Physical reactions from foods can stem from many sources, including allergies, chronic illnesses, and mental health conditions—including PTSD, eating disorders, phobias, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Depending on the reason for your food aversion, there are effective strategies that can help you feel less fearful, and access a broader range of food groups.
Does blue cheese make you gag because it reminds you of mold? Do you feel nauseous thinking about oysters because the texture is so slimy? Do you get sweaty palms whenever you see mushrooms? If you have aversions to foods that aren’t related to allergies, pregnancy, a chronic illness or a food intolerance, you may be experiencing a psychosomatic response—a physical symptom triggered by psychological factors.
Most people dislike certain foods, but in some cases aversions are a result of mental health conditions, like eating disorders, illness anxiety disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). If you’re reacting negatively to specific foods, it may be hard to tell what’s behind your response—but identifying the cause can be important for addressing any issues.
Read on to understand what might be causing your physical reactions to foods, how to tell if you’re dealing with a psychosomatic response, and how to get help.
What is “psychosomatic food neurosis?”
You may have come across the term “psychosomatic food neurosis” online—perhaps from a viral post about particularly picky dining requests. Psychosomatic responses are physical reactions brought on by psychological factors, such as stress. While a mental health provider can diagnose you with a psychosomatic disorder—any physical condition caused or worsened by stress—“psychosomatic food neurosis” is not a diagnosable condition. In fact, editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders stopped using the term “neurosis,” in the 1980s. Instead, psychosomatic food neurosis is a colloquial term that tends to describe negative physical reactions to foods that don’t seem to have a clear medical cause.
Food aversion
Food aversion may be a more accurate term for “psychosomatic food neurosis,” as it describes developing a disgust for a specific food. Sensory qualities of the food—like smell, taste, and texture—can trigger physical reactions like coughing, gagging, vomiting, or nausea.
Food aversions can develop at any time, even with foods you once enjoyed. These aversions can occur spontaneously, or as a result of hormonal changes or issues with sensory processing. They’re especially common during pregnancy.
Physicians can diagnose food aversions, but many people don’t require further treatment. Unless you’re dealing with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)—an eating disorder that results in a severely limited palette and nutritional deficiencies—most people are able to get their necessary nutrients through different sources.
Psychosomatic reactions vs. allergies and intolerances
It can be confusing to have a physical reaction to food—especially if you don’t have any known allergies. To better understand what might be going on, let’s dig into some of the key differences between allergies, food intolerances, and psychosomatic responses.
- An allergy affects the immune system and may be life-threatening. If you’re allergic to peanut butter, for example, even a small amount may trigger a severe reaction, like anaphylaxis.
- A food intolerance, on the other hand, is typically not acutely life threatening, but can cause significant discomfort.
- A psychosomatic response is when physical symptoms are caused or worsened by an emotional state.
What causes psychosomatic responses to foods?
There are many reasons you may have a psychosomatic response to food, including:
Prior negative experiences
If you had a bad experience with a certain item or meal, you may develop a dislike for it moving forward. Maybe you used to love sushi, but got food poisoning from it, and now the smell makes you nauseous.
Psychosomatic reactions can also be tied to traumatic events, which may or may not lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Food-related traumas, like choking, can lead to deep fears and anxiety around eating,” says NOCD therapist Heather Brasseur, LMC, LPC.
These experiences often create a lasting fear, causing people to avoid certain foods, or even eating in general.
Heather Brasseur
Social perceptions
How people around you react to certain foods can influence your response, too. Maybe your sister always said she thought olives were gross, so you started to believe that. Now, you feel queasy when you see or think about them.
To better understand this phenomenon, consider how someone raised on a typical American diet might react to eating crickets or beatles. While many cultures enjoy eating insects, those who haven’t been raised doing so may gag, or even vomit—even though eating these bugs doesn’t pose any actual health risk.
Eating disorders
Your psychosomatic responses may be linked to an eating disorder, like anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, or ARFID. If you struggle with body image, the idea of food causing weight gain may make you feel ill. Food aversions in ARFID, on the other hand, are typically caused by a fear of unpleasant sensory experiences, or worries about throwing up. All eating disorders can impact health substantially, limiting your access to important nutrients.
