Are You Afraid of Food?

Does the cover photo whet your appetite, or scare the heck out of you?

What Is Cibophobia?

Cibophobia is the fear of food.

Others mistake those with cibophobia for anorexics or bulimics, but those disorders deal with the fear of the effects of food on body image.

Cibophobia is the direct fear of food itself.

Cibophobes tend to avoid food altogether, especially highly perishable items such as milk and mayonnaise, which are some of the more frightening culprits.

This is different from disliking particular foods such as spinach.

When you don’t like spinach, you don’t eat it.

But when you’re cibophobic, spinach gives you anxiety.

The Danger of Cibophobia Left Untreated

A few years ago, a mayonnaise fearing California man, Nathaniel Robertson, murdered his wife with a cinderblock claiming that “They” put mayonnaise in his body.

“They” being brutal and powerful people he couldn’t name.

This is an extreme case of cibophobia left untreated.

What Happens To Cibophobes?

Typical cibophobes are concerned with expiration dates; carefully sifting through food items in their homes and supermarkets to ensure freshness.

There is also worry over the cooking of food.

Cibophobes burn meat and over-boil noodles to ensure foods are safe for consumption.

Most cibophobes stay away from restaurants because they’ll have no control over how their food is prepared.

Untreated cibophobia worsens, causing obsessive behaviours.

Overtime cibophobes will restrict their diets severely and jeopardize their health.

They would rather go hungry than eat foods they find questionable, leading to symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, and irritability.

Worse is the social stigma that goes along with the symptoms, after friends and family notice new eating behaviours.

Treatment of Cibophobia

Cibophobia is often treated through visits with a qualified mental health professional with training in cognitive behavioural theory to change beliefs and behaviours around food.

Other treatments include medication and talk therapy.

But it doesn’t stop at cibophobia.

Uncommon types of food phobias include food neophobia, which is the fear of new foods, commonly found in children, and Mageirocophobia which is the fear of cooking food.