Defeat ARFID
Whether you are reading this because you are an adult who eats selectively or the parent of a child who does, things can seem desperate. Feeling scared to try new foods can lead to health issues and all kinds of anxieties, whether you know this experience as Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) or Selective Eating Disorder (SED) I do not like the word disorder. My experience has taught me that there is nothing wrong with you.
If you eat selectively, there is nothing wrong with you; it is just that you have learned to fear trying new foods. You have subconsciously associated that feeling with unfamiliar foods. Fear is just a feeling; it is not real. You have put fear aside many, many times in your life, so you can learn to do it here as well. If that fear has been removed, then there is nothing stopping you from trying new foods, and you know what? You are not going to like all of them, but that's fine; no one is going to make you eat the ones you do not like, but you are going to like some of them, and suddenly your life will get more interesting, your health will improve, and at least one stressor will disappear from your life.
It doesn’t matter how long you have eaten selectively, the fear can be put aside very quickly, leaving you to start making up your own mind about each food – the taste and the texture – instead of fearing disgust, nausea, being sick or your own gag reflex before you've had a chance to experiment.
Life is about trial and error. You stop doing what you do not like and carry on doing what you do. We generally have a scientific approach to life, so what if I could help you put that fear aside, the way you have done in so many other situations in your life, often without thinking about it, so that you can eat scientifically? This is all that is required in ARFID treatment / SED treatment.
During effective treatment for adults living with ARFID, or children, we will not focus on the food.
We will focus on the fear. We will focus on the part of your mind that decided food is dangerous.
We will focus on re-establishing a good relationship between that part of your mind and your more rational mind so you can work together instead of against each other.
So that you can eat what you want because you want to.
Treatment of children and adolescents with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is not about addressing fussy eating, but about nipping this fear in the bud before it becomes a lifetime of stress, anxiety and limitations.
ARFID treatment centres can be very formal, but I see clients in a home office in Worthing, West Sussex. We will integrate the parts of your mind that are working against each other, and I will encourage you to bring some foods to try at the end of the second session - if you feel like it, which you probably will. Once the fear is successfully dealt with - allow three sessions - you will continue the rest of your ARFID treatment at home, which simply involves trying different foods at your own pace and bringing more variety to your meal times and flexibility to your social and eating habits. I am, of course, available for support along the way if you require.
I have trained with Felix Economakis, who is a psychologist and hypnotist working in London, the country's leading therapist for ARFID / SED and known from the BBC program Freaky Eaters. He has developed a working process that he calls his 4Rs, and I am one of the few other therapists in the world now using the same process.
This is not just hypnosis for treating selective eating disorders. We will use a mixture of conversation, imagination and hypnosis, which will vary from person to person, as although this is a specific way of working, it is very bespoke to each individual and extremely successful for adults, adolescents and children in most cases.
If you’re ready
If you’re tired of seeing food that brings so much health, happiness and joy to most people as a threat…if you want to enjoy mealtimes instead of experiencing them as a chore…if you want more choice and freedom – without force, pressure, or shame…
Book a session.
Let’s help your mind finally recognise you can smile, laugh and eat, just like everyone else, when trying new foods. You can make up your own mind if you want to try something or not.
Please click through to see prices and to contact me for a no-obligation chat or to book an appointment to defeat ARFID.
Please note that I do not work with children younger than ten. Sorry.
Or please take a look through this non-exhaustive list of some of my other services: Anxiety Treatment, Trauma Recovery, Smash Procrastination, Beat Social Anxiety, and Resolve Phobias.