- Symptoms
- Physical symptoms
- Psychological symptoms
- Behavioral symptoms
- Causes
- Treatment
- Cognitive - behavioral approach
- Acceptance and commitment therapy
- References
The phagophobia is a type of specific phobia related to an irrational fear of swallowing or choking. It is an anxiety disorder that leads those who suffer from it to think that they will not be able to swallow the food they eat. In the most severe cases, the person suffering from it stops eating completely.
The most common irrational belief associated with phagophobia is that your throat is narrower than usual; and therefore the person believes that food cannot pass through it.
Source: pixabay.com
Although it is an eating-related disorder, experts classify it as an anxiety problem because the main cause of what occurs is fear.
It is a very rare anxiety disorder, but it can affect both children and adults. Fortunately, there are several approaches that can help alleviate its most serious effects or eliminate it altogether.
Symptoms
The main symptom of phagophobia is an irrational fear of swallowing or eating food of any kind. The affected person fears that food will not be able to pass down their throat, since they feel that it is narrower than usual or that it is constricted for some reason.
In general, there is usually no previous physical cause for this phobia. However, ironically the very anxiety produced by fear can cause the throat muscles to seize up.
This can lead to the person not really being able to swallow; and in the worst cases, it could even cause choking. Next we will see some of the most important symptoms of phagophobia.
Physical symptoms
As in any other anxiety disorder, the person affected by phagophobia may begin to notice a series of very unpleasant bodily sensations. Among the most frequent are the following:
- dizziness
- Difficulty breathing
- Sensation of pressure in the chest
- Tingling in the extremities
All of these common symptoms of anxiety are in addition to the aforementioned of a stiff throat. This can cause an inability to swallow, which reinforces the person's fears and ends up increasing their anxiety.
Psychological symptoms
Because it is an anxiety disorder, the person with phagophobia has an extremely strong and irrational fear.
This means that, despite knowing that they are not really in danger, those affected are unable to relax and experience all the other symptoms of the disorder when they encounter the stimulus that frightens them.
On the other hand, the person could also constantly imagine possible situations in which problems appear when eating food. These mental images would be very difficult to control, and would cause the individual great discomfort.
Behavioral symptoms
The main behavioral symptom caused by phagophobia is the avoidance of eating certain types of food. In even the most serious cases, the affected person could refuse to eat completely.
Other less common behavioral symptoms might include avoiding situations where you might have to eat in public, or eating only foods that you have prepared yourself and therefore know are not going to be a problem.
Causes
There is no general consensus on what causes phagophobia, due among other things to the scarcity of cases studied throughout history. However, the most accepted theory defends that this anxiety disorder would be caused by a traumatic event related to food.
Thus, for example, a person with a fear of swallowing could have previously suffered an episode in which he would have choked on a piece of food. Little by little, as a result of avoiding similar situations and paying too much attention to his fear, it would have become more and more powerful.
The opinion of most experts is that these traumatic events are more likely to trigger a disorder such as phagophobia if they occur in childhood.
However, technically it is possible for this type of problem to develop regardless of the age at which the person suffers a situation such as the one described.
Treatment
As with all other anxiety disorders, there are several approaches that can be used to treat phagophobia. Fortunately, these types of psychological problems tend to have a very good prognosis, and they tend to disappear if the right work is done.
The most effective therapy to treat phagophobia and other similar problems is cognitive-behavioral therapy, although recently others such as acceptance and commitment therapy have gained much popularity. Next we will see what each one of them consists of.
Cognitive - behavioral approach
Cognitive behavioral therapy considers that our thoughts, emotions and actions are closely related. Therefore, if one of these three elements is modified, the other two will also change indirectly.
Because of this, this therapeutic approach can usually be carried out in two different ways. The first one focuses on the actions of the affected person. To help her overcome her fear, she is forced to gradually expose herself to the situation that causes anxiety.
In the case of phagophobia, this may involve, for example, causing him to eat increasingly solid food, or to start eating in environments that he considers less safe until he can lead a normal life again.
The other way of applying cognitive-behavioral therapy has to do with the modification of the person's thoughts. Since phobias are based on irrational ideas, the psychologist will help the patient to identify which ones are causing the discomfort and to modify them.
This process is known as "cognitive restructuring," and it is usually most effective when done in conjunction with behavioral exposure.
Acceptance and commitment therapy
The other therapeutic approach commonly used for phobias is based on the idea that emotions, thoughts, and fears cannot really harm us.
Through acceptance and commitment therapy, the psychologist helps the person choose what actions they want to carry out, and teaches them to put them into practice despite feeling bad.
The more times a person faces their fear, the less power it will have over their life. This therapy, although fairly recent, is becoming one of the most popular for treating problems such as phagophobia due to its speed and effectiveness.
References
- "Phagophobia" in: Very Well Mind. Retrieved on: September 26, 2018 from Very Well Mind: verywellmind.com.
- "Fear of swallowing (phagophobia)" in: Mental Help. Retrieved on: September 26, 2018 from Mental Help: mentalhelp.net.
- "Phagophobia (fear of swallowing)" in: Psychology and Mind. Retrieved on: September 26, 2018 from Psychology and Mind: psicologiaymente.com.
- "Phagophobia: the fear of swallowing" in: Amadag. Retrieved on: September 26, 2018 from Amadag: amadag.com.
- "Phagophobia" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: September 26, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.