Parents who have supported their children to overcome Emetophobia...
As a parent or guardian with a child who is struggling with Emetophobia we understand how difficult it can be. It can be hard knowing how you can best help them when they are resistant and afraid of doing everyday activities. The majority of the parents that come to us will admit to never having heard of emetophobia before their child started to show symptoms. Which explains why, when children begin to show symptoms such as agoraphobia, under-eating and avoidance of social interactions, the parents can feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to know what to do.
In actual fact, we have even found that some experienced GP's have never heard of emetophobia, many being alarmingly quick to prescribe medications or refer on to other interventions. This process of being passed around between health professionals, whilst also having to watch your child become increasingly unwell, can take a significant toll on the parent.
Symptoms such as these...
- Excessive worry
- Anxiety and Panic Attacks
- OCD behaviours (constant checking)
- Low self-esteem
- Social Anxiety
- Eating difficulties (which can lead to disorders)
- Persistent feelings of nausea
- Lacking confidence
... can develop into...
- Avoiding going to school
- Trouble sleeping
- Avoiding car journeys/public transport
- Self-harm
- Feeling suicidal
- Social withdrawal
- Avoidance of food/objects
- Avoidance of social gatherings
Significant Others & Collusion
How Parents can unwittingly help maintain ther child's Emetophobia
A ‘significant other’ is any person who is important to an individual's life or wellbeing. For your child, the main significant other will be you - the parents. A significant other, understandably, shows love, encouragement and support for their child, they listen to their worries and fears, help and support them through painful, emotional, or other difficult times. They mop their brow, fetch and carry, take them to their appointments, speak to the doctors and therapists, learn all about their child’s condition, and most importantly, very rarely challenge them.
This ‘significant other’ is exactly what we would all want if we suffered a heart attack, stroke, broke a leg or suffered some other similar setback – who doesn’t want a little tender loving care when they feel lost, in pain, or unhappy? The difficulty is, that there is sometimes a fine line between ‘giving support’ and ‘colluding and validating’ (reinforcing). The significant other can be the person that (usually unintentionally) helps to provide the reinforcements mentioned in the previous section.
Significant others often help to maintain a person’s fear of being sick. This is particularly true with emetophobia in children whereby very often the parents (unwittingly, of course) validate the child’s fear and collude with their beliefs. Every time you have a conversation with your child about emetophobia and you don't gently challenge their belief, you are inadvertently colluding with it. It is this collusion that helps maintain your child's belief that being sick would be the worst event in the world for them and that they wouldn't be able to cope with it.
Ideally you want to be able to take a step back, maintain some perspective and support your child, without validating their negative beliefs. Gently challenging any limiting beliefs that a person may have, whilst still showing your unconditional love for them, is much more beneficial than just being sympathetic.
" Well I’m absolutely thrilled to say that Ellie is now completely free of Emetophobia! The change is absolutely incredible to say the least.
Since the summer holidays Ellie’s attendance at school has been 100%, and she also got herself a little job locally. All of her safety-seeking behaviours have completely gone and Ellie has even started eating chicken!
It’s so lovely to see her enjoying her life like a normal teenager. I am immensely proud of the effort she put into changing her life, it wasn’t easy but she never gave up once she started.
I just wanted to say a big thank you from both Ellie and I for all your help. The Thrive Programme worked wonders. "
Emetophobia and Recovery
Nearly 20,000 people worldwide have overcome Emetophobia and their accompanying symptoms using our unique programme. Based on clinical experience, scientific research and applied psychology, we will explain how your child's emetophobia was created, and how you can - safely and carefully - get rid of it completely.
Although Emetophobia is serious psychological illnesses, you should not feel disheartened or overwhelmed. Over the past 30 years, we have successfully helped thousands upon thousands of sufferers - of all ages, from all walks of life and from all over the world - to completely overcome their phobia and take back control of their mental health.
Our Teenagers Manual is designed for 13-17 year olds to work through on their own, but for children (age 7-13) we offer this course for the child to work through alongside their parents or carers.
The Family Pack contains a simple, fun and accessible step-by-step programme with reading and exercises, enabling them to not only beat their phobia but build vital confidence and self-esteem. Work through it with your child and they'll soon be over their phobia and loving life again!
We include the adult manual in the bundle as, being a significant adult in their life, you will need to read the adult manual first before working through the young person's manual with your child. This is so you can fully understand what they're going through and how to help them: reinforcing important concepts on a daily basis, managing blips in a healthy way and challenging them when they need it. We've designed it to be a simple (and fun!) 6-12 week process for both of you. No pseudoscience, no psychobabble, just science-backed stages to beat this phobia.
This package contains everything you need to get your child emetophobia free and loving life. Follow the process in full and your child will be over their emetophobia. It's an exciting process, we can't wait for you to get started!
The programme manual + support videos are inexpensive, easy to access and are inspiring and empowering from the very start.