Over the years, I have helped many people with food phobias. This is when a client feels able to eat only certain foods and has a very restrictive diet. In many cases, this can be a list of literally ten or fewer types of food. This creates all manner of problems for the individual, including health issues and social difficulties.
Most clients who have food phobias have already sought out help, but with no success. Traditional approaches like psychotherapy, counselling and general hypnotherapy, in my experience, often fail to resolve the problem. The reason for this lack of success is that analysing the problem does nothing to resolve it, and any general approach is not specific enough to change the behaviour. Many clients have kept food diaries and extensively analysed the problem without success; such analysis only perpetuates and exacerbates the problem. In my experience, clients with this issue are highly intelligent, but they find themselves stuck in a loop that no amount of analysis helps to change.
The Key Question to ask
The key question, of course, is “How does a client create the apprehension associated with trying certain types of food?” The PCW process works precisely to change the patterns of unhelpful thinking, enabling greater ease in trying a wider range of foods. Clients appreciate that this phobia of certain foods is not rational, but that knowledge does nothing to change the behaviour. In many instances, the client is thinking in a very unhelpful way, and these negative internal thoughts create resistance to trying a wider range of foods. The main categories are anorexia and bulimia, but regardless of the categorisation, the key is to find “the difference that makes the difference”, and that means, in the first instance, getting good information.
This can often be resolved easily using PCW.
The key to assisting clients with food phobias is to change their thinking, which then changes their feelings and overall behaviour. This can usually be done in 2–3 sessions using the Provocative Change Works process. Before seeing all clients, I request a completed set of client notes, which provides useful background information on the issue. Every session is recorded, so each client can listen back to what is useful and practice the PCW exercises that promote a change in thinking and behaviour. To date, I have an excellent success rate with such clients, and it’s a personal pleasure to see people free from this kind of issue. I never promise success, but my experience is that talking about and focusing simply on food is never productive. Crucially, the key is to help expand the person’s world view so they get out of the loop of thinking that creates the unhelpful feeling/behaviour.