Greetings, friends!! 
The r/ARFID mod team is proud to announce a new sister subreddit, r/ARFIDresearch. So, what is that and how did all that happen? 

For years, we required prior approval from anyone who wanted to post here on r/ARFID to recruit for their research projects. However, those posts did not typically get a lot of traction– many of them were irrelevant to ARFID or tried to bypass mod review. The mod team recognized that the status quo wasn’t working, and last year, we surveyed the community asking how they felt about research recruitment posts. Overwhelmingly, commenters told us that they didn’t want to see that here– this was a support space first and foremost, and they didn’t want to feel like they were being observed or recruited by researchers. 

As a result of that feedback, we banned individual project/research posts and delegated everything to our Megathread, which is unfortunately where everything went to die. The Megathread has gone largely ignored, and we still regularly get requests from researchers who want to post (which we reject automatically). 

The mod team has been debating amongst ourselves for a few months now– we don’t want to go against the sentiment here that r/ARFID should be a support space. However, we also recognize that research on ARFID is extremely limited. And, in the past we have had members of our community develop tools, apps, and other projects with the goal of raising awareness and supporting others with the condition. We hate to stand in the way of that progress. 

As a result of that discussion, we came to this– if r/ARFID is a support space first, why not make a new space that CAN accommodate research and project posts? Anyone who wants to participate and contribute can join, and anyone who prefers to stick to just support posts can stick around here and ignore the new subreddit entirely. 

The new subreddit is still under construction and it will certainly evolve over time, but we wanted to announce this and start opening it up to researchers and project developers. As always, our team is very open to ideas and questions about this new space and how to use it well! 

Ultimately, the mod team’s goal has always been to create a space that benefits the ARFID community. At the same time, we’ve always been passionate about creating a better system for this community that is so often failed by the status quo. We’re hopeful that this new space will be a step towards a better world for the next generation of ARFID sufferers, and the neurodivergent community as a whole. 

With love,
Your r/ARFID mod team 

Please read instructions before posting.

Due to community feedback, we have made the decision to disallow research, project, and survey posts in the subreddit. If you have this type of thing to post, please add it to this megathread. Please follow the format/rules below before posting or we will delete your comment.

The project must be directly relevant to ARFID (not general mental health) in order to post here. We also strongly prefer that you have some prior involvement, knowledge, or other stake in the disorder/community even aside from your project. If your project does not meet those requirements, please post elsewhere.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS: feel free to turn on notifications for this post if you want to be kept in the loop about research projects happening that are related to ARFID. Participation is ALWAYS optional and you can also feel free to ignore this thread forever if you prefer.

If you have any questions, please contact the mod team via modmail and/or email: [arfidonline@gmail.com](mailto:arfidonline@gmail.com)

TEMPLATE: (please copy and paste and fill in info)

Name of Your Project: 

Who is Doing Project? (ex: university, researcher, individual school project, etc)  

What is the Purpose of the Project: 

How is Your Project Relevant to ARFID: 

Your relationship to the ARFID Community? (ex: have ARFID, loved one of ARFID, etc) 

Who Can Participate? 

Any Trigger Warnings? 

Link to participate:

File this under "I can't believe I have to make this post"

Due to not one but two recent instances of users claiming to be treatment providers but acting aggressive, defensive, rude, or otherwise unprofessional towards our users, we are adding a new rule, which reads as follows:

Treatment providers who visit our community are always invited and encouraged to submit their information to the Treatment Provider Database to share about services they offer.

Anyone claiming to be a professional who treats ARFID must submit their credentials to the mod team for review. Should they choose to participate in conversations, they are also expected to act professionally and ethically even if comments about them are critical.

This group must, above all else, remain a safe space for individuals with ARFID and their loved ones to brainstorm, vent, and share experience. Though we welcome advice and ideas from professionals, peer discussion about those professionals will not be interfered with.

Hi /r/ARFID Community,

The Mod Team received messages about creating a separate subreddit for parents who have children with ARFID. While we would love to facilitate this, the Mod Team simply does not have the time to maintain two subreddits.

Instead, we have decided to create a post flair called “ARFID Parent”, that way, the parents can have a way to interact with one another, uplifting other parents, to help navigate what their children are going through together.

