Does the fact that you know your fear has a name increase its fear?

[Ana Bellini]

I bet it was confusing. Let me try to explain better, using my own mind as an example:

Let's think about someone with depression: When the person still doesn't know he/she has depression, he/she might fight more over the urge for crying and feeling down, because there's no obvious reason he/she is feeling down. After he/she finds out, however, he/she sees him/herself in the right of crying and feeling down, because hell, it's depression.

So, I want to know. After you found out that what you have is emetophobia, did you freak out more? Did you find yourself asking for help more than you used to when you thought you were the only one?

Not accusing anyone, I'm really just wondering because of some recent suspicions (about me, let's be clear about that).

[Kittycat319]

For me I think it was actually the opposite haha
Finding out what I had was emetophobia and anxiety has helped push me to overcome them!

[itsJoe]

I never knew there was a term for a phobia of V*! I thought it was only a small handful of people but how wrong was I? For me it's actually the opposite, it's good to know that I'm not alone and that there are others out there who have the same thoughts, phobia etc and coming to places like this where you can express your feelings and thoughts helps that little bit more.

[punchbuggy]

When I found out the name I felt a lot of relief like wow I am not a freak! There are others like me. I think it was comforting in a way

[Grace47]

I agree it was a relief to know other people had it and I was not alone. Also, I can now talk to people who have it and understand without burdening my family. It's like having a cheer squad to help me through the bad times that are happening less and less now.

[jennjt]

I see what you are saying, for sure. For example, I had a psych one time tell me that I had borderline personality disorder (I don't & have had many psych drs since then confirm that I don't); after I looked up what that was, I felt, I don't know... Damaged, in a sense? Like there was no point in fighting because that's "just who I was." My behavior was much worse. Of course, now, 13 years later, I can see that in hindsight & realize that it was ludicrous.

As for emet, though, I agree with what others have posted-- I felt like I was carrying around this big secret (my fear of v) for most of my life. I felt alone, and, really, kind of crazy! I was sooooo relieved to find this site and learn more about my phobia-- starting with its name . It has helped me to at least understand it more, if nothing else. There's always a comfort in knowing we're not alone