TikTok’s viral fear food challenge purports to help people recover from eating disorders, but experts caution that without professional help, it can pose mental health dangers.
Imagine confronting your darkest fear, but it is on your plate.
This isn’t a segment from the television show “Fear Factor,” where participants eat unappetizing items to win rewards.
A unique movement has surfaced on TikTok
Named the ‘fear food challenge’ or #fearfoodchallenge, its purpose is to assist individuals battling eating disorders.
Participants of the challenge, often those in recovery from an eating disorder, challenge themselves by picking a food they fear from a “fear food jar”.
They then consume these intimidating foods, typically high-calorie like burgers, tacos, or chocolate, on camera. The hashtag #fearfoodchallenge has already amassed over 470 million views.
Food phobia, leading to the avoidance of certain food types, is a common indicator of an eating disorder. Such disorders can develop at any age but are most prevalent among teenagers (10 to 19 years old) and young adults (up to 24 years old).
People with medical conditions that affect appetite and digestion (for example, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease) and diabetes have a higher chance of developing eating disorders.
Treatments addressing psychological aspects are the first-line options to treat eating disorders, including the commonly known Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
The psychological treatments normally involve cognitive restructuring or remediation, exploring beliefs, and managing mood symptoms. Hospital care is crucial for critical cases of eating disorders.
Closely related to the fear food challenge is a form of exposure-based therapy. It is a form of CBT therapy using the exposure and response prevention theory in the clinical setting.
Linking fear food challenges to exposure-based therapy in clinical settings
In this therapy, “exposure” involves confronting feared thoughts, images, objects, and scenarios. The “response prevention” aspect means choosing not to react compulsively toward the fear. It’s a widely used method for treating anxiety disorders like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Guidance from a trained therapist is essential, especially in the initial stages of treatment, aiming to train the brain to stop perceiving the feared item as a trigger.
Although exposure-based therapy has shown potential in alleviating food fears in eating disorders, the fear food challenge videos, which are often filmed alone or with a friend, lack professional oversight.
Negative feedback from viewers can exacerbate the mental health issues of those filming, making their conditions worse.
While exposure to feared items has shown some positive effects, the absence of professional supervision in fear food challenges presents significant risks.
Studies suggest that using social media to address eating disorders is problematic due to missing elements critical for recovery, such as managing self-criticism, self-perception, self-esteem, body image, and nutrition.
While the fear food challenge might increase awareness and empathy towards eating disorders, viewers need strong media literacy skills to potentially benefit from such content.
Effective psychological therapies for adults should be guided by trained professionals as the therapies are structured to target intrapersonal (within the individual) and/or interpersonal (with other individuals) factors and beliefs, along with mood symptoms management, especially in the beginning stages.
Guidance can be in the form of self-help workbooks developed by experts, meeting with mentors (who can be trained non-specialist individuals such as peers or non-mental health professionals), reading or listening to successful and motivational stories from blogs and podcasts by peers, and joining support groups.
The fear food challenge can be an inspiration for people struggling with eating disorders as a starting point for exposure therapy. However, the success of recovery from eating disorders is more effective if it is done with adequate check-ins or monitoring by a trained peer or specialist.