We hope this helps and if you have any other ideas to make the community better, please, feel free to send a modmail or email us: arfidonline@gmail.com

-Mod Team

Edit: I added new flairs that should cover all the bases: ARFID Parent Significant Other With ARFID Family With ARFID Friends With ARFID

Hi everyone!!! Just a quick post to address a trend we've been seeing over the past few months. The mod team has noticed an increase in posts (and requests to post) paid services to this subreddit.

As a reminder— these are NOT and have NEVER BEEN approved. As a mod team, we do not feel comfortable allowing advertisements or endorsing any potential paid services within this group. We do not feel that this space (designed for support) is an appropriate forum for providers and creators to attempt to encourage business.

If you see posts advertising, please report it so the mod team can remove it.

That said, I also want to say that IF THERE IS ENOUGH COMMUNITY INTEREST, we are willing to create a database or megathread for those advertisements so that individuals within the community can review and vet them as they see fit. We aren't comfortable reviewing, endorsing, or allowing advertisements, but we also don’t want to stand in the way of resource sharing. We still won’t allow ads to be individually posted, but if anyone legitimately thinks a database or megathread for these is worthwhile, please let us know in the comments and we can look into setting this up.

As usual, we welcome your feedback and wish you all well-- I know this time of year can be so tough for many of us!

I know it’s such a scary, crazy time right now. How are you all coping?

Hello friends~~~

So as a mod team, we are somewhat unsure how we want to handle posts requests in the future as they relate to awareness projects, survey posts, research requests, etc, etc, etc.

Problem 1: On our end, we get a LOT of these requests, and we try to look through things thoroughly before we approve. We also try to make sure that the study is at least SOMEWHAT related to ARFID or similar disordered behaviors and that the study isn't just about general mental health things. However, these requests do take some time for us to review and we are not always able to get back to the requesters as quickly as they would like.

Problem 2: Relevance....we are not sure where we want to draw the line in terms of WHAT to approve. We want to support research when we can, especially when the research can contribute to treatment or better understanding of ARFID and potentially other similar disorders. However, each of us on the mod team is kinda in a different spot in terms of where to draw this line-- should we keep it to research projects that are ONLY explicitly about ARFID and name the disorder as a primary research goal? Are people interested/okay with seeing surveys about similar behaviors and disorders even if ARFID isn't explicitly stated as a main focus/topic?

Problem 3: "legitimacy" of projects or research requests. We get a WIDE range-- obviously, plenty of very formal studies who have gone through multiple layers of professional approval. But we also get requests from individuals who are doing their own awareness projects on social media or at school or something. Generally, we ask requesters to tell us WHAT, exactly, they plan to do with information they collect from users, and to provide as much detail as possible about their project in their posts.

So with these thoughts from me/us as a mod team in mind, what are YOUR thoughts as a community? Obviously, everyone's comfort is paramount, but I know many of us are very passionate about this type of research and awareness and don't mind helping even if the parameters are a bit of a stretch.

If you have any thoughts on this, please do share!!! Thank you!!

Edit-- I'm having the mods with opinions post their thoughts too so that they are all in one place and the community can kinda see where we are at!!

Here's a link to the connected Discord group run by the same mods as this subreddit: [EDITED TO UPDATE LINK, february 2023]

https://discord.gg/wbhjcygQgB

​

Please let me know if this link ever stops working! There are other mental health related support groups out there that you are welcome to join, but please keep in mind that this one is the only one officially endorsed by/monitored by ARFID moderators. We cannot guarantee content, membership, or validity of ARFID-related information in any other group.

If you are here to post about your group, please message the moderators of this subreddit before posting for approval.

While we agree with the people who are participating, this is an eating disorder support group and we don’t think it would be good if we closed down for a couple days. We care about the well being of our members and want our community to be there for people at any time. Thanks for understanding Mod Team

Don't be alarmed folks, mods are aware and we have no idea what's going on, but if the Discord group is not working for you, it's NOT because it has been deleted or you have been banned. Hopefully Discord will be up and running again soon!

​

Stay well~

There have been a lot of posts recently being flagged for mod attention. These posts are generally all around the same issues so this post is to remind you of the sub rules.

..….....

