.

That's weird

[sage]

This is the email reply that I sent to out_of_order which I have also posted for admin (who is Rich):

Rich is an Internet marketer by profession. He also suffered from a terrible phobia of driving/ panic attacks. His wife is a trained psychologist with a Ph.D. She isn't licensed because she doesn't work as a therapist. Between the two, they put out several anti-anxiety programs. Emetophobia Recovery System, for instance, written by Rich, never claims to be written by a professional. He always says its written by a layperson who suffered anxiety. I read the manuscript and he interviewed several legitimate licensed psychologists on the CDs. Other therapists in the field read his other manuscripts. I also know Rich will give anyone their money back if they don't find the program helpful. So it is not a "scam." This video is just sensationalist reporting of a non-issue. This is what Internet marketers do. They sell products. They do not normally claim to be experts in those products.
I, personally, have always told people that the ERS is good, solid advice but not any sort of "cure." I also say in my reviews that it's written by a layperson. The reason I wouldn't make a big deal about it on IES is because he owns that site and operates it so that he can market his product there, which he does only subtly, not aggressively. If he were on the site pushing his product that would be a whole different thing to me.

But it's a discussion forum with free speech, far as I know, so if you want to discuss it there I have no problem with that and would never censor it.

Rich responded to me "that pretty much sums it up." I would also just add that nowhere in the Emetophobia Recovery System does he say he once had emetophobia. It's very clear he was a phobia sufferer is all. So far I have found Rich to be a genuine guy who really does want to help people with any kind of anxiety. As an internet marketer he has shown himself to be very honest and refunds your whole payment if you don't like the product or it didn't help you.

[out_of_order]

Yes that was Sage's second email to me in which she elaborated on her first response.

I respectfully disagree with Sage. I believe that someone who a) runs an emetophobia message board and more importantly b) sells an Emetophobia Recovery program, will at the very least have had emetophobia themselves and recovered from it OR be a qualified professional. Otherwise, what do they base their recovery program on? I think this is a reasonable and legitimate concern. Otherwise, using Sage's logic, anyone can create and sell a self-help product for anything and as long as they offer a money back guarantee and state that they're not a qualified professional, that should be okay? I don't know about that. Doesn't sound right.

[fixxxer2012]

Im not here to be cured. Im here to vent and help out if i can. I dont think anybody can cure this particular phobia.

[spilled_milk]

Honestly, I don't really care if an emet or a non-emet runs the board. I don't use the recovery system advertised, as is my choice and it's not pushed on us anyway. I'm just glad this board is here for us to use and support each other; I deal with trying to cure myself privately with my own therapist. However, if one was using the recovery system that was created while thinking that it was created by an emet, I can see why they might be upset.

[olschesky]

i totally agree with spilled milk

[JellyBn83]

I too agree with spilled

[KaydeeJayde]

Im not here to be cured. Im here to vent and help out if i can. I dont think anybody can cure this particular phobia.

I agree with Out_of_order, respectfully of course. But I don't use the ERS so it doesn't really affect me too much. I disagree, fixxxer. I think this particular phobia is very curable, just like any other.

[out_of_order]

I dont think anybody can cure this particular phobia.

I used to think that too until I finally found the treatment that worked for me. Now I'm completely "cured".

[fixxxer2012]

I agree with Out_of_order, respectfully of course. But I don't use the ERS so it doesn't really affect me too much. I disagree, fixxxer. I think this particular phobia is very curable, just like any other.

i should of said cannot be cured easily like other phobias.

[iesadmin]

It's interesting to read the different thoughts. As having struggled with anxiety for a large portion of my life, it's important to me that people have the communities and tools available to help them learn about what they can do on their own and to have a place to go where they can not feel alone. I never said or implied I had ever had emet, which is why I worked with doctors and psychologists and others here to develop the ERS for the areas that are more specific to emet. Many aspects of emet are shared by most other anxiety disorders. I don't think any one of the professionals I worked with during development of ERS has actually suffered with it themselves, but I'm not sure why that would disqualify their advice and work. Like most resources, ERS was a project I led that was a significant joint effort of many people coming together to pool knowledge from different areas. People from here who were familiar with my other material thought it was needed because there weren't good resources for people with emet to turn to, and I agreed and looked to who seemed to be the leaders here for who best to turn to and other insights. I don't understand why I would need to have been emet to admin the forum, I let the mods run things because I think they do a great job, all I do here is pay for everything so everyone has someplace to go and feel understood and accepted. Anyway, that's how it went, I posted about it all when I took the site over years ago, so it's no secret.

