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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 14 of 14. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on March 2, 2013, at 15:08:39
My therapist and I are going to do a try at tackling the emetophobia with a slow program of exposure, addressing negative thinking, relaxation techniques, etc.
It's taken me this long to reach a tolerable level of anxiety over even starting the work.
:(
I hope I don't start associating him with vomit...
Posted by Phillipa on March 2, 2013, at 18:25:23
In reply to Dipping my toes in CBT again, posted by Dinah on March 2, 2013, at 15:08:39
I hope he doesn't vomit? How does one do this? Phillipa
Posted by Dinah on March 3, 2013, at 11:21:35
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Dinah, posted by Phillipa on March 2, 2013, at 18:25:23
Goodness no! I'd never be able to think of him as my therapist again. In fact, it's stated that it's very important that any exposure should *not* include the therapist.
My therapist was also very firm in that it should not in any way involve vomit in his office. :)
And of course it goes very slow. The idea is that you should have zero anxiety before moving to the next stage. So far I'm still having a fairly high degree of anxiety just discussing it, so we'll be stuck there for a while I suppose.
http://www.emetophobiaresource.org/
Posted by Phillipa on March 3, 2013, at 20:43:02
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Phillipa, posted by Dinah on March 3, 2013, at 11:21:35
More fear of self vomitting I share this fear but since I don't vomit for whatever reason not a problem. But when others vomit as when working I'd jump away. Phillipa
Posted by baseball55 on March 5, 2013, at 18:38:51
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Phillipa, posted by Dinah on March 3, 2013, at 11:21:35
Forgive me for being dense, but why is this a problem? Do you work in health care or with small children? Or is this just a fear you have in general? I don't think I have seen anyone throw up in years since my daughter was young. My husband had a stomach virus last year, but was upstairs and closed the bathroom door when he threw up. It's just not something I've ever encountered on a regular basis. I fear throwing up myself, only because it's such a miserable feeling, but even that happens pretty infrequently (like once every three or four years).
Posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 20:36:29
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again, posted by baseball55 on March 5, 2013, at 18:38:51
It's amazing how much it can affect a life. It might be hard for others to understand, but it affects nearly everything.
Looking inside this book might give some idea. But even then....
"Living With Emetophobia....My Story"
I have to have an escape route everywhere I go. I don't go near where people might be drinking. I constantly am scanning people nearby. I was once within hearing range of someone who got sick from too much sun, so now I avoid places with too much sun, even if no alchohol is involved. I go on airplanes, even though it terrifies me. But car rides with people I don't know? Boat trips (even short ones)? Forget it.
There are places in shopping center parking lots, and even my house and my parents house, that I just avoid. Anyplace that is associated with vomit in my mind is contaminated. Your husband may have thrown up upstairs. But that would have meant that that bathroom was someplace I might not go for months or years. And it might take months before I didn't view my husband with a certain amount of consciousness of association.
At times, I've been close to agoraphobic over this phobia. At least with my husband, I can tell him what I'm afraid of and that helps immensely. My mother never would believe how much I feared this. So if I was afraid to go to church, or a picnic, or a car ride, or a vacation, or whatever, she would be angry with me and tell me it wasn't because of what I told her it was because of. People weren't going to be sick wherever it is we were going, so I was obviously lying. I wasn't lying. But I learned to lie to her and come up with other reasons or no reasons at all. I also lied to the psychiatrist she sent me to because I assumed he also would not believe me.
Of course the real irony is that I was far more likely to be exposed to it in the sanctity of my room. My brother frequently threw up, and my bedroom shared a wall with the bathroom. I remember sitting in my closet with my fingers stuffed in my ears. After I got a certain age, I realized the benefit of having both the TV and stereo on at full blast and placing them between myself and that wall. I'm sure my parents thought I was a typical teenager blasting the music loudly.
I'm terrified of being trapped. And I'm a bit terrified of the treatment. I keep thinking that if I have this treatment, I'll have to stay around people who are vomiting instead of running, and the fact that it would ideally no longer bother me doesn't in any way affect that fear.
Posted by Phillipa on March 5, 2013, at 21:32:43
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again, posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 20:36:29
Isn't some of it kind of OCD? I'm only asking. I don't like vomit but it doesn't effect my life. I'm sorry Dinah. Phillipa
Posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 22:24:41
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Dinah, posted by Phillipa on March 5, 2013, at 21:32:43
It's classified as a phobia, though I don't really see the difference between it and OCD.
I compare it to my fear of rats. I really am afraid of rats. We recently had rats in the shed, and I don't care how much bleach we use, I'd just as well throw out anything that reeks of rat. I'd probably go to fair extremes if I were ever in a an enclosed space with a feral rat. I won't include pet rats in this. It's the big Norway rats I fear. The ones who look you in the eye with contempt. I'll probably never pass by the hole under my neighbor's house without thinking of the rat who paused and stared at me once. So there is that sense of consciousness with the rat as well.
But I'd never really say I have a phobia about rats. I don't avoid anyplace it isn't entirely sensible to avoid. I don't refuse to go to my car because I once saw a rat about to go under the neighbor's house. I don't consider every situation in terms of the likelihood (no matter how remote) of rats being part of it. I don't find my life restricted because I'm afraid of rats.
It's a different thing altogether to have a severe phobia/obsession than it is to simply fear something.
Posted by Phillipa on March 6, 2013, at 18:49:36
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Phillipa, posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 22:24:41
I don't know what to say? Phillipa
Posted by baseball55 on March 6, 2013, at 19:49:57
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again, posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 20:36:29
I guess what I don't understand is how often are you actually around people who vomit? I've never seen anyone vomit on a plane, train, bus, boat, anything. Is it just some general fear that somebody might vomit that disturbs you? And if so, why? Given that this is a really infrequent occurence.
I keep thinking that if I have this treatment, I'll have to stay around people who are vomiting instead of running, and the fact that it would ideally no longer bother me doesn't in any way affect that fear.
Posted by baseball55 on March 6, 2013, at 19:53:29
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Phillipa, posted by Dinah on March 5, 2013, at 22:24:41
It does seem more like an obsession than a phobia. A phobia is when you freak after being exposed to something -- like people at a party, flying on planes. But how often are you actually exposed to someone throwing up. It seems like you are obsessed with the idea of this, when the reality is that this is something one rarely experiences unless around babies or in hospitals.
Posted by Dinah on March 6, 2013, at 21:12:47
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again, posted by baseball55 on March 6, 2013, at 19:53:29
It seems more like OCD than phobia to me as well. But my case is not at all unusual. The internet is full of stories as extreme as mine. It's categorized by the powers that be as a phobia. So clinically it's a phobia.
Agoraphobia is also a phobia isn't it?
Posted by Dinah on March 6, 2013, at 21:13:48
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Dinah, posted by Phillipa on March 6, 2013, at 18:49:36
Thanks, Phillipa. There's no need to say anything. It's a hard thing for people to understand, I know.
Posted by Phillipa on March 6, 2013, at 23:02:15
In reply to Re: Dipping my toes in CBT again » Phillipa, posted by Dinah on March 6, 2013, at 21:13:48
Yes it is but do people understand me and my odd fears? No so does this make us unique or odd? Phillipa
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