I’ve posted about fears involving fear of vomiting before. A fear of vomiting is called emetophobia. It comes from the Greek work, emesis, which means “an act or instance of vomiting”.
Shauna’s Fear of Vomiting
Shauna came to see me about her fear of vomiting. She had suffered from this phobia since childhood. She also had a fear of boats, which could induce vomiting. Before we began working together on this issue, I needed to understand what was driving it. After some discussion, Shauna agreed that her emetophobia represented a fear of losing control.
This conclusion seems obvious, but it could have gone in several directions. For instance, it could have been a fear of embarrassment from vomiting in front of others, as the primary issue. But Shauna’s fear was about losing control, and being on a boat, out at sea, also made her feel this way, especially if it happened to be a rocky ride which could induce vomiting.
So now we had the real problem, a fear of losing control. This went hand in hand with a lack of confidence which Shauna had also experienced since childhood. Of course, if Shauna felt confident, she would also feel more in control. So now we can begin to see how Shauna’s lack of confidence had fuelled a sense of feeling out of control, which then led to a fear of vomiting and boats.
Healing that Feeling
One definition of anxiety is a loss of control. That’s why stomachs churn, hearts race, legs get wobbly, hands sweat and all sorts of other subconscious sensations come to the fore to let you know that there’s a problem. Your body is literally yelling at you: “I can’t cope! I have lost control! I am not capable of managing this!”
By treating Shauna’s anxiety, with a focus on self-worth issues, we managed to get Shauna to simply live her life without this unnecessary internal commentary that had accompanied her since her youth. So you see, I never once needed to address the vomiting directly, although I could have gone down that path also, using NLP techniques to manipulate the way Shauna experienced this fear. I could have also used direct suggestion hypnosis to calm the body when faced with the prospect of vomiting. I did in fact use some of these tools but my primary focus was on treating her anxiety generally, and raising her self-esteem.
Why Follow Up after Sessions is Important
Different approaches work for different people. I have been lucky enough to treat a broad spectrum of clients and so I am always challenged by what path to take – but that’s quite an enjoyable challenge. The processes I have learnt have provided around a 90 per cent success rate with the clients who actually do the simple techniques I ask them to do.
It is so important to persist with the few tasks that I assign, simply because we are dealing with pattern changing. If you have been doing something one way for 30 years, you can understand that it might take a little bit of dedication to change that pattern. I am only talking weeks here, not years, and the tasks I assign take no longer that 3 minutes a day. Is it worth it? Well, that is a question that only you can answer.
I have seen some clients change within session, in a seemingly permanent way. I know this when they get back to me after several months or when I bump into them in town, and those old symptoms have not returned. But usually, it takes a bit of follow up to secure the change. This is all part of being ready for change.
Whether you have a fear of vomiting or any other psychologically based issue, hypnotherapy can help if you are ready for change. Horizons Clinical Hypnotherapy Sunshine Coast.