All About Phagophobia

Human fears are diverse and multifaceted. Sometimes they affect such natural areas of our life that most people simply don’t think about. Eating is pleasant and natural, and essential for maintaining life. But there are people for whom the process of absorbing food is painful and unpleasant, because they are afraid that they might choke and die. These are phagophobes. A specific phobia is not so rare, and it is possible that among your friends there are also such people.

Phagophobia or psychogenic dysphagia is a pathological, irrational fear of eating, because it is associated with the process of swallowing. Phagophobes complain of difficulty swallowing, but otolaryngologists find no good physiological justification. - throat does not hurt, there are no neoplasms. Neurologists find no reason - swallowing reflex is normal. Therefore, phagophobia is classified as a mental disorder of the phobic type.

Phagophobia is considered a specific phobia, food. Sometimes psychiatrists attribute it to eating disorders, because one way or another a person changes his attitude to eating - either refuses it at all, or switches only to soft food, to liquids in order to exclude an accident and not choke when swallowing solid foods.

It seems that such fear is rare. In fact, up to 6% of adults turn to the ENT for complaints related to difficulty swallowing. And in about half the cases, medical specialists do not find in such patients either inflammatory processes of the larynx or problems with the gastrointestinal tract.A considerable part of these 3% of people are phagophobes. Those with this disorder usually have a significantly increased overall anxiety background. Lack of proper treatment, ignoring the problem can lead to rather serious consequences in the future.

Phagophobe becomes hostage to two of the strongest emotions - on the one hand there is a natural need for food, on the other - a strong fear of eating it. It is impossible to live a normal life in such a dilemma, you have to revise its whole way, plan your schedule in such a way as to always have access to the type of food that is considered acceptable (liquid, soft, mashed, and so on).

A person has to refuse invitations to restaurants, cafes, business dinners and romantic dates, because he cannot eat in such places. In order to hide his “strangeness” from others, phagophobe has to significantly limit social contacts, because it is much easier to limit the circle of friends than everyone in it to explain why an adult eats only baby food from a pharmacy.

It’s also difficult to visit phagophobe friends, as guests are usually treated with a visit. For the same reason, it is necessary to reduce contacts with relatives. All this makes the patient carefully think through his menu, experience anxiety, tension, and depression. Critical attitude to himself during phagophobia persists, a person is well aware that he is afraid of solid food or food without any good reason at all, irrationally, but usually it does not work out to cope with fear.

Experts believe that the main cause of phagophobia is the traumatic memories that occurred in childhood. Most often, these are situations in which the child choked with food so much that he had a feeling of suffocation. The acute lack of oxygen caused a panic attack, which forever fixed in the subconscious the painful connection between the process of swallowing and the occurrence of fear.

It is believed that there is a certain hereditary predisposition. The basic factors of the nervous system are transmitted from parents to children, so the child may have hereditary biochemical processes in the brain - a deficiency of neurotransmitters often provoke a wide variety of anxiety and phobic disorders.

Affects the likelihood of developing a disorder and temperament. Shy, shy, suspicious children, when caught in a traumatic psyche, can begin to experience constant fear later. Parental influence is great: if the mother often pulls the child for food, warns against trouble (“you can choke”), if one of the parents suffers from such a phobia, the child can take the parental model for granted, and gradually the fear of choking on food develops.

Mental disorder appears on two levels.

• The psychological changes are quite vivid, characteristic - a man tries to avoid being so scared. He may refuse to eat and only drink or refuse thick and solid foods, because when you try to eat there is a spasm of the larynx, it becomes impossible to swallow. Anxiety and fear can occur both at the sight of a package of crackers and at the very thought of solid food.
• At the physical (vegetative) level the disorder is manifested by increased heart rate, increased sweating, blanching of the skin, breathing becomes superficial, can occur in severe cases of dyspnea (difficulty breathing, episodes of suffocation). A person becomes fussy, nervous, irritable. The connection with the outside world may be temporarily lost, a feeling of unreality of what is happening appears.

It is almost impossible to get rid of phagophobia on your own. Specialists - psychiatrists and psychotherapists should do this. Only if the patient is in close contact with the doctor and has a strong motivation to overcome his fear can we speak of favorable prognosis for cure. Treatment is very important - it will help return a person to a normal lifestyle, to communicate in society, help to maintain his health, and sometimes save his life.

To date, the most effective method is considered psychotherapy. The impact of neurolinguistic programming, hypnosis, as well as cognitive-behavioral therapy allows not only to discover the true causes of fear if a person does not remember the event, which in childhood influenced the formation of pathology, but also to change its settings, which will help the patient to take a fresh look at the problem, which torments him for many years.

Do not assume that the treatment will be quick. The patient and his family will have to be patient, as well as carefully follow all the recommendations of a specialist - attend classes (individual and group) is necessary without omissions, during the treatment should be completely excluded the use of alcohol, drugs, psychotropic drugs, you need to protect the person from stressful situations. In severe cases, inpatient treatment and tube feeding are indicated. In addition to psychotherapeutic methods, medications can be used - pills or injections (at the discretion of the doctor). Most commonly used are antidepressant drugs that provide reuptake of serotonin (SSRIs). The emotional background while taking the drugs is leveled, the mood rises, the course of administration is usually from 1.5 to 3 months. But apart from psychotherapy, medicines will not take action.

If phagophobia is accompanied by high anxiety, anxiolytic drugs may be recommended, they help reduce anxiety. But, as a general rule of treatment for phobias, taking such medications is again carried out against the background of psychotherapeutic treatment. The patient will also need independent work on his fear - he will be offered to master the techniques of deep muscle relaxation, yoga or meditation, aromatherapy, a contrast shower, and self-hypnosis techniques will come to the rescue. Forecasts are usually favorable.