Cibophobia
Cibophobia is a persistent and irrational fear of food, which can latch onto specific foods, or impact your relationship to all food. “You may fear that foods are unsafe, poisoned, have unpleasant textures or smells, or even worry about eating foods in certain weather conditions,” Brasseur says.
Anxiety
If you’re already dealing with an anxiety disorder, you may be more likely to experience psychosomatic reactions to food. “A psychosomatic response is often linked to heightened anxiety about bodily functions,” says Brasseur. “This can lead to increased vigilance, like closely monitoring physical responses to food, or interpreting normal digestive sensations as a sign of harm or discomfort, which can reinforce fear and avoidant behaviors.”
Illness anxiety disorder can make these concerns feel especially prominent. “With illness anxiety, people worry excessively about having a serious illness, even when there’s little or no medical evidence to support those concerns,” Brasseur explains. For example, if you are intensely afraid of developing a heart condition—even if you have no medical history that indicates you should be—you may feel anxious around foods known for exacerbating cardiac disease. This might manifest in symptoms of sweatiness, increased heart-rate, or dizziness when presented with high-fat foods.
OCD
OCD is a chronic mental health condition defined by two symptoms: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are recurrent and unwanted thoughts, sensations, images, feelings, or urges that cause distress. These obsessions lead to compulsions—repetitive behaviors or mental acts done in an attempt to ease discomfort or neutralize distressing thoughts. OCD obsessions cause anxiety, and the condition can make people hyperfixate on sensory experiences like chewing, breathing or swallowing—all of which can play a part in psychosomatic responses to food.
Food-related fears can show up in OCD in various ways, especially with contamination OCD, a subtype marked by fears about germs and contamination. For instance, if you have a fear of drinking contaminated water, you may find yourself struggling to swallow unfiltered water.
Other intrusive thoughts that may lead to psychosomatic reactions include:
- “What if this food is poisoned?”
- “What if I swallow my food incorrectly and I choke?”
- “What if my ingredients were spoiled or expired, and I get sick?”
- “If I eat non-kosher or haram food, will I be punished?”
“These fears can lead to avoidant behaviors, like not eating certain foods, spitting out food, excessive cleaning, or over-checking food safety,” Brasseur says. “The anxiety surrounding these concerns can make daily activities, like meal preparation or dining out, challenging.”
Coping with food-related psychosomatic symptoms
Rule out physical issues
If your negative physical reactions to food are making it hard for you to stay healthy and function in daily life, it’s important to consult your primary care physician to rule out any allergies, food intolerances, or other medical conditions. From there, you can investigate potential mental health causes with a therapist.
Find the right OCD therapist for you
All our therapists are licensed and trained in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD.
Consider eating disorder treatment
Eating disorders are usually treated by first addressing any malnourishment. In some cases, hospitalization may be necessary to achieve a healthy weight and overall physical stability. Once your body is functioning better, cognitive behavioral therapy can help you address behaviors, thoughts and feelings related to your eating disorder and learn healthier coping mechanisms.
Try ERP therapy
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy is an effective treatment for OCD, phobias, and anxiety. It’s an evidence-based therapy that works by gradually exposing you to situations that trigger your fears, and teaching you healthier strategies to cope. Your ERP therapist can tailor treatment to your specific needs, like addressing food aversions.
For example, let’s say you deal with a fear of contaminated water, and you’re avoiding tap water because it makes you gag. ERP therapy might involve gradually helping you face your fear by letting tap water touch your skin, drinking a few drops from your faucet, or writing out a worst case scenario with your therapist where you drink tap water and get sick. By engaging with your fears head-on, you’ll learn to manage the feelings that arise with your therapist—eventually giving you the skills to navigate these emotions on your own. In time, your food-related fears will feel less powerful, lessening any anxiety that may be contributing to physical responses.
Key takeaways
- Food allergies, intolerances, and aversions can all cause negative reactions to food.
- Psychosomatic responses to food may be triggered by previous negative experiences, sociocultural factors, and mental health conditions.
- Food aversions related to OCD, phobias, and anxiety disorders can be effectively treated with ERP therapy.