The Emetophobia Recovery Facebook Group
Emetophobia is the fear of being physically sick (with apologies for any trigger).
It’s the most complex of complex phobias, often operating like a deep rooted trauma.
This Emetophobia Recovery Facebook Group is open to everyone with emetophobia (not just Sense-Ability clients) who wants to regulate their nervous system and are looking for positive support on their journey to recovery.
I want to share what I have learnt and help as many people recover as possible.
I invite anyone struggling with emetophobia, and their partners and families, to join this growing and supportive community. Even those on other recovery journeys.
Emetophobia - fear of your own body’s responses
Emetophobia is essentially a fear of your own autonomic nervous system.
*️⃣ The thing you fear, you are carry within you!
↔️ The gut-brain axis directly connects the gut and the brain through the vagus nerve.
➡️ Anxiety and stress create nausea (commonly), and nausea triggers the emetophobe’s fear.
🔄 The feedback loop means that people with emetophobia will do ANYTHING to avoid triggers.
⏹️ Avoidance behaviours however keep them locked in fear and anxiety.
Avoidance Behaviours
Over time the phobia gets worse. Avoidance of reminders or potential triggers takes over.
Sufferers avoid social gatherings, family events, specific foods, alcohol, driving, flying, and in some cases, eventually, work and having a baby. They check the dates on food.
They wash their hands frequently and often obsessively clean the kitchen.
Emetophobia and other underlying issues
Some clients have other underlying issues that impact their emetophobia: sensory processing issues, other traumas, profound toxic shame, autism, ADHD, Ehlers’ Danlos Syndrome, other medical conditions, general stress and anxiety, or other specific issues.
Many simply believed they could never recover!
The Sense-Ability Emetophobia Pathway
Finding out I could help this group has been deeply rewarding.
With my Sense-Ability Emetophobia Recovery Pathway, I seen people recover who had previously given up hope. Even people with profound issues, the housebound and terrified.
- Joy* who had previously been taken to hospital because she had stopped eating for weeks
- Natalie* who had tried CBT, the Thrive Programme and exposure but had made little progress
- Sue* who had stopped going out at all and was almost house-bound despite trying all her efforts
Working at your Pace
Click on the image to read the article
The Sense-Ability Emetophobia Recovery Pathway focuses on calming down the nervous system, and gently encouraging exposure when the body and mind are ready.
Explaining Emetophobia to Partners, Family and Friends
Its so hard to explain to others just why emetophobia is so hard to live with, and why we can’t snap out of it.
Jane has written an article for people who care about emetophobes, to help them better understand the condition, and how they might sufferers.
Regulating the Nervous System
I learnt that the key to recovery isn’t exposure alone. The keys are:
calming and regulating the nervous system before changing thinking or doing any exposure.
reducing everyday stress and helping clients reach the rest and digest state.
resolving associated traumas
building a tool kit to manage their emotional responses and calm quickly
doing exposure under hypnosis when clients are in a state of psychological safety
reframing and embedding more helpful emotional responses to triggers
Natural easy exposure!
Once clients learnt to gently regulate their nervous systems, and rewire their minds through hypnosis and other processes, and resolve triggers and traumas, exposure became relatively natural and easy.
Used to being Hypervigilant
When people have suffered from severe emetophobia for years, their bodies and minds become hyper-vigilant. They stay on high alert.
Stress hormones course through their body daily. The body gets used to being in that state. It can even feel unsafe and weird to not be hyper-vigilant and fearful!
No wonder it’s hard to complete manuals yourself, or to make progress with exposure and desensitisation.
If you are finding this group helpful already, please do share it on other emetophobia support groups.
Survivors to Thrivers
Let’s build a community focused on recovery, and break the fear-avoid-fear cycle.
In The Emetophobia Recovery Group we can all share techniques and tips for nervous system regulation, helpful psycho-education snippets, positive stories of progress and recivery.
It’s a must monitored space offering support and encouragement on the journey to full recovery.
How is The Emetophobia Recovery Group different?
Most groups are run by emetophobes supporting each other with avoidance behaviours eg working out the odds of being unwell or reassuring each other something won’t happen. These offer important validation and psychological support but they won’t help with recovery.
These groups can keep people locked in avoidance and fear.
About The Sense-Ability Emetophobia Recovery Pathway
DM me if you are interested in my full Emetophobia Recovery Programme. If not, you will always be welcome in the Recovery Group, even if you are undertaking a different recovery path.
* I changed the names to protect my clients
Who is Jane Pendry?
Jane has been working with this challenging phobia for many years, and has had the honour of watching people recover with her Sense-Ability Emetophobia Recovery Pathway every week.
Most of Jane’s emetophobia clients have tried a lot of things that helped somewhat, but didn’t resolve the problem for good.
Sometimes paths that worked for others proved to be too tough for them, or simply ineffective, eg CBT, working through manuals, the Thrive Programme, exposure and desensitisation. They became disheartened, even crushed.
Jane Pendry
DSFH, HPD; Reg CNHC, AfSFH, MNCH, ABNLP, ABH, IARTT; BA Hons (London), PGCE (Cantab)
Sense-Ability Hypnotherapy & Coaching, Wheatley, Oxford, OX33 1XJ
Jane@sense-ability.co.uk
+44 (0)7843 813 883