Eating Disorder: How to Tell If You Have an Unhealthy Relationship with Food

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Obsession with dietary restrictions, obsessive calorie counting, guilt after dessert, and intense fat-burning workouts that this dessert must certainly burn off are a reality for many girls who strive for a perfect figure. But in the pursuit of illusory ideals, they acquire a mental disorder that has nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle. Psychologist Iryna Deshpit tells how to recognize an eating disorder and what to do about it.

Let's start with what BPD is – it is a disease, a disorder that is associated with eating disorders, an unhealthy attitude towards food, excessive concentration on meals, as well as on one's body and weight. Despite the fact that there is a genetic predisposition to BPD, this disorder is considered mental. It has been proven that if first-degree relatives had or have a history of this disorder, the likelihood of developing this disease is many times higher.

What is BPD?

It is necessary to distinguish between types of disorder in order to understand and assess whether there are reasons to worry.

Anorexia nervosa is an excessively low food intake, which leads to exhaustion of the body. It is characterized by a painful appearance of the body. The body weight is extremely low. There is a disruption in the functioning of internal organs. It is considered the most complex and dangerous type of RPP.

Bulimia nervosa– excessive food consumption. Episodes of overeating are followed by compensatory behavior. Most often this is vomiting. But taking laxatives, fasting and excessive physical exertion are also symptoms.

Bingeing – eating large amounts of food in a short time.

It should be noted that obesity is not a type of eating disorder. It is a chronic disease in which body weight gain is pathological with the help of adipose tissue. Obesity in 20-70% of cases is hereditary and has no pronounced psychological causes.

The causes of RPP are largely unclear. There is a genetic, social, and family factor. Society determines the canons of beauty for the female body. Slender models flaunt on the pages of glossy magazines. Social networks are full of photoshopped photos in swimsuits without a single wrinkle on the body. These stereotypes push girls to improve their bodies, to bring them to the ideal. Food restrictions and various diets begin, which leads to malfunctions and disruptions in the functioning of the body as a whole.

What could be the reasons?

• Neglect by parents in childhood;
• Neglect of one's own body in adolescence, when the body is actively changing physically;
• Resentment towards parents;
• Bullying at school related to weight;
• Excessive control and overprotection by parents;
  impaired self-esteem;
• Blurred or absent personal boundaries;
• Inability to understand and accept one's feelings and emotions;
• Anxiety, vulnerability;
• Feeling the world as dangerous;
• Distorted perception of one's body;
• Boredom, emptiness inside and the desire to become invisible;
• Psychological trauma (violence, parental divorce, bullying).

How does it work?

For example, a girl grew up in a complete family with a mother and father. The child had everything, they took care of her. The parents performed their function. But parental care mainly concerned only social and everyday issues. The girl never felt loved. The mother was “cold”, did not pay due attention to the girl. No one in the family was interested in the child’s feelings and emotions, it was not important. The main thing was to feed her, dress her, and put on shoes. As a result of such upbringing, the child developed low self-esteem, a feeling of deprivation from the closest people, a feeling of invisibility. The girl felt very small physically. There is a big world around, many people, and she is simply invisible. To correct this situation, to somehow attract attention to herself, the girl begins to overeat. To become big and noticeable, only this will help make her visible. And then they will begin to notice her, love her, and give her their attention. This is a particular example of the psychological mechanisms of the emergence of RPP, in this case bulimia.

Another situation. The girl had loving parents in the family, they took care of her. They did not allow her to express herself as a person. The girl could not make her own decisions, her mother decided everything for her. Over time, her mother began to control every step. She knew what and how to do. Control concerned everything: what to eat, what to wear, who to be friends with, how to think. This method of upbringing led to the girl wanting to run away, to become invisible, so that her mother would reduce control, in fact, simply stop noticing her again. A psychological attitude is formed: the more invisible and smaller my body is, the less control there will be. Hence the reduction in the amount and frequency of food intake, exhausting diets. The girl loses weight, but the weight does not go away, she continues to lose weight. And this develops into a painful disorder – anorexia.

And there can be many such examples, since each person will have their own personal psychological reason.

How to understand that you have RPP?

You can conduct a small self-diagnosis, which will require honest answers. You should not lie here.

• You don't perceive your body adequately. Some part seems too fat or thin. You can't look at yourself in the mirror, it disgusts you. You start to hate your body.
• You lie about how much you eat.
• You try to eat so that no one sees it. You hide.
• Uncontrollable obsessive thoughts about food and weight appeared.
• You started counting calories. The need arose to first calculate the number of calories and then eat.
• Your