Hi everyone. My name is Alyssa and I've had emetophobia for at least 20 years (I just turned 27). While it's gotten a lot better over the years (I can now fly, eat in restaurants, I let the way a food smells and tastes determine whether or not it's still good, rather than panicking if it's less than two days away from the sellby date, you get the idea...) I've recently started to feel like I'd like to see more significant improvement. Why? Because I'm starting med school in 4 weeks, and though I imagine it's not something I'll encounter all that often, I'm sure that at some point, I'll have to be around it, and I'd rather not make a fool of myself by having a massive panic attack! With the help of my therapist, I've been working on some desensitization techniques (mostly by watching videos on YouTube...it's amazing how much of that stuff is on there). It's been really stressful, obviously, and at times I wonder how much it's worth the trouble. I do think it ultimately is...I'm just not looking forward to dealing with it!

How have other people approached treatment? I'd like to hear how other people are working towards recovery.

Nice to meet you all!