Emetophobia Solved Testimonial

I first came to see Paul in October 2012 with my Fiancé about my ’emetophobia’, as at the time I felt the whole process was too delicate to deal with alone.

I was so down about my ‘emetophobia’ that coming to see Paul was my last resort, after having a course of unsuccessful CBT on the NHS.

After this had failed, I really didn’t see a way of me getting better.

Along with my ‘emetophobia’, I had picked up other traits that were really bringing me down, such as anxiety, panic attacks and low self esteem.

‘Emetophobia’ put my life on hold in many ways. I never felt I could tackle things on my own, such as simple every day things like eating a meal out, and on very anxious occasions, even in my own home, purely because I feared I would be sick.

I would find it extremely difficult when I went on holiday, as I feared the foreign food would make me ill.

Being around people who were ill would send me into a complete anxiety attack, and I would quarantine myself to ‘protect’ me from the ‘sickness bug’.

Before I came to see Paul, I never imagined myself ever having children, as the whole thought of going through a pregnancy, and then having to look after a baby/child when it was ill, was just unthinkable.

Paul knew just the programme for me called the ‘CORE’ programme, a programme I read and completed at home, and would then come to him weekly to review my progress, that unbelievably, we began to notice improve really quickly.

Paul increased my confidence so much, and because of that, the effort I put in to getting myself better increased.

Through working with Paul, I have come to realise that I don’t, and even never have had ‘emetophobia’ (hence the quotation marks around that word every time I mention it) instead; I just have badly managed thinking and limiting belief systems.

It was thinking that I had ‘emetophobia’ that kept the ‘fear’ going.

It’s amazing how much you actually relax once you realise the phobia isn’t effecting you, but instead your own thoughts and limiting beliefs are.

When I have unhelpful thoughts crop up in my mind, I am able now to control them, and when I say to myself that its me who’s creating these thoughts, no one else, and certainly not the thing called ‘emetophobia’ it puts things back into perspective, and I can soon go back to getting on with my day-to-day tasks.

Eating out is now a pleasure, not a massive worry, and I can happily eat out with people who I’m even not that close to.

However when I do have the OCCASIONAL blip, I know now that everyone can have a bad day, and that it’s ok to feel it sometimes, it doesn’t mean I’m taking a step back.

Since meeting Paul, I’ve set up my own small business making balloons, and couldn’t be happier.

Eventually, I’d like to quit my day job and do it full time.

It’s since my self-esteem has grown that I’ve been able to do this.

I travelled over an hour away from my home on my own, motorway driving, to attend balloon classes, and when there, did not have any panic/anxiety/’emetophobic’ thoughts, because I was doing something I absolutely loved, but of course before I met Paul, this wouldn’t have been possible.

I also have better relationships with my friends, as before I found it very hard to become close to anyone other than my fiancé.

Through limiting beliefs, I never thought I’d get on with other girls, but since starting the programme with Paul, I have amazing relationships with my friends.

I went shopping for a whole day with my friend, something I previously found incredibly intimidating and anxious, but I had a wonderful time, and the friendship between us grew even closer.

I’ve even been asked to be a godmother to one of my friends daughters.

Paul’s been fantastic, we’ve laughed more times than what I’ve felt down, and in a therapy session, that’s pretty unheard of.

Before I came to see Paul, I couldn’t actually say what I wanted to do with my life, I couldn’t imagine my future.

Now, I know exactly what I want to do, where I want to be, and the thought of starting a family further in the future no longer scares me, but actually excites me.

Thanks a lot Paul, keep in touch.

J.

More about Emetophobia here.