Emetophobia and Coronavirus
We appreciate this might be a particularly difficult time for emetophobes, Coronavirus is all over your newsfeeds, newspapers, TV. Although the symptoms are not a ‘direct’ concern, you might notice your emetophobia, anxiety, panic, OCD etc. is worse at the moment, or you are having a Blip.
This is because the uncertainty around it directly taps into the thinking styles that create emetophobia, especially having a high desire for control. When life is less predictable, you feel less in control, your fear/feeling you can’t cope increases, so your need to control increases… and thus your symptoms get worse.
The default coping mechanism for emetophobes is to avoid situations you believe you can’t tolerate, so you might currently be creating a huge amount of anxiety whilst strategising how to completely escape as a way to alleviate this anxiety.
Emetophobes also often have a general health anxiety, and tend to know all the tricks of the trade when it comes to sanitisation. The promotion of hand-washing, hand sanitisers, not touching doors etc. might be particularly difficult if you have OCD or currently obsessively hand wash and sanitise.
So, at this time, we would suggest putting extra effort in to ‘thrive.’ ‘Thriving’ is a thing you DO, not a thing you are, so just the effort you put in will help. This means reading/re-reading the book, doing the exercises, focusing on managing your thinking, processing your positives. Instead of zooming in on what the media is saying and responding with extreme anxiety and panic, divert that energy into building your psychological skills and resources to feel (and be) more powerful right now. Are you looking at the situation with a healthy perspective? Or are you looking at it through black and white/catastrophic/obsessive etc. filter? Remember the Stockdale Paradox:
Retain an internal sense of power and control: the belief that you have the skills to tolerate, influence, or overcome any challenges you face
AND at the same time
Confront reality and maintain a realistic appraisal (perspective) of your situation
We understand if you’re thinking ‘it’s easier to just escape, hide, feel anxious,’ or think that the huge amounts of anxiety you are creating is protecting you somehow, but it is only reinforcing how powerless you feel, creating more anxiety, and making you feel worse. It is a vicious cycle.
It’s absolutely OK and normal if you put in some effort to thrive, but don’t end up doing it consistently, or aren’t ‘perfectly’ thriving through this. The very motivation to do so is what matters, that is all you need to do.
On our Facebook post about this, many ex-emetophobes who went through the programme commented saying how unbothered/anxiety-free they felt about coronavirus, the opposite from how they would have felt in the past. This is BRILLIANT. We are so so happy for them.
If you don’t feel like that, it’s ok, it is possible to get there, for now it’s about calming everything down.
You’re not alone in this!
Do get in touch with your Thrive Programme Coach ® or contact us to be referred to one if you would like further support. You can also follow us on Facebook.