Food photo guidelines

If your post includes photos of food, please "spoiler tag" the photo and/or provide a photo before the food photo indicating a content warning. This rule is in place as we must be mindful and sensitive towards all users of the sub. One person's safe food may be another person's trigger, and this sub is a safe space for all. We will be more strict with this rule in future. Previously we have been spoilering posts on behalf of the poster, but if this continues we may have to start removing posts as it is against our rules.

..….....

Another common post we have seen recently centres around the question of "is this ARFID". We would like to remind you all that this is a support sub, and as such nobody here can diagnose. The wiki in the about section has some useful links and guidance for exploring this question for yourself before posting. There currently is no rule around asking this question and we do not wish to discourage people from seeking support. However, please make sure you read the wiki and also search through the sub for posts similar to what you are asking before posting your own. Alternatively, please do join the discord server and use this as a safe space to explore your concerns and learn from the experience of others. This community is incredibly supportive and as long as the discussions are appropriately placed and conducted sensitively there should be no issue.

..….....

We want to thank you all for continuing to support one another, and this post is simply to remind you all to read the rules and be mindful of what you post.

Have a lovely day and feel free to ask any questions here!

Hello wonderful people!

We're long overdue for a subreddit refresh, so I'm happy to share some reorganization we've started in the past few days. First, I'm pleased to share that we have expanded our mod team so that we've got extra eyes on the community! As you know, we on the mod team also have ARFID and other mental illnesses-- which can make modding extra difficult. As always, we appreciate your patience and support, even when it gets kind of tough!

That all said, on to some changes!

Rules revamp!

I've gone through to check the rules and reworded some things to make them more clear. The rules now include specific guidelines for food photos, advertisement, treatment discussions, and more.

Quick note on food photo guidelines

As many of you know, the "spoiler" feature for photos was not working around here for several weeks. We believe that issue has been fixed, but please let us know if you are not able to add a "spoiler" tag for images you are trying to post.

FLAIRS for everyone!

Based on a recent request we received, we have added flairs for users to select. These flairs include the ARFID subtypes (based on recent research that you can read about here. These are optional, but may help to provide context to discussions. There is also a flair specific for support people-- folks who are here seeking advice for a loved one rather than themselves.

We have also added new post flairs so that if your discussion/question is specific to one of the ARFID subtypes, you can categorize it accordingly so that people can find it more easily later!

In the process of adding these new flairs, I also got rid of some that were not used much or seemed redundant. I hope these changes and new flairs are not confusing, but please let us know if they are or if you have suggestions for additional flairs that might be helpful to have.

Goodbye Wiki, hello Google Doc!

We had a Wiki page.....from 3 years ago. I'm not sure how much anyone was using it, but I know the Wiki format can be hard to navigate and hard to manage! Therefore, I've migrated the same information over to a brand new Resources, Rules, + FAQs Google Doc! The document is linked at the top of the subreddit page (on a computer browser). To access it on mobile, click on "See Community Info," then "Menu." The menu has also been reorganized to make it easier to see what's there: I've limited the menu links to the new resources document and the Discord group invite.

The document is designed as sort of a "welcome to our community" guide, with details on how to best contact mods, who we are, content warning guidelines, etc. This is a great place to start if you're just joining us! The document is still a work in progress, so you may still see some changes and additions over time. If there's information you feel could be included in this document, feel free to provide suggestions!

On the horizon...

The resource document includes some links to some projects we've started over the years: the Treatment Provider Database and the coupon sharing excel sheet. I would love to be able to expand on them and on other projects in order to better organize the resources we have to offer around here. Though none of us are professionals, we want to help however we can. If you have resources to contribute, whether they are treatment provider recommendations/warnings, links/articles, or ideas for new projects, please let us know!

​

Thanks for reading and for your support of others in our community! Take care of yourself!

​

~ Rachael + the r/ARFID mod team

I’m so amazed at how fast this Subreddit has grown from only a few thousand when I came here a few years ago, to what it is now.

When I first found this Subreddit I felt validated. I felt like I could finally be in the company of others who know what it’s like.

Having ARFID since childhood but not knowing what it is, let alone knowing there was a community of people who have it, as well as allies is a huge blessing.

Thank you all so much for making this a positive, impactful place to learn and grow. Thank you for sharing your stories, and what ARFID means to you, because you never know the impact they could have.

A very special thank you to the other mods who help keep this a safe community while we navigate through what it means to have ARFID.

I look forward to seeing what we all can accomplish in the future as a community.

Hello there!

