Nervous dysphagia: what is it and how is it treated?

For most people, eating is one of life’s great pleasures. Not only do we enjoy food, but much of our interactions and social gatherings revolve around food and drink. However, for some people these moments are a real ordeal and generate high levels of anxiety, since suffer from an intense fear of choking. This is what we know as nervous dysphagia.

Also called phagophobia, this condition can affect people of all ages and represents a significant interference in your daily life.

Imagine not being able to eat certain solid foods, feeling very nervous when it comes to drinking water, or not even being able to swallow your own saliva. As you imagine, such a situation causes great discomfort and requires professional intervention to recover quality of life.

Nervous dysphagia is treated with psychological therapy.

What is nervous dysphagia?

Dysphagia is called the difficulty or inability to swallow solid and liquid foods. In these cases, swallowing becomes very complicated, food may be aspirated into the trachea and cough, a feeling of suffocation or vomiting may appear.

Dysphagia is a medical condition that usually has an organic origin; That is, it is related to physical injuries, diseases or neurological disorders. However, In some cases these difficulties have a psychological origin.

Nervous dysphagia is actually a phobia, understood as an intense, persistent, and seemingly irrational fear of swallowing. The person who suffers from it fears choking or suffocating and even feels their throat narrowing. This is not only a subjective perception, but it may be that, as a result of the anxiety itself, the muscles in the area become tense and a sensation of dry throat is also experienced.

All this also generates anticipatory fearwhich leads to concern about mealtimes and, in many cases, a refusal to eat food or liquids.

What are your causes?

Nervous dysphagia is a relatively rare disorder, estimated to affect approximately one in 500 people. It is more common in childhood and it can also occur in adults with real difficulties in swallowing control. Now, if there is no physical cause that can account for this intense fear, what is the reason for its appearance?

In most cases it is related to a previous episode in which the person choked, suffered food aspiration, vomited or had some type of traumatic experience related to swallowing. It can also occur from witnessing another person having it or from hearing about an episode of this nature.

In this way, the moment of eating, food or liquids is associated with a feeling of stress, tension and fear. And fear and great anxiety are generated over the possibility of it happening again.

In the case of children, the parents’ exaggerated fear of the possibility of choking, and the consequent overprotection, may also be related. However, in some cases no prior episode or clear trigger is identified.

The consequences of nervous dysphagia

Suffering from phagophobia has consequences at various levels, both physical, psychological and social. These will depend on the severity of the fear, but in general they are the following:

Due to the rejection that is generated to eat or drink, the person may suffer from malnutrition and dehydration in different degrees. There may also be an important weightloss.Anxiety can cause physical and physiological symptoms such as dry mouth and throat, muscle tension, sweating or tachycardia. And these symptoms can present themselves early. There are important concerns and fears about this, which They cause anxiety and discomfort and reduce self-esteem of the person.The social and relational level is also affectedsince those who suffer from nervous dysphagia can avoid eating in the presence of others or eat only with people they trust.

The most common trigger for dysphagia in children is a choking episode.

Treatment and intervention

In conclusion, the person’s life is affected from different perspectives and their well-being is diminished by dysphagia. Fortunately, the collaboration of various professionals (doctors, speech therapists, psychologists…) can help recovery.

Generally, interventions will be aimed at proposing vocal exercises or stretching for muscle control, and an adapted diet may even be recommended, in early stages, to help the person progress progressively.

From psychology it is sought work with irrational thoughts about it, offer appropriate relaxation techniques and use attention control strategies that allow us to divert the focus from the act of swallowing, thus reducing anxiety.

Furthermore, in the case of children, the collaboration of parents is crucial, who must try to remain calm and not overemphasize the child’s problem, so as not to aggravate the association between mealtime and psychological discomfort.

In any case, it is essential to seek professional support to overcome nervous dysphagia, with the best guidance and support.

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