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Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

What is the treatment for ARFID?

ARFID requires a multidisciplinary approach involving various disciplines: psychiatry, psychology, nursing, gastroenterology, social work, and speech therapy, among others.

Specialized mental health services offer treatment plans at the individual, group, and family levels, always adapted to the needs and situation of each person, taking into account that each case may require different levels of hospital facilities (the most serious cases require hospitalization) in terms of intensity and always depending on the level of severity.

The type of intervention used involves gradual in vivo exposure (a cognitive-behavioral technique) to aversive stimuli (rejected foods). The primary goal is for the individual to gradually expose themselves to the avoided stimuli and, through relaxation techniques, progressively reduce the anxiety they experience when faced with the feared food. The secondary goal of this procedure is to reduce coping difficulties and facilitate the generalization of the learned behavior to the home environment. This phase involves the individual gradually incorporating the foods they have been exposed to in their treatment plan into their daily diet, enabling them to achieve a varied and healthy eating plan. Throughout the process, guidance and coping strategies are provided.