What to Look for in Emetophobia Treatment
One of the questions I get asked often in my Facebook group (“Emetophobia NO PANIC”) is how to find treatment for emetophobia. There are a lot of options out there these days. It used to be necessary to find:
a) a therapist within driving distance of you
b) who took your insurance
c) or who was reasonably priced
d) who knew about emetophobia
e) and who had successfully treated it before.
Today, the bookstores, the internet and social media have provided us with lots of interesting alternatives. Here are a few (for adults with emetophobia):
1) Books
a. The Emetophobia Manual
b. Free Yourself from Emetophobia
c. Gag Reflections
2) Classes
a. Mine (Anna Christie – 10 classes, live)
b. Ken Goodman’s (recorded)
3) Groups
a. Facebook – most of these are filled with teenagers seeking reassurance they won’t be sick. My group doesn’t allow panic posts and has all sorts of other rules to create the ethos I was looking for.
b. In-person. Some therapists offer group therapy or group support for emetophobia or they include emetophobia in groups of people with OCD or anxiety disorders.
4) Programs by dodgy people in the UK who aren’t even therapists – apparently there you can claim to be one if you like. The first two listed here use NLP (neurolinguistic programming) which was debunked as junk science decades ago. Some people with milder forms of emetophobia have found these programs helpful. No one knows if they still feel that way 5 years later.
a. Thrive/Emetophobia Free (Rob Kelly)
i. If you’re going to try this, buy the book and work through it. DON’T pay for one of their unlicensed, untrained “consultants.”
b. The Speakmans (LinkedIn tells the real story – they call themselves “life-change therapists,” whatever that is.)
c. ERS – Emetophobia Recovery System (Rich Presta)
i. This one is at least only $99 and he offers a money-back guarantee which I’m told he honours. Again, he’s not a therapist but at least he doesn’t claim to be.
Today, there is no need to work face-to-face with a therapist. Studies during Covid showed that online work was just as effective and much safer. In the USA, and now Canada, therapists must be licensed in each state or province where the patient resides to provide them therapy. Ken Goodman (California) and I (British Columbia, Canada) offer a “coaching” program and I have clients sign an agreement that I am not responsible for their overall mental health, so they need another therapist in their state/province to look after them. I also offer emetophobia treatment to people in the UK and the rest of Europe.
So what do you look for in a therapist? Here are a few tips for your search:
1) Start by going to my “Find a Therapist” page here: https://emetophobiahelp.org/list-of-therapists/
2) If you have no luck there, go to http://www.psychologytoday.com/us or /ca (for Canada) or /au (for Australia) or/gb (Great Britain)
a. Plug in your postal or zip code
b. Click on “anxiety” “adults” and “CBT” for filters.
c. Now you should have a list of therapists to contact. Send an email to any that you’d like to try. Ask if they have treated emetophobia with CBT and ERP (the ERP – exposure and response prevention) is very important.
d. Make sure when you speak to them on the phone (before paying) that you actually like them. Therapy doesn’t work very well if your therapist is an ass, and unfortunately like every other profession in the world we have our share of asses.
e. If you have no luck with any of these, try plugging in “OCD.” Emetophobia has some kind of overlap with OCD and the treatment is the same.
Let your therapist know, if they have not treated emetophobia before, that there are two great resources we’ve made just for them:
1) Our book “Emetophobia: Understanding and Treating Fear of Vomiting in Children and Adults” is the first and only therapist manual for the treatment of emetophobia
2) Our website at http://www.emetophobia.net is full of free resources for therapists to use in your treatment
Good luck and I wish you all the best in your pursuit of healing!
