Fobia alimentar associada a magreza: Um diagnóstico diferencial com anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Food phobia (FP) or phagophobia is a disorder characterized by an excessive conditioned fear of eating and swallowing, many times precipitated by vomiting or choking. There are few reports of FP on scientific literature, so it's difficult to know its prevalence. Despite of that, it presents clinical relevance because of the risk of clinical complications and misdiagnosis possibility by confusion with other conditions that carries food restraint, like anorexia nervosa. The objective of this article is to present a FP clinical case and to discuss the psychopathology, diagnostic difficulties and recommended therapeutics, based on clinical evolution of the case and recent scientific evidences.