A recovery story
David: “I believe in you”
Most people with this phobia are women, but a good many are not. David had been frightened of being sick for years, with anxiety and panic attacks alongside it.
What it was doing to his life
The same thing it does to everybody’s. Work, school, home, friendships — all of it shaped around avoiding sick, or the smell of it, or the possibility of it. What he ate, where he went, who he saw, all carefully managed.
What shifted
He found the programme online and worked through it with one of our coaches. No CBT, no exposure therapy, no medication.
“I started to believe that I could cope with situations and process things internally, instead of thinking that things are always happening to me and I cannot do anything to cope,” is how he describes the turning point — which is the whole programme in a sentence.
His message to other sufferers
“You know emetophobia is taking your dreams and your happiness out of you — you are always worrying and always anxious. But I believe in you. You can start thriving too.”
There are more men’s stories on the men’s recovery page.
Bella Ramsey had this too.
And came out the other side.
“It’s not controlling my life anymore.”
The BAFTA-winning actor — The Worst Witch, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us — was housebound at one point as a teenager, and took travel sickness tablets and antacids to get through a working day on set. They had tried self-help books, CBT and hypnotherapy. None of it worked.
Bella went through this programme, and describes no longer thinking about sickness, no longer being frightened of it, and no longer letting it decide what they can and can’t do. They talk about all of it, openly, in their own words.
Listen to the episode →
Where to next?
Everything else you might want to read.