[habsfan31]

I was just wondering if anyone else with SA has a type of neophobia or more specifically food neophobia. Neophobia is the fear of new ideas or experiences and food neophobia is the fear of trying new foods.

I have so much trouble trying new foods, there are only certain foods that i eat, and certain brands of food. For example, i like drinking coke, but i wont drink pepsi or coca cola, i will only drink RC cola, i got used to it when i was a kid and wont consider drinking anything else. If i ever order chicken, it has to be from a specific restaurant.

Same with just general neophobia, im afraid to try new things, for example when driving in my car, i always have to take the same route when im going somewhere, i would be too afraid to take another route cause i wouldnt be familiar with a different street.

Does anyone else suffer from this phobia?

 

[pita]

To some extent, yes. I'm able to get around it by doing ridiculous amounts information-gathering on the new thing at hand, but unless I research the heck out of whatever new thing I'm doing, I won't do it. Food I'm okay with, but most other things, no.

 

[Noca]

I just plain hate food regardless if its new or not.

 

[hatepickingnames]

I don't think I have a phobia but I have a dislike of it. About 90% of the time I try to buy something new I hate it and am angry I bothered as I throw it away and see money going in the trash.

 

[erinmichelle31]

I do

Yes, I DO...i guess? Didn't know what it was called? I am 31 and struggle with it every day. I eat the same foods over and over again. Can't figure out how to even begin to try new foods? I start to get panicky and dread just hits me. I want to try it so bad too, but my anxiety takes over. I'm sure I could blow your mind in all the foods I have never tried!!!

 

[deadkittens]

maybe your just a picky eater...

 

[Revenwyn]

I'm terrified of eating food that hasn't previously been exposed to me. Actually the only food I can stand is rice, potatoes, or pasta, or things made with that.

 

[trendyfool]

I'll eat most kinds of food, but I'm very picky about its quality. I also don't like eating in unfamiliar places.

 

[ReincarnatedRose]

I've never heard of this. What fear exactly do you have when someone offers you a Pepsi, for example? Is it just that you won't like it and go through some discomfort? Or do you feel that maybe there's something in the unknown food that could hurt you?

 

[jonny neurotic]

I'm kinda the opposite. With a few exeption(grubs, etc.) I love trying new foods. One of my little cousins is like that though. His diet is seriously restricted and it is a concern to me that he isn't getting a good diet. His mum panders to it to much though. Was your parents like that or did they try to get you to eat stuff? I'm not sure whether forcing him to eat stuff would be good in the long run or not. Can you say what the root cause of it is for you, or is it just something that happened?

 

[S0s]

I have anxiety re food but its a bit complicated. Last year I developed a food allergy to a particular nut and now carry an epipen. But I've found since this happened I'm so anxious about anything I eat it really restricts my choice of food. Also, since I was prescribed Xanax this year I don't drink alcohol, not even a glass of wine with dinner (and I don't take the Xanax on the weekend, only for work). This is becoming really depressing because I have always previously enjoyed, cooking, eating a wide variety of food. Not being able to drink on the weekend really stinks. I'm paranoid about benzos in my system and the alcohol but also found if I did drink on the weekend, after being prescribed the Xanax, my face would go burning red.

 

[WillYouStopDave]

Bumping this because it is one of the very few references to this I've found in the search results here. It does seem to be a factor (for me at least) on my aversion to doing stuff.

LINK

Anyone else think this seems like it could be a factor in their SA?

 

[truant]

I don't have this problem with food. I like trying new things, as long as it's not seafood, because I hate most seafood. I do have this problem with going new places. I don't like to travel, and I get a lot of anxiety about going to a store/house/building I've never been to before. Riding buses gives me anxiety, but it's way worse when I have to go someplace new and have to figure out the schedule, etc. Most of my problem with going new places has to do with my fear of violence. I feel like every new place is a potential deathtrap and I won't know the escape routes when **** goes down.

 

[WillYouStopDave]

^ Yeah. I like trying new foods too and I find I will eat almost anything (and even enjoy it) but that wasn't always the case. When I was a young kid, I didn't eat much. The only thing I really liked was macaroni and cheese. I would often go long periods of time without eating because I seemed to hate everything that was offered to me. I don't know what that was about but that eventually went away. But it's probably the reason why I was never even close to overweight until I was well into my 30s.

But my brain nopes out of things like job interviews, going to new places, taking different routes than the ones I'm very familiar with, new music, new movies, new TV shows. I have a strong aversion to most things I'm unfamiliar with. There are some things I can progress in but they're few and it is pretty much random.

 

[Blue Dino]

I don't really have neophobia with most things, or anything that are just a one-off or a short change. In fact I do kind of like it mostly, because I think it's cool to try new things. It is only the big changes, or something new that permanently alters my normal life structure, or it gets into the way of things I like, then I will have neophobia of. In most cases when that happens, it usually does alter the convenience and comfort of me in my expense.

 

[zonebox]

Does anyone else suffer from this phobia?

Not really a phobia, but when I go to a restaurant I am hesitant to try something new. It is mostly because it is a rare occasion that I consider a treat, and it is expensive. I don't like trying new food, when it is expensive. I will typically stick to stuff I am familiar with and know I enjoy. Unless someone I know suggests it to me, then I will probably give it a try. If they are eating with me, all the better, they can give me a sample of their food.

If it is free, I'm all in though. I am willing to experiment with different foods. The same can be said for when I go to a buffet, I'll try new things - unfortunately due to covid that has been a while for me though.

 

[Tetragammon]

I don't have neophobia in general, probably largely thanks to my parents for taking me overseas throughout my teens -- bursting my "bubble," so to speak, by exposing me to so many different peoples and cultures. I mean I've always been really introverted so I didn't interact much with the people unless I had to... But just seeing different cultures all around Europe and Asia made me realize that there's nothing special about American life, you know? In fact I became wary of people who insist that their particular culture or way of life is "right" or even "superior," because I saw firsthand that there is no "good" or "bad," just "different" -- and that different is okay. I wish that everyone could travel the world in their teens because I think it would open up a lot of eyes and potentially prevent some of that unfortunate close-mindedness that so many people seem to suffer from.

Nowadays I don't have any such opportunities and SA makes anything directly involving people difficult. But I rather enjoy visiting new places or taking different routes when I can; sometimes at university I would go out driving just to see parts of the city I hadn't been to before. Damn, I should do that again... And I absolutely love discovering new music; I have this fascination with variants of metal from all around the world, especially when it incorporates exotic instruments or musical styles that you don't typically find in the genre.

 

[truant]

new music, new movies, new TV shows. I have a strong aversion to most things I'm unfamiliar with.

I'm the opposite when it comes to music, movies, books, etc. I'm constantly trying new things to see if I like them. I get bored of things really quickly. I never binge watch anything. I have a tough time watching two episodes of the same show back to back, let alone an entire season of a TV show, let alone all of the seasons. I'll watch an episode of one show one night, then an episode of a different show the next night, etc. I'm watching about 20 different shows right now. Same with books. I'm reading about 20 or so books, all in different genres. I almost never rewatch or reread stuff because I'd rather try something new.

Part of my problem with going new places might be that my parents never took us anywhere when I was growing up. My family never went on vacations. For me, a vacation has always meant staying home, not traveling.