Rich

[out_of_order]

Thank you for commenting, Rich. The problem is not so much you running the board although it is strange that someone who doesn't suffer from this particular ailment would want to unless it was for personal profit and not first and foremost for helping a community that doesn't have such a place to turn to. The problem, Rich, is that by you selling a product that claims to 'cure' emetophobia, while never having had emetophobia yourself, would be like me selling a self-help program that claims to cure testicular cancer when I don't even have testicles.

All the doctors and psychologists you consulted, who are they? And what do they know about emetophobia specifically? Most doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists of any kind, have never even heard of emetophobia let alone know how to treat it. They simply view and treat it like any other phobia but it's not, it's in a class all it's own. Anyone who has emetophobia knows that. That's the other problem.

The other problem is all the different fake names you use. Why? If you legitimately create these various programs that treat disorders and problems, most of which you never personally struggled with and don't have any professional credentials for, out of the goodness of your heart out of your desire to help people in need, then why not use your real name, one name, for everything? Why sneak your wife in there with a different name? Why not post on your numerous websites that the psychologist is your wife?

People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.

That's all I have to say. I don't want to keep debating this. I've said my peace and everyone will decide for themselves whether or not they want to do business with you. Like most on here, I sincerely appreciate this website because it's definitely needed. So for that, I do thank you. But please, do not insult my intelligence by making it sound like you don't have an ulterior motive for creating all the various programs with which you have saturated the internet. At least be honest and admit the obvious: You do this for money. If you say that, I can respect you and say all the power to you because if people want to spend money on a program without researching it well to see who really is behind it, then that's their prerogative and more power to them too.

With all due respect.

[iesadmin]

That's a good analogy, and speaking as someone who does have testicles, should I ever get testicular cancer I would be more than happy to consult with a female about it, I just don't think the ability to acquire and share knowledge on a topic requires direct experience in all aspects of it. As an example, here's a woman who specializes in both testicular and prostate cancer, she has neither of those parts (or I assume she doesn't, but ti's a crazy world):


http://www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?x...tail&ref=18286


But that's just me, you can certainly feel differently. The people I worked with had diverse backgrounds, some were psychologists who had worked with it before, some with other mental health professionals with varying degrees of experience in emet specifically that had to do additional research. If any had any personal struggle with it, I don't recall them saying so and they probably would have. We also worked with some members here to understand the nuances better, but I wouldn't share who they are, they can chime in if they want to.


Yep, I know most don't know anything about it, which is precisely why we made something available so people who need some help but don't have good options can get advice and additional knowledge.


I don't write under my last name because my last name is long and pretty Russian and a bad name for people to remember. Since my last name is irrelevant to the material, it doesn't really make a difference. Dr. Ruth isn't Dr. Ruth either, but her last name has nothing to do with what she says.


The previous owner of the forum contacted me asking if I would purchase it because he could no longer keep it up. I know forums and online communities helped me a lot when I was struggling and felt alone so I understand their importance, so I did.


Of course I make money from what I sell, that's how I can develop material, pay expenses for the community, and feed my family like everybody else. Most everyone helps someone in some way when they work and need to be paid to devote the time to do it, but that doesn't mean they're not good at it or that they do it for the wrong reasons like money negates it. I just feel passionate about what I do and that my time here is better spent doing that than it was working with Microsoft like I did before I developed material. I actually made significantly more money doing that than I do doing this, but I enjoy it a lot more, so money is involved until someone else steps up to feed the kids, but it's not the driving factor.


Since you said you're done I'll close the thread.