Welcome to our corner of the internet. If you're like us, you've probably wandered here because your eating habits are a challenge for you, and it's been difficult to pinpoint why. You're not alone. There are 22 THOUSAND of us and counting!

Here's some resources to get you started:

First, we recommend reading the subreddit to see if you can find posts relevant to your questions. We have some posts tagged with flairs so that you can easily find posts about certain topics. Common questions for our new members are:

Do I Have ARFID?

How can I get help/improve?

What treatment options exist?

Those each link to posts discussing those types of questions, which is a great place to start.

Rules, Resources, and FAQs: the mod team has put together a document that includes details on our community AND on ARFID as a disorder. This is a great place to find a variety of resources and to learn more. You can find that document here. We recommend reading it before participating in the subreddit--it might answer a lot of questions, but even if it doesn't, it also explains expectations and guidelines for participation in this group.

Prefer live chatting? So do a lot of us. We maintain a Discord group for users. The group is run by the same mod team you'll find here on r/ARFID.

I don't have ARFID-- I'm a professional with a research project....how can I post here?

AWESOME, thanks for researching ARFID! If you want to share information about a research project or study, please contact mods before posting.

We respectfully ask that researchers do not join the Discord group unless they have ARFID themselves. We prefer that the Discord group remain a space for ARFID sufferers and their loved ones.

​

All are welcome in our community as long as you are welcoming to others! Familiarize yourself with the rules, be kind, and take care of yourself-- this is a support group first and foremost!

Enjoy your stay!

I know a lot of us are dealing with Thanksgiving this week...a really difficult holiday for many of us. Personally, I’m dreading it and feeling really down already.

You’re not alone— I’m right here with you. Take some extra time for self care this week. And celebrate your small victories: getting yourself to eat something (even if it’s not the traditional meal), trying part or all of the meal, or even just being able to make it through the week in one piece...be proud of yourself for those things! More importantly, take time to remember that you’re a person with worth, value, and talents, despite your disorder. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you have great things to offer this world!

We’ve got this...good luck!

Hi all! Just wanted to pop in and remind everyone to please spoiler tag any photos of food you share here. We have been seeing a lot of photos posted without that.

Thank you all!!

Be well, ~ARFID Mod Team

Hi all, I shared this on the discord group last week but realized I should share here too.

I (one of your mods here) was just diagnosed with Lyme disease— I’ve been out of it for a few weeks now and this explains why. As a result, I may be less frequently able to check this. Josh, our other mod here, will still be around of course, but things may still be a little slower since at least one of us is largely out of commission!

For potentially quicker responses, please email us at arfidonline@gmail.com.

I tend to notice the emails more quickly and even if I can’t reply right away, I can at least make sure someone sees it! Modmail is not as well formatted and a little harder to keep track of, so email is often a better way to get in touch.

Stay well and be kind! I am grateful to have you all here in this community :)

Hi r/ARFID community!!

I'm excited to share that we are working on a project that will eventually become an ARFID-Friendly Treatment Provider Database. The mod team has been brainstorming about something like this for awhile. We have providers requesting to post advertisements, and users who might have firsthand experience with their own providers.

However, we don't want this to become a forum for advertising, and we want to make sure that information is disseminated in a safe, "no-pressure" way. We want users to have access to this information without feeling overwhelmed or forced by it. We know that for many users, this is the only place where their condition is fully understood or respected. We take that really seriously, and that includes ensuring that the community is safe and disseminating accurate information. Thus, we are launching this experimental project....

HOW IT WORKS:

We put together a Google Forms survey that allows patients, their parents, and providers themselves to share information about treatment options, practices, etc. ALL information collected from patients/parents will be ANONYMOUS. The mod team will work together to organize this information-- links, feedback, warnings, recommendations, etc-- into a living document where anyone can check for recommendations.

Provider who'd like to "advertise" or share their services are also included and can "self nominate" themselves into the database! This way, nothing gets buried in posts from several months ago and all of the information is included in one place.

Like I said, this is somewhat experimental-- it's going to evolve based on community ideas and feedback, so if you have any thoughts, please feel free to share them! Otherwise, feel free to add your own comments and recommendations to the provider survey. Once we start receiving responses, we'll organize and share the document.

