A new Tic Tok ‘challenge’ claims to help cure eating disorders. But it may be doing exactly the opposite. The ‘Fear Food Challenge’ sounds takes a tough love approach to confronting serious and dangerous eating issues…
Professional ‘exposure therapy’ sessions are always carried out in
controlled, clinical sessions with proper therapist supervision…
Let me, right at the outset, make it clear I think this new ‘trend’ (read: fad) is ill-conceived, ill-advised and dangerous. Maybe even potentially deadly. I’m posting about it because everybody – especially the parents of kids with serious conditions such as anorexia, bulemia and extreme picky eating disorders – needs to know about it.
Don’t just confront your fears…
The Fear Food Challenge is simple but insidious. It forces a subject- usually someone recovering from an acknowledged eating disorder – to pull the name of a food from their ‘Fear Food’ jar and then eat it in front of their webcam. For everybody online to witness.
Based on established therapies?
It’s a case of an instigator using established theories for treating eating disorders in a very distorted context. To justify the pain and embarrassment they’re about to put some poor kid through.
The challenge is, on its surface, similar to what psychologists call Exposure-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). But the concept of ‘exposure’ is where the similarity both starts and ends. CBT always takes place in a controlled, clinical setting. It seeks to employ the prevention of negative responses to triggering stimuli. The technique is often used to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
A flawed challenge
The Tic Tok challenge is fundamentally flawed. Not the least because it doesn’t provide any controlled setting. Quite the opposite, in fact. And if the solitary challenge-taker has no one with them, to support them, to help prevent the unwanted response at the root of the problem… Just imagine all the things that could go wrong…
Creating a spectacle
It appears the challenge is actually designed to create a spectacle for the amusement of prurient gawkers and trolls. There’s nothing in its protocols that addresses recovery from a psychological disorder. And much to suggest it was created to intentionally make sick folks – largely tweens, teens and young adults, who suffer most often from eating disorders – sicker.
An ill-suited forum
There are actually studies on record that conclude online therapy is a bad idea. There are many reasons for that assessment, aside from the major weaknesses of the concept already mentioned. Even professionally-designed social media-based therapy programs often lack essential self criticism, self perception, self esteem, body image and nutritional management components.
My take
Like so many dangerous and downright stupid online stunts, the Fear Food Challenge is a thing to be avoided at all costs. As I see it, participating in such ‘events’ is just plain asking for disaster to ensue.
And I have to agree that online therapy constructs – social media forums especially – are nothing but a bad idea from the get-go.
The Food Fear challenge: Just don’t go there!
~ Maggie J.