RAPID EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITISATION (or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing EMDR) Traumatic memories are thought to be erased from the memory and substituted with a pleasurable alternative thought.  It is not recommended for patients with vertigo or visual disorders (e.g. nystagmus) causing giddiness linked to eye movements.

Below is a summary of EMDR treatment experienced by an emetophobia sufferer who contacted Gut Reaction and agreed for her experience to be printed:-

I have been seeing a psychologist for almost 5 years for treatment of moderate depression.  Because my husband's job is going to require that he travel in the near future, he urged me to talk to my psychologist about the emet.  She and I have discussed it before, but I always refused to do anything about it.  So, I made it my New Year's Resolution to at least look into it and maybe try to work my way out of it this year.  She suggested EMDR because there are a great many things about my childhood (when the fear began) that I don't remember.  

I don't remember what brought on the first instance, I remember it, but I don't recall what I felt. Anyway, EMDR is supposed to (in my words) occupy your conscious brain so that your unconscious brain can seep through.  We did it by my eyes following her fingers which she moved back and forth in front of me at a speed that we tested and found comfortable.  I did, however, take dramamine before the session - I didn't want to get dizzy.  Anyway, the prep work consists of a series of questions.  First of all, you have take an incident that you remember clearly where the emet was a problem.  For me, it was third grade.  I have a very vivid memory - visual as well as emotional - of a vomiting incident in the cafeteria.  We chose that one because even now I can feel the terror and the emptiness, the need to flee.

You then have to answer several questions about the episode - what did you feel, what did you think, what did you do.  There are also several questions based in the hear and now about the same things - do you feel safe from those emotions now or do you feel them just as strongly as you did that day...  Some of the questions concerned underlying feelings.  For me it was being totally powerless and unable to do anything to stop it.  The positive of that is - I can deal with this.  Not handle it, DEAL with it.  Like I could look at it and not run.  Okay, so that done.  We discussed a safe place for me to go if I started to panic.  That was one session.

I wasn't sure I was doing it correctly, so we started and stopped a few  times.  I thought she would talk during the entire event, but she didn't so it   threw me.  You immerse yourself in the moment, feel the fear, see the incident while following the fingers.  It's an interesting feeling, almost as if you're asleep with your eyes open.  (She also told me you can do it with a steady noise rhythm.)  You follow the therapist's fingers for about five minutes, experiencing whatever comes out, then you take a deep cleansing breath, and start to talk about what you felt.  You are instructed to be non-judgmental, which is difficult.  For me, the first thing I felt was an intense anger, almost rage, at the other child.  I wanted to shake him, scream at him for ruining my lunch.  She told me to go with that and we started again.  

I relived the experience, it felt totally real.  All of it.  But I knew that I wasn't in danger this time, so I was able to keep the panic to a minimum.  You go through the procedure as many times as it takes to get through the episode.  The therapist takes notes and you discuss what you see, feel, hear, sense and smell.  What we found was that some things happened in my childhood which I have blocked out.  We haven't explored all of it yet, and we're going to do some more EMDR to try to get at all of it, but here's the gist:-  

My mother got pregnant with me out of wedlock.  Because of that, she was forced to marry my father who is 14 years her senior.  She gave up a job she loved, her independence, etc., got married, moved away from her family with a man she really wasn't sure she loved.  (I know all this now because my mother tells me over and over again)  So, she took it out on me as a child.  She didn't beat me, although she did and still does believe in spanking, etc., but she must have used some pretty heavy emotional things on me.  The EMDR showed that I went from absolute rage, to righteous indignation (how dare you do this to me), to the realization that the child couldn't help it, then me realizing that I was powerless to stop him from doing it again. From powerless I went to utter hopelessness, feeling that I was in danger, then the urge to run.  Translate that to a woman who doesn't want to be in the situation she's in and you get:  Anger at being 'forced' to give up your life and the righteous indignation that a small infant could do such a thing.  On my part, my mind split and left while she would blame me.  I never knew what I was going to get (just like you never know when someone will vomit), the realization that no matter what I did it would never be good enough (I have no control over whether the person will v again, and they probably don't either), and finally the powerlessness and hopelessness associated with never getting it right.  I wanted to run as a child - away from the anger, away from my mother's disappointment.  When my mind felt it was in danger, it left.  

I'm not sure if you can follow this.  I've tried to explain it verbally a few times and it just doesn't carry the same congruity it does in my mind.      Granted, the EMDR brought the vomiting incident forward, but it was the work afterwards and further exploration that brought out the rest.  My therapist says it was my vomiting her anger all over me as a child.  My brother never got any of it, just me.  Infact, I still get it, but now I can handle it.  Anyway, we still have more exploring to do and more EMDR to pull the exact memories out.  Is it the reason for my emet?  Could be.  But it's the only thing that has even come close to making sense out of all the therapies that Ann and I discussed.  Maybe it's a start.  I'm hopeful.
So, hey, I got through it.   There's no inundation, you can stop any time if the vision gets to be too much, and you have a feeling of control that you don't get in other therapies.  But you have to be willing to let yourself drift - which can be weird for some people.   ELEANOR G.