There’s a Plethora of Help Out There Now

I remember in the silly 1986 movie “The Three Amigos” when one of the amigos uses the word “plethora” and the bandit ringleader, El Guapo, makes fun of him saying: “Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.” I’ve never forgotten laughing my head off at that line. I had to look the word up that day and since then I use it a lot! “Plethora” just means a whole lot.

Back in 2010 when I left the ministry to practice psychotherapy full-time there was nothing much on the internet about emetophobia. There was a definition, and if you looked up “fear of vomiting” you could find the word “emetophobia.” There was also a forum called “The International Emetophobia Forum” at www.emetophobia.org (which is still there) where people with emetophobia could talk with one another. These forums have now been largely replaced with Facebook groups, although they were much superior. If you join a group on Facebook it may never come through your feed. You would have to go looking for it. When I post in my group which has close to 5k members usually only 1-300 see the post. The IES forum was life-changing for me. I met other people with emetophobia, and a woman named Margaret from Netherlands put up a little website with some exposure pictures beginning with one that was eggs with faces drawn on, and one egg was split open at the “mouth” with egg coming out which faintly resembled the egg vomiting. It was pretty rudimentary. From this, I got the inspiration for my first website which is still at the URL www.emetophobiahelp.org .

I put up my website, advertised for clients through the Forum and on my website and sat back waiting for them to pour in, since nobody seemed to know anything about it. I figured that as a therapist who used to have emetophobia, I would appeal to people to work with. As you can guess, my little DIY “weebly” website sat like a drop of water in the Pacific Ocean of the internet. I couldn’t understand why when I Googled “help for emetophobia” that my website wasn’t even on the first 50 pages. It was then that I learned about SEO (search engine optimization).  I learned that it was a thing, I mean. I had no idea how to do it. So armed with a book called “SEO for Dummies,” and some helpful websites about it, I set out to learn. I took a month, 8-hours a day, to absorb everything I possibly could about SEO. I wrote blogs. I interviewed a nutritionist and posted that, I engaged the expertise of a microbiologist to talk about norovirus, what it was, how it was transmitted, etc. and I posted that. I kept the content fresh with key words like “emetophobia” “fear of vomiting” “fear of throwing up” and “emetophobia help.” Slowly but surely my website climbed to #1 on Google. It took about a year.

Keep in mind that in Google images was in its infancy in 2010, and YouTube was even younger. Internet speeds, although no longer dial-up, were mercilessly slow. There was no Zoom, so I started working with people on Skype. Early days for help with emetophobia, for sure.

Now there are a plethora of websites about emetophobia. Some are huge and pay for ads on Google, so once again this site falls lower on the search engine. But it’s still doing well for the keywords “emetophobia help” and “emetophobia treatment.” There is lots of information. I think my site still appeals because of my personal story of my struggle with emetophobia and my triumph over it. I’m also on the cutting edge of knowledge about emetophobia research.

With the publication of my book for clinicians: “Emetophobia: Understanding and Treating Fear of Vomiting for Children and Adults” you’d think I’d accomplished my life’s mission. But I’m not ready to pack it in just yet – not until there is help for people at every price point. Lots of folks can’t afford to work with me individually, especially with the past five years of inflation since Covid. And even my classes were recently described to me as “expensive” by someone. Fair enough. Expensive is always more money than someone has to spare. So here is the result of my latest mission, to provide help at every price point. Hopefully it’s all linked. I’m putting the costs in American dollars – more expensive for Canadians and Australians but less for people in the UK and Europe.

1. Individual sessions with me (private pay only) 12-16 @ $175 = $2100 USD
2. Online live Classes with me = $525-$700 USD
3. Pre-recorded webinar series [not yet available] = $250-$350USD
4. Parents of Teens OR Parents of Kids with Emetophobia Workshops = $68USD
5. Peace and Calm Box = $66USD
6. Anxiety and Panic Toolkit = $35 USD
7. Book: “Emetophobia: Understanding and Treating Fear of Vomiting in Children and Adults” $30USD e-book; $40USD paperback
8. [coming in 2026: Anna’s self-help book and memoir: “Overcoming Emetophobia”]
9. Panic No More e-book = $10
10. Emetophobia Help with Anna Christie PODCAST = free
11. www.emetophobiahelp.org website with information for people with emetophobia = free
12. www.emetophobia.net website with information and resources for therapists = free

I do take some flack for my “advertising” of some of these. That’s ok, I get it. Some things cost more than people can afford. And there are a lot of shysters out there trying to make a buck from desperate people. The thing is, all of this stuff takes time and a lot of internet software, so I have to make a living. Plus I have cost of living like everyone else. Just know that if I get too much flack I’ll probably block you from wherever you’re leaving it. Because people need to know what’s available to help them.

There are also other self-help books at various prices and many many websites with information. I have a list of therapists on http://www.emetophobiahelp.org who may take your insurance and will cost you close to nothing. There are even a couple of other podcasts, although they may have fizzled out by now but some of their episodes are still available and they’re quite good. I’m on virtually every social media channel with blogs, information, notifications about classes and workshops, merchandise, you name it!

Facebook (info page AND recovery group), Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube.

I figure once I get that webinar series up I can die peacefully? Maybe retire. But knowing me, I’ll just cook up something else!