My therapist

@hartfire it was to help come up with ways to get me to eat regularly. Sitting at the table is a trigger for me and brings out pretty bad PTSD trauma from my childhood.

@Cigarguy101
I solved that problem by giving up dinner tables (except for cafes, restaurants, or friends' places where the context is different).
Eating a soup, stew, chopstick or fork meal, or eating with the fingers of one hand like Indians or Middle Easterners (with finger bowl and napkin to clean the hand after), can be done on living room couches, or cushions on the floor. It's comfortable, relaxed and easy.

Your PTSD -- was it one specific event, or a generic type of event repeated many times over?
What was the exact scenario?
Who was or were the people involved?
How can you change the setting to remove the specific triggers?
(You can reply here or by private message if you wish - but the main thing is to ask and answer yourself.)

If removing triggers is impossible, then could you try reducing the trigger(s) to something small or laughable?
The idea behind this would be to reduce the fear-trigger by becoming accustomed and non-reactive to a tiny fragment of it. And when that works, create a slightly stronger or bigger version of the same - for instance, a tiny matchbox tin soldier is replaced by a larger plastic soldier-doll.

Another option might be to get a dog with the right kind of calming temperament. As soon as you stress, the dog comes over, asks for affection, and distracts you from your focus on the trigger. A similar version is to use any form of distraction that's strong enough to work - untill eventually the trigger is no longer effective.

And there is also Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. It was discovered and researched by Dr Francine Shapiro. Her book about it, "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures 3rd Edition" is very expensive, but it is frequently available in public libraries. I recommend reading it, as a full understanding of how and why it works is very helpfull.
Your therapist will probably know about it and might be willing to get training in it. There are also ways to teach yourself how to do it solo.

@hartfire the PTSD and triggers are from when I was you. My first tics started when I was about 6. My parents took me to our family doctor. He was old school and told my parents I was doing it to get attention and I would put grow it. When I was about 8 or 9 they got tired of my tics and thought discipline was the way to go. They would sit me in a chair and hit or slap me every time I had a tic. This did nothing to stop them I think it made it worse. After my sister died it got really worse they blamed me for her death , constantly telling me they wished it had been me not her. My mother still believed I was faking so she decided to start withholding food when I had a tic. I would sit at the table my food in front of me. As soon as I would have a tic shed hit me and push my food away. She'd hit me each time I had one. I had to go 5 minutes without a tic before she gave me my plate back. If I had another tic she'd start over. Once my father was done eating she'd take away dinner and I wasn't allowed to get anything to eat until the next meal. His happened until I left the house when I was 16. I dropped out of school stayed with my buddy until I got a job and got my own place.

So that is my trauma.

Most of our meals now are picnic style, me standing near the dinner table or I eat while I'm cooking.

As for the dogs I just put my old puppy to sleep a few months ago and honestly I'm not ready for a new dog yet.

@Cigarguy101 It's tragic that your family doctor was so ignorant and didn't think to send you to a specialist.
I imagine that kind of treatment would have left you with a feeling of shame about the tics, even though you know they are not within your control and none of it is your fault. You know your mother's behaviour was based on ignorance, seriously mistaken. Haeve you discussed it with her?

Is it necessary to eat at a table? What kinds of difference would it make to your life if you could do it comfortably?

@hartfire I don't have much contact with my mother any more.

As for dinner not it's not necessary 100% all the time. I guess it's just the old school way of thinking a family should eat at the table. Lol We are doing many picnic style meals now. But there are some meals like soup, chili, stews that have to be eaten at the table because of messes. And of course when we eat out causes lots of issues. It's a work in progress. We're trying to find what works best for the kids and me. Kinda like trail and error. I am drinking meal replacement daily and eating as I cook.

@Cigarguy101 It sounds like you're finding your way and all will work out well.