The Science

Emetophobia-Free is an evidence-based training programme, designed to help individuals build the mental skillset necessary to overcome emetophobia — a fear of being sick. But what does ‘evidence-based’ mean?

Before the programme

You start to feel more powerful very quickly

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Fate Cognition Social Past Self Community

Power

Coping skills

Control skills

Locus of control

Before the programme

As your power increases, anxiety and worry decrease

Brooding

Perfectionist

Black & White

Paranoid

Catastrophic

Hypervigilant

Helpless

Impulsive

Negative

Sick thoughts

Safety thoughts

Anxiety level

Typical before and after results. Here you can see some of the 25 factors change during the programme. Actual mean figures from the last 1,000 participants.

What ‘evidence-based’ means

Empirical data, research findings, scientific studies.

In psychology, when we describe a programme or method as being ‘evidence-based’, we mean that there is empirical data, research findings, or scientific studies that support or provide insight into the theories, concepts, or claims within it.

For us, this heavy reliance on scientific evidence is hugely important, as one of the reasons this programme was created was to empower people with a genuine understanding of mental health, self-efficacy and personal agency. As well as the clinical experience and studies that the programme was founded upon, we continue to collect and analyse data from every single person who undertakes the programme, to produce evidence to attest to the success and long-lasting benefits of the programme, but also to enable us to continually update and improve the programme.

Below you’ll find some further information on five particular areas.

  1. 1Data collection and feedback from programme participants
  2. 2Our research study into the efficacy of Emetophobia-Free
  3. 3Research studies the programme was founded upon
  4. 4Video testimonials from past participants of the programme
  5. 5Podcasts from past participants, Thrive Programme Coaches and outside experts

1. Data collection and feedback from participants.

Every teenage and adult participant in the programme completes an Emetophobia ‘TQ Quiz’ both at the beginning and the end of their course — which is usually 8 weeks in duration. Our purpose-built TQ (Thrive Quotient) Quiz forms the backbone of our programme as it identifies for the participant the areas of their cognition, beliefs, feelings and behaviours that are driving their emetophobia.

As they work their way through the programme and start to feel more powerful, their scores on the quiz will start to change and the participant will see exactly how they are changing. At the end of the programme they will be able to identify how much they have changed in every area of their life.

375pieces of dynamic data, each time the quiz is completed
15,000people have taken the online TQ Quiz
12mdata references, just under, in total

The quiz seeks to find out several different variables — all of which contribute to how powerful you feel — including:

How you feel and function

  • How often you get depressed (if at all)
  • How often you get anxious (if at all)
  • How powerful you feel in specific situations in your life
  • How powerful you feel in key areas of your life
  • How internal or external your Locus of Control is
  • How often you create anxiety, stress or fear

How you see yourself

  • How high or low your self-esteem is
  • How high or low your social confidence is
  • How strong or weak your Desire for Control is
  • How good your control skills are compared to your coping skills
  • How much self-belief you have

Unhelpful thinking styles

How often you exhibit one or more of the following: Brooding, Perfectionist, Black and White, Paranoid, Catastrophic, Hypervigilant, Helpless, Impulsive and Negative.

We gather all of that data from every single participant, so we can see exactly how far they have come — how much they have changed — in the 8 weeks they have been applying the programme.

All of the before and after quizzes are then studied, compared and analysed, and we then do several things with the data, including:

  • Reach out to participants who we think could use some extra support
  • Assess success levels for all participants
  • Discuss how we can improve elements of the programme
  • Run boffin-level tests against our data to see how it stacks up against other similar surveys

We have the before and after data for the last 15,000+ people who have been through the programme (since the quizzes have been online) and it’s very clear and obvious to see how successfully they have overcome their phobia, and just how much they are now thriving.

As well as the data we collect from the TQ Quiz, we also gather valuable information from the many other mini-quizzes and questionnaires we use throughout the programme. All of this data gets fed back to our HQ and is added to the pot to be analysed.

Add to this data the feedback we get when an Emetophobia-Free Coach supports a person through the programme, and the feedback we get from over 80% of the programme participants — including all the video testimonials they send in — and you can appreciate how much evidence we collect, collate and analyse, on a monthly basis.

2. Our research study into the efficacy of Emetophobia-Free.

In 2014 we followed 62 sufferers of emetophobia through our programme (back then it was called ‘Cure Your Emetophobia and Thrive’) and then published details of the survey — which you can find here.

The results of this survey suggested that the Thrive Programme may be an effective treatment for emetophobia, as all participants with a fear of vomiting reported improvements in their condition. Significant improvements were also seen on the emetophobia severity scale (ESS), with emetophobic individuals scoring substantially lower on the ESS after completing the Thrive Programme compared to their initial scores.

One strength of this study is that it involved a larger sample than other research, suggesting that widespread successful treatment is possible. These initial results support the notion that interventions that challenge unhelpful beliefs and thinking styles can be successful in substantially improving symptoms of emetophobia.

From the ‘Discussions and Conclusions’ section of the report

3. Research studies the programme was founded upon.

Below you’ll find references for many of the research studies and papers that informed and influenced this programme. Be warned: there are lots of them! We suggest you grab a coffee and sit yourself somewhere nice and comfortable, especially if you intend to peruse the whole list.

We can’t show you the full paper for legal and copyright reasons, but if you google the reference you’ll be able to locate, download or buy the full paper.

138 references
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4. Video testimonials from past participants.

Recorded accounts from people who completed the programme. Each one is a personal, first-hand account of what changed.

Watch the testimonials →

5. Podcasts with participants, coaches and outside experts.

Long-form conversations with people who had the phobia and no longer do, with the coaches who work with them, and with experts from outside the organisation.

Listen to the podcast →