"So what don't you like about vomiting," Dave asked.
The three women were sitting in the living room of his stylish loft. Their chairs were arranged in a circle and they were all looking at each other.
Nina went first, "Well, I don't like the feeling. Feeling all that food in your stomach trying to come out."
"No one likes feeling sick," Dave said. "But why are you afraid of it?"
"Well," Nina shrugged. "I just get so embarrassed. It's so disgusting, losing control like that... people seeing what you ate earlier... It's just so embarrassing."
Tara and Chloe nodded along.
"Have you ever made yourself throw up on purpose?" Dave asked.
"No, of course not," Tara chimed in, and the other girls mumbled in agreement.
"That's a classic sign of this phobia," Dave said. "Nina, why don't you tell us about the last time you threw up?"
"Oh... I can't. I don't even want to talk about it." She said, shifting in her chair. She looked down at the floor. "It was last year... I got food poisoning from some shrimp pasta. I was out shopping with some friends when I started feeling it, so of course I left quickly. I knew I had to get home if I was going to get sick. I was driving so fast, but I felt so awful... it started trying to come up while I was still driving, almost to my apartment. I was gagging a little bit and burping... I kept swallowing it down, until I finally got to my front door. I ran inside and slammed the door, and tried to make it to the bathroom, but I couldn't... I just had to get it out of my stomach, there was nothing I could do. So I..."
"Come on Nina. You have to say it if you want to get over your fear." Dave said.
"I ran inside, closed the door and... vomited all over my living room floor." Nina said, lowering her face in shame. "It was so humiliating even though no one saw... I got the first wave up- the pasta that made me sick. But it just kept coming. I couldn't stop until everything inside my stomach was splattered on the hardwood floor."
"Why did you hate it so much?" Dave asked.
"Because I was ashamed that I had done something so disgusting." Nina said bitterly.
**
Dave had started the support group for women with emetophobia- an irrational fear of vomiting. He wasn't a doctor- just a guy who knew he could help... and who wanted to meet women who were afraid of vomiting. Nothing excited him more than these innocent young women, so ashamed of the times they had emptied their stomachs, and terrified of when they would do it again.
That's why he was thrilled when Nina came up to him after the meeting and said, "I think talking about this is really helping. I used to be terrified all the time that I might get sick, but I'm not so paranoid anymore. Do you... want to get dinner sometime?"
He took her out on a couple of dates, and they didn't talk much about the support group. It wasn't until after a few weeks that Dave decided to do what he had wanted from the beginning- help Nina face her phobia.
They started off the night with dinner, then went to a movie, then ended up back at his loft drinking coffee. When they moved to the bedroom, and started fooling around, Dave proposed something new.
"How about a little bondage?" He suggested.
"Ooh," Nina said, grinning. "I've never done that before, but it sounds fun." Despite her timidness, Nina seemed to have a kinky curiosity.
"Take your clothes off and lay on your stomach on the bed," Dave instructed. Nina complied, and Dave guided her arms behind her back, and bound her wrists to her ankles, so she was hogtied with bondage tape.
"What do you have in store for me now?" Nina asked, expecting the usual petting and making out. But she was in for a huge shock.
"Listen Nina," Dave said seriously. "I think tonight would be a good night for you to try to cope with your phobia."
"What? What do you mean?"
"The best way to overcome a fear, is to face it. You need to face your fear of vomiting."
"But I don't need to vomit. I don't feel sick at all." She said.
"You can't just wait until the next time you feel sick and try to be less afraid whenever that happens. That's not facing a fear. You need to accept that this terrifying thing is going to happen to you right now, and cope with it. I knew you would never do it on your own, so I'm going to help you. I'm going to put my fingers down your throat and make you vomit several times, and you will see that nothing bad happens. It's not the end of the world."
Nina looked panicked. "No! Please don't. You can't!"