Overcoming the Fear of Choking
Therapy for fear of choking—support for individuals with food-related anxiety.
Fear of choking—also known as pseudodysphagia—can have a profound impact on daily life. What starts as a cautious moment while eating can quickly spiral into intense food-related anxiety, avoiding meals, or a sense of isolation around others. At its core, this fear is not just about the act of swallowing but the loss of control, safety, or trust in one’s own body.
Therapy can offer a path forward. For those in Redondo Beach and the surrounding South Bay area, compassionate, trauma-informed care is available to help rebuild confidence, address underlying triggers, and restore a sense of ease around food.
Table of Contents
What Is Pseudodysphagia?
Pseudodysphagia is the persistent fear of choking, even when there is no medical reason to believe swallowing is unsafe. It may be triggered by a past choking incident, anxiety around eating, or trauma held in the body. People living with this fear often describe feeling like food might get stuck in their throat or that they could stop breathing while eating.
Common behaviors include:
Avoiding certain foods or textures
Cutting food into very small pieces
Excessively chewing or swallowing with liquids
Eating only in “safe” environments
Avoiding eating in public or with others
Although medical evaluations may show no physical issue, the anxiety is very real. Therapy for pseudodysphagia can help restore confidence and ease at mealtimes.
Is It Anxiety or Something More?
While pseudodysphagia is often classified as a specific phobia, it rarely exists in isolation. Many individuals struggling with the fear of choking also experience generalized anxiety, panic attacks, health anxiety, or trauma-related responses. For others, the fear may relate to sensory sensitivities or a history of difficult medical experiences. This fear can impact more than just mealtimes—it can influence social life, travel, relationships, and physical health. And because the fear is centered in the body, it often feels unpredictable and hard to explain. Exploring the emotional, cognitive, and somatic roots of food-related anxiety in therapy can offer clarity and relief. For many, this step helps connect the dots between past experiences and present-day fears.
How Therapy Can Help
Therapy for fear of choking offers more than coping skills—it creates space to understand what’s happening beneath the surface. Many people living with food-related anxiety carry past experiences or body memories that haven’t been fully processed, even if the fear feels recent or sudden.
At the heart of this work is helping the nervous system feel safe again. Approaches like EMDR therapy, somatic therapy, mindfulness-based practices, and in vivo experiences (therapeutic eating exposures) can support this process by:
Releasing stored fear or trauma
Easing physical symptoms like throat tension or panic
Building awareness and trust in the body
Shifting thoughts and beliefs around safety while eating
As therapy unfolds, many individuals find themselves eating more freely, avoiding fewer foods, and feeling less dread around mealtimes. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach—treatment is tailored and paced to honor each person’s story, capacity, and goals.
Finding Support in Redondo Beach
If the fear of choking has begun to interfere with daily life, therapy can help—and specialized support is available right here in Redondo Beach. Whether this fear is new or something that’s been quietly shaping your eating habits for years, you don’t have to face it alone.
Working with a therapist who understands pseudodysphagia, somatic anxiety, and food-related phobias makes a difference. In therapy, the goal isn’t to force eating or eliminate fear overnight. It’s to collaborate gently, address what’s underneath, and create more freedom and safety at a pace that feels manageable.
Some clients come to therapy after seeing multiple medical providers, unsure why they’re still struggling. Others know it’s anxiety but feel stuck in a cycle of avoidance. Regardless of where the journey begins, the right therapeutic support can offer meaningful change.
Until next time, don’t forget to take care of yourself.
– – Catherine Alvarado, LMFT
About the Author
Catherine Alvarado, LMFT is a licensed psychotherapist, EMDR Certified Therapist, and Consultant-in-Training (CIT) in Redondo Beach, CA. Beyond the pages of self-help blogs, Catherine Alvarado, LMFT & Associates offers in-person and virtual therapy services for adolescents and teens of Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, and the rest of the South Bay area.
If you are experiencing distress, reach out today to schedule a free phone consultation.
