Choking anxiety: afraid to put something in your mouth

Choking can happen in many ways, and if you suffer from choking anxiety you know them all and try very hard not to find yourself in a situation that could cause you to choke. This can have far-reaching consequences. For example, you may find it scary to eat anything, brush your teeth, go to the dentist or be in tight spaces. You may not have a very generalized major choking fear, but it is limited to the fear of getting something into your airways that causes you to choke.

How do you get rid of this fear and what can you do to breathe easy in whatever situation you find yourself in? In this blog, I explore it in depth.

Choking anxiety and other fears

You may suffer from choking anxiety on its own, but there is often a correlation with other anxieties. For example, if you suffer from panic disorder, you may also suffer a lot from choking anxiety. For example, if you feel like you are not getting enough air, this can trigger a panic attack[1].

Choking anxiety is also a part of claustrophobia. It's not that if you have suffocation anxiety, you automatically have claustrophobia. But if you have claustrophobia you probably do have suffocation anxiety along with it[2].

Of course, if you really have something in your windpipe that could really choke you, your defensive system in your brain turns on (source 1).

Sting anxiety can also be triggered by a particular context you find yourself in (source 1). For example, a small closet with claustrophobia or eating something in which you have previously choked severely. That context can cause you to avoid or not avoid certain actions.

Nitrous anxiety at the dentist

When most people think of fear of the dentist, they think of fear of pain, but at number 2 of dental fears is choking anxiety[3]. This fear can cause you to find it scary to go to the dentist or not like it at all when that mirror is in your mouth or other objects the dentist works with.

Food and choking anxiety

Children who have choked once and needed the Heimlich hold, for example, may suffer from post traumatic stress as a result, making them unwilling to eat. In addition, they may suddenly become much more affectionate again than they were before they almost choked on their food.

By slowly confronting the child again with the food he almost choked on, the anxiety can be treated again[4].

Adults can also suffer from choking anxiety. A case study of a 34-year-old woman found that difficulty swallowing can cause that anxiety. That one suddenly found it difficult to swallow solid food and pills after a stressful period in her education.

She felt that something was already in her throat by then. But after medical examination, it came out that there was nothing physically wrong with her.

It started when at lunch she felt like something was stuck in his throat and that feeling didn't go away after drinking some water. Then she started thinking about dying slowly and that no one would help her right away. Then she had a panic attack.

What was interesting was that her friends took her to the hospital within 5 minutes. So actually help was there right away. She was calmer by then, but the feeling that she was going to suffocate was still there. Then she had tests and they showed that nothing was physically wrong.

Only the harm was now done. She was eating only liquid food. Even the porridge had to be very thin.

She also could no longer be alone, as there would be no one to rescue her.

Because she ate so poorly, she lost 10 pounds in 2 months. That's a lot of weight for such a short period of time. All she was doing was dealing with her anxiety, which didn't help her social relationships and school either. Depressive symptoms were then added, and just to be sure, she went to the doctor one more time to check everything that could be physically checked.

When again it appeared that everything was normal she was referred for mental help[5].

It is common for the panic attack to be so severe that a hospital visit is needed to make sure all is well. The fear of food can get so bad that everything goes through a sieve first so there can't be anything in the food that you could possibly choke on[6].

This demonstrates how this fear can occur even later in life. Unfortunately, this anxiety can also be misdiagnosed as an eating disorder or as simulating. In simulating, a doctor thinks you are making up a complaint or pretending to suffer from something, when you are not suffering from anything.

Choking anxiety usually occurs in women, but it can also affect men. In addition, this fear can occur at any age.

Other research shows that fear of choking does not always come from having almost choked once. It can also gradually become something you become afraid of[7].

Treatment of choking anxiety

Nitrous anxiety is often treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressants (source 5). Generally, a little more than 10 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy are needed to eliminate this anxiety[8].

There are some things a therapist may ask of you during treatment, such as keeping a journal to find out what triggers the fear of choking (source 5).

In addition, you can create a top 10 foods you find scary to eat because of your choking anxiety. You can also indicate for each food how anxious it makes you (source 6).

Next, you can learn relaxation techniques that help you relax in moments of anxiety. During therapy, you may also be asked to eat 1 of those 10 foods in front of the therapist so they can coach you on how to stay calm while eating.

The great thing is that you can enhance the effects of CBT with hypnosis.

EMDR Therapy

In addition, this anxiety is also often treated with EMDR therapy. Especially in younger people, this form is used and 1 or 2 sessions of EMDR therapy can then already eliminate the fear of choking[9]. Even if you are already an adult, EMDR therapy can quickly make this fear go away[10].

EMDR therapy also combines well with hypnosis techniques for effective treatment.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy on its own can also be used to treat choke anxiety. A case study of a 13-year-old girl with the fear of choking shows that it can be effective in restoring normal eating and that you feel that effectiveness even years later[11].

Another study shows that regression can be used to identify the cause for choking anxiety if it is not immediately obvious.

Sometimes unconscious beliefs can suddenly make it difficult for you to choke. At HIN, for example, we always assume that you do something because somewhere, no matter how illogical, it provides a benefit to you.

With regression, for example, you can then figure out what this benefit is and when you thought of it. Then, in your mind, you can do something with that moment that allows you to gain the benefit in a way other than being afraid of choking. This is a process that the hypnotherapist helps you with.

For example, another technique that can be used with hypnosis is visualizing swallowing food and how well it actually goes. This can increase your sense of control over your body and over the swallowing mechanism[12] giving you back the courage to just eat what you like.

Self-hypnosis can also be used with people who suffer from hyperventilation and are afraid of suffocating precisely because of it[13].

Want to learn more about hypnotherapy and how it can enhance cognitive behavioral therapy and be used with EMDR? Then sign up for one of our courses.

If you just want to learn how hypnosis works, you can also visit the free online master class on hypnosis .

Sources: