Emetophobia Support - Processing Events

Emetophobia support - why is it so important to process events in an INTERNAL way?

This short emetophobia support video discusses the difference between processing events in an external manner versus an internal manner. If you’ve read any of The The Thrive Programme Workbooks you will know what is meant by an internal and external locus of control. If not, here is a short introduction.

Emetophobia-free was developed by Rob Kelly, based on the same tools and techniques The Thrive Programme but specifically for people with a fear of being sick. The specific emetophobia support manual is based on a large body of research into emetophobia, as well as our own emetophobia research paper, which studied the efficacy of Cure Your Emetophobia and Thrive on 164 participants (all of them overcame their emetophobia).

The word 'locus' is Latin for 'place', and the ‘control’ refers to how much power or influence you believe you have over events in your life. Locus of control is a concept that was first developed by clinical psychologist Julian Rotter in the 1950s.

People with an internal locus of control have a high sense of primary control, believing that they strongly influence most of the events and outcomes in their lives. They also have a high sense of secondary control, believing that even when events are outside their primary control, they have the skills and resources to respond positively, cope and bounce back.

People with an external locus of control generally have a low sense of primary control, believing that external forces (such as fate, luck, other people) determine most of the events and outcomes in their lives. They also have a low sense of secondary control, believing that they do not have the skills and resources to cope with events outside their primary control.

Once you have your locus of control it becomes habitual to see, think and process experiences in relation to it. You begin to attribute the causes of events and experiences in life to either internal, or external causes, further propagating your belief. Every time you interpret and process an event in your life, which you do many times daily, you are further strengthening your locus of control. Much like people who tend to either see the metaphorical glass as either half-full, or half-empty, some people see, think and believe that they can influence what happens in their lives (internal) and others believe in fate, luck, chance and ‘significant others’ (external).

The following emetophobia support video will explain how the way in which you process events affects you.