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Have you ever heard of the fear of vomiting? Neither had I, until to this date three years ago. I thought that I was alone in the entire world until then, having this embarrassing and ridiculous fear.
Lately I even found out that this phobia is actually a common, yet so very little investigated problem in the world. The largest online forum for emetophobia, and this specific phobia - currently(October 2010) with +17 000 members and growing every day. I always thought that I was a freak, but getting deeper into this subject in fact helped me to realize that I was only suffering from a milder version of it, I was actually very lucky.
Many of my fellow emetophobes are in a severe state of this condition, having to rush in and out of emergency wards with panic attacks, depression and sometimes attempts to suicide. The constant anxiety means they often have to be on sedatives just to make it through their days.
And many of us, with little or no understanding at all, neither from our family and friends, nor from the professionals and medical establishment who really are the ones that are supposed to help and support us. Quick note, the word emetophobia is not even recognized in the spell check dictionary. The suffering, the shame and lack of knowledge is still immense.

On top of all this, the public healthcare system in most countries is in most cases organized so that the fact this is just nothing else but a phobia, will put the patients in low priority, which instead may end up in tragedy.
With fear of not being taken seriously, many emetophobes report that they don’t dare to be frank about their phobia, even when they look for professional help. They just get diagnosed for general anxiety, which only keeps them in the shadow of no-man's-land, and out of the core of the problem.
This distressing tabu can very well officially result in eating disorders, OCD, social phobia, to name some. Young students are being robbed of their own education everyday, because of their so disabling panic and fear.
We all need to spread more and more awareness about this silent suffering, and in my opinion it’s urgent. Today it still seems like these people have no where else to turn but to the internet.

Exposure therapy in the form of flooding is generally not recommended for emetophobia, at least not together with a therapist that still does not have enough insight how this phobia works. In this situation the therapist will be in control over the process, which could be hazardous for the mental health of the client. Remember, these are people that censors the word vomit if you understand what I mean. A better solution would be to for example give a homework of some kind, where the clients can just sit silently by their own and learn to know their fear better and better, on their own conditions.
It is very important that the client is in control when it comes to be more and more in contact with his/her fear. Otherwise the fear may take over and win. A therapist can only support this gentle step by step process.

When I realized the extent of this mental condition and all the useless suffering following along with it, that’s when I decided to do what I can to spread awareness and write an ebook about this phobia. Deep down we all have our fears and challenges, that can be a trigger for personal growth. Thank goodness it seems like we live in a world that opens up more and more to relate and speak freely about difficult emotions and topics.

If anyone wonders why there is no images in the ebook, I will spread some light on that. I really wanted to add my own pictures and drawings into this ebook, but it is simply a securety guarantee for potentially emetophobic readers. Even a funny cartoon of for example a sick person may be disturbing for many of us, especially when it appears suddenly and randomly, and it could raise a panic attack. This is how severe our condition is. I would have to prepare readers in between the mass of text that an image soon will appear everytime it does, and I am guessing that a non-emetophobe only will wonder why these messages about further pictures keep coming up all the time. Well, so Charlie Chaplin said: "A day without laughter is a day wasted".

Benefits? In exchange for the single shy price of a lunch for two in town, three pakets of cigarettes or less than 10% of the monthly interests that most average credit loans has, something that people spend all the time without questioning, readers will hopefully gain, if nothing else, some perspective how difficult life sometimes can be. Although, life is meant to be fun. It's painful, tough and short enough already to not do the best we can of what we have and have some fun with it. Believe me, I know what I talk about when I say that. It's not only one more of all those stupid and superficial statements. In the process this turned out to become something of a parody of all those self-help ebooks online. There has to be some kind of genuine balance in everything to keep us on track, present and moving.

About the self-ironic content: The fact is that very few actually believe in the earnestness of our situation when they hear about our phobia. Some emetophobics may becoming concerned my seemingly easy approach only may add to that generally arrogant mentality, I don't know? But I believe the truth is the opposite. Humour is a weapon simply because it's so disarming. With a generous approach maybe we both can meet halfways in some form of greater understanding and respect for the variety of individual challenges and potential ways to grow.

Recommended link:

http://www.emetophobiahelp.org/