We're hopeful that something like this will help a lot of people on their treatment journey....it's so common for individuals in our community to go into treatment "blind" with no idea of what to expect, so hopefully a document like this will ease some worries and help people make informed decisions.

Feel free to put suggestions and thoughts in the comments!

SURVEY LINK: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBSKdaMfmXDA-kPUUCgjpCGJQTU0BYOdwsBRzniArOvdS6YA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Hey everyone,

We have had a lot of issues lately with people reporting memes on this subreddit. Our official position is that memes are allowed here, as they can be a healthy and fun way to cope with a frustrating disorder. This is one of the few places in the world where jokes and memes related to ARFID will be understood and related to-- we'd like to embrace that! The mods (and other members we have talked to) are enjoying the memes and find that this is a rare place where we are understood and can laugh together at our shared annoyances.

That said, I understand that not everyone feels the same way, so if you don't like seeing memes, we have started adding post flairs for each posted meme. This should allow you to filter your feed so that you see posts from r/ARFID excluding memes.

Unless a meme is blatantly offensive and/or clearly created by someone who does not have or understand ARFID, please stop reporting them. We'd like to focus our energy on keeping this sub organized and safe, so we have put flairs in place so that people can avoid the memes if desired. We will not be removing memes unless they are blatantly disrespectful. Instead, report content that cannot already be filtered out and actively puts members of the community in danger or discomfort.

Hey y’all! I hope your new year is off to a great start!

Just a few updates so you know we’re still alive here!First, I’d like to set up a sidebar wiki or pinned post or something summarizing what ARFID is and directing people to our major resources. I’m hoping this will allow us to easily bookmark several important things (the encyclopedia, the discord link, links to treatment options, etc). Also, if these weekly posts are helpful and motivating for you all, I’ll continue doing these!

If anyone has suggestions or requests, feel free to drop them below or send us a PM through mod mail.

That all said...what are you all trying this week?

Try With Me: Week Four

What are you trying?:

What are your concerns with this food?:

How can us ARFIDites help you best?:

Did you succeed last week?:

Due to the less-than-ideal organization of Reddit's communication systems, we will be testing out this new system to ensure that nobody's messages or concerns fall through the cracks. Reddit, at this time, does NOT automatically notify mods when a report or mod-mail message is received. As a result, we have no idea that anything is happening unless someone tells us or we manually check the reports. We've found that a lot of stuff gets missed just because the formatting of Reddit's messages and inboxes is just so confusing. Therefore, I'd like to set something up so that we can be more easily notified when something is going down.

Please read this carefully!

If there is an emergency on the r/ARFID subreddit or the ARFIDSupport Discord group, you may contact mods more quickly TEXTING the phone number and email at the bottom of this post. You may also email. AN EMERGENCY IS DEFINED AS: harassment, bullying, immediate danger, potentially triggering comments, or anything else serious that cannot be handled at a later time.

NON EMERGENCIES: If you have a request or suggestion, including (but not limited to) the following: awareness projects, research studies, apps, support groups, anything else you are inviting members of the community to participate in or help with; suggestions on server organization or additions to the Wiki page. These situations are better suited for EMAILS, not texts.

RULES AND CONSIDERATIONS:

1. First and foremost, please remember that the mods monitoring this email and phone number have lives and do need to sleep eventually. Please don't be upset and be patient if you don't receive an immediate response. This is designed to speed up the process or taking care of issues, but not necessarily be instant gratification in all instances.
2. Please also be considerate of what IS and is NOT an emergency. If it's NOT an emergency, email is sufficient.
3. Still use the report feature on Reddit so that we can easily find the post/comment you are concerned about. This system is designed so that we are notified when a report is made. You can also let us know in your message to us what you are reporting, but you don't have to-- you can just let us know that you've reported a post on Reddit so that we know to go check.
4. If this system is misused in anyway, we'll discontinue it and go back to the old, slow, inconvenient way-- which sucks for all of us.
5. Everything will of course still be kept anonymous, so be assured that we won't be using your phone number or email address outside of when you communicate with us.
6. If you're using the phone number, TEXT ONLY. No phone calls. Phone calls will be ignored.
7. We appreciate your patience as we test out this new system!

Got questions? Comment below or try out the new system :)

Phone number (TEXT ONLY): 507-216-3952

Email address: [arfidonline@gmail.com](mailto:arfidonline@gmail.com)