Can anyone explain to me the psychology of ARFID? I definitely believe it’s real, but I don’t really understand it. I wanna be more empathetic to it obviously but I can’t understand it.
I definitely want to and I will intently listen, but I just can’t comprehend how someone can starve themselves and literally die of malnutrition just because a texture feels funky. I know it’s probably a LOT more complicated than that and I’m highly uneducated, but like, what happens if they put an unsafe food in their mouth. What goes through their minds? Is it like they’re eating shit or garbage? Is it like in the anime Tokyo Ghoul where the food tastes waay different and their brains perceive it differently?
What’s with texture. Why does texture feel bad. Is it like how the texture of vomit is nasty? Do they have different visualizations?
If I give a person with ARFID a grape which is most often not a safe food due to its varying texture, do they like feel like they’re biting into something alien or poisonous?
I know I sound disgustingly uneducated. To me, I’m a giant foodie and I will inhale anything. I am scared of some foods but not due to texture or smell it’s because of body image issues which is a whole ‘nother spiel. But I can’t comprehend hating a texture. Texture? What’s wrong with certain textures?
Please don’t think I’m being ableist. I believe this is definitely real and valid because I have OCD and I know how desperate I was for someone to believe me, but I wanna learn more about it, because for me I will shove any food down my throat. I LOVE food.
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I understand where you’re coming from. And I don’t have experience with it. But I absolutely hate eating wet bread. I will always avoid it. When I accidentally eat it I can’t describe it but I’m just disgusted by the texture. I imagine it’s like that not sure.
My brother in law has ARFID. The way he describes it is precisely what you said, the texture tricks his brain into thinking it’s poisonous. Grapes are anathema. Strawberries are the devil. Anything with multiple textures is deadly nightshade. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps manage the symptoms somewhat, but it’s going to be a lifelong struggle for him.
Imagine you went to a foreign country and the only thing that they had to drink was blood. They make sure it’s clean and safe and healthy..but its still a glass of blood next to each meal.
That type of thing is what they feel. It doesn’t really matter if it’s safe or healthy or if some people claim it tastes good. It’s really difficult to get over that hump of gagging every time you take a sip.
And basically in the worst cases they just have that same feeling over just about every food that they aren’t used to
Hi I have ARFID. I’m also pregnant now which has made my ARFID comically worse. It’s really bad.
Psychologically it’s basically our brains have a different threshold from yours about what is or isn’t safe food to eat. Your normal brain would see a rotten apple or slab of raw chicken and think “ew, not going to eat that.” If you were to put it in your mouth it would feel disgusting, you would possibly gag and try to spit it out. That’s your brain protecting you from eating things that will make you sick.
Our brains activate that response for food that isn’t actually bad. For me looking at a mushy tomato is the same as looking at a rotten tomato. If I put it in my mouth I would be overwhelmed with disgust, gag and try to get it out immediately. (I literally just gagged right now thinking about it but that’s due to pregnancy, normally I don’t gag just at a thought). Hope this helps a bit.
Grapes are an interesting example. I love a nice, firm, crunchy grape but as they ripen and get soft I can no longer tolerate them. But I can tell by squeezing gently with my fingers if a grape will be good to eat.
I as someone with it the mere thought of trying different foods causing me genuine anxiety and in really bad cases has triggered panic attacks. As little as one small bit of something off with a food be it something accidentally got mixed in or just anything looks like it might not be what I’m used to and suddenly the entire thing becomes contaminated in my mind and even if nothing else is wrong with the rest of it suddenly it all tastes off and bad. A single piece of shredded lettuce in a taco can be enough to almost make me vomit if I bite it.
I guess I’m somewhere on the ARFID spectrum.
I’m the complete opposite to you. I don’t love food, it’s just a requirement, there is nothing at all pleasurable or desirable to me about going out for a meal. I find most textures repulsive, although in order to fit in to normal society I’ve repeatedly exposed myself to new tastes and textures to build up enough of a tolerance that I won’t gag when trying something too sloppy.
Serving me a lasagne would probably be akin to serving you a nicely heated bowl of well-used cat litter. I think we would find both equally disgusting.
But I don’t know why I am like this.
Most of my calories come from Huel or meal replacement shakes, which I can at least swallow down.
Eli5 a question without an acronym I have to look up to be able to even understand the question.
ARFID is when someone’s brain gets really scared or upset by certain foods, kind of like how some people are terrified of spiders even if they’re not dangerous. Their brain sees certain textures, smells, or even just the look of food as something super gross or scary-like if someone told you to eat slime or a bug. It’s not about being picky or dramatic; their brain is reacting like the food is unsafe, even if it’s totally normal. So eating something “wrong” can make them feel panicked, disgusted, or even sick, and it’s really hard for them to eat like everyone else.
Think of it as sensory like anything else on your body. Like putting on wet socks or having to pick up dog poop. It’s just that these feelings extend to eating something too. For a very long time I ate everything dry because a lot of sauces like ketchup or salad dressing felt slimy and gave me the ick or triggered my gag reflex.
Just imagine you had to eat poop or a rotten corpse. It’s perfectly nutritious and wouldn’t kill you in this made up scenario.
What would happen if you tried? Like maybe you could force yourself to gulp down some poopy rotten corpse, but you’d definetely puke right after from the revulsion.
That’s exactly what happens in Arfid.
For whatever reason our minds interpret a texture/aroma or any other property of a food as ‘revolting’ and there’s no overpowering that feeling.
Like you get scared to even try ‘new’ foods, that one can be fixed with therapy rather easily.
But if the smell of tequila makes you nauseous already, you are kinda in a tough spot getting to drink tequila.
Just that the Arfid revulsion is more severe than drank too much tequila and now hate the smell of it.
I’d simply explosively vomit as a kid if I bit on a piece of cartilage in meat, or if Joghurt contained a piece of fruit that touched my mouth wrong.
There wasn’t even any thought involved. The reaction was instant. So obviously I’d refuse to eat those foods in the future.
You don’t feel like you are eating something toxic/dangerous or any more ‘rationalised’ reasons.
It is quite simply the texture triggering some messed up reaction that makes your brain go ‘panic we need to expulse it right away do not continue’
Like I don’t fear chicken wings for any rationalised reason. I fear this reaction being triggered if I hit a chewy part of it.