About ARFID

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a relatively new and often misunderstood eating disorder that goes beyond picky eating. Unlike other eating disorders, ARFID isn’t driven by concerns about body image or weight. Instead, it involves an aversion to certain foods, leading to significant nutritional deficiencies and challenges in daily functioning. While ARFID can sometimes feel like a constant battle, there is hope and success with support from a trained speech language pathologist.

Here is just one of our client success stories using hypnosis as a treatment option.

Meet Our Client: Matthew*

(*This client’s name has been changed for the purpose of this blog post to maintain confidentiality)

Matthew’s mother reached out to Kelly when Matthew was 12. He was a very motivated young man frustrated with his limited diet. According to Matthew, he had been “scared” of eating since he was 4. Prior to that, he ate a variety of foods and enjoyed them. While neither Matthew nor his mother could think of a “triggering” incident that brought on his fear, his food repertoire became more and more limited over the years. By the time they sought out help, Matthew was only eating 7-10 foods consistently. He usually ate cheerios without milk for breakfast, chicken nuggets and fries for lunch or dinner, and snacked on a few fruits throughout the day (limited to bananas, apples, and pears in limited volumes).

Going out to eat was extremely hard, traveling was miserable, and although he wanted to attend summer camp, he was simply unable due to limited food selection. He also was more hesitant to eat in social situations.

Matthew had attended a sensory based feeding program in the past without success. He would participate, but there was limited slow progress. He stated that there was “just something in my head” stopping him from tasting new foods. He had been evaluated by GI and there were no significant concerns.

These were Matthew’s goals that he discussed with Kelly:

• Taste and try things without extreme hesitation.
• Learn to enjoy pizza and pasta (even if it had to be modified).
• Add some type of meat other than chicken nuggets to his diet.
• Expand the types of fruits that he ate.
• Add sweet potatoes to his diet (this was “veggie-like” for him, and he was leaning towards trying to work on this. Other veggies were really of no interest).

Kelly and Matthew agreed that his goals were realistic, as well as ambitious. He made all the final decisions about foods that motivated him while Kelly helped guide him to a few more things that would make life easier, such as obtaining the summer camp menu to identify foods he may want to eat and/or try on the schedule. After an initial evaluation, he and Kelly moved on to the first hypnosis session with prepared foods close by that he was interested in trying. After he underwent hypnosis, Matthew felt calm, relaxed, and was excited to try some new foods! Matthew reported that the voices in his head telling him not to eat were much quieter, and he felt more in control.

Here’s what happened: Matthew tasted each of the foods brought to the session. He described how each food item tasted, discussing flavor, texture, etc. He found some new foods that he enjoyed, and now felt comfortable working on progressively. There were still some foods that were difficult for him, but he even said, “I don’t get why I didn’t try this sooner!” about pancakes with and without syrup.

At the end of the session, Matthew was extremely proud of himself for tasting so many things calmly! His mom was in tears. Matthew and Kelly discussed a personalized and logical follow up to the session, including eliminating foods, adding foods to his meal rotations, and practicing with more foods based on how he was feeling.

After Matthew’s fifth and final session hypnosis session, he felt confident he could try a variety of foods fairly easily. He loved how he could taste and try for himself to determine if he liked something or not, and there was not an irrational fear in his way. He still had likes and dislikes, but he was in control now of his experiences.

Here were a few important factors in Matthew’s success when it comes to hypnosis:

• HE was highly motivated to change.
• His mother fully supported him, but it was HIS choice to seek help and “get better” (Matthew’s words).

Six months later, Matthew was able to attend a summer camp and loved it! He had added 10-15 new foods to his consistent food rotations and was still working on increasing this.

Many of our clients have expressed that it’s helpful to hear about and learn from other’s experiences, and it reminds them they are not alone in this journey. Read more about some of our client’s journey’s in Kelly’s book, ARFID Lived Experiences.

ARFID and Hypnosis

Every individual’s experience related to ARFID is different. Therefore, it’s important to find a speech language pathologist who specializes in treating ARFID and who can develop an effective treatment plan to help meet your needs.

Kelly is a Speech Language Pathologist who specializes in providing therapy and coaching from children to teens and young adults with feeding challenges. She prides herself on individualizing therapy sessions so that you meet your goals, whether that’s expanding your food repertoire, ordering something off a restaurant’s menu, or just appreciating your food preferences so that you can be present at social events.

Kelly uses a variety of therapy techniques, including sensory and behavioral therapies, as well as alternative therapy techniques, such as hypnosis, to help each of her clients find the success they’re seeking.

Contact Kelly at Food 4 Thought Therapy at kelly@food4thoughttherapy.com or visit https://food4thoughttherapy.com/contact/ to book your free consultation, get your questions answered and to take the first step towards your journey.

Find us on Facebook and Instagram to learn more about Kelly’s services and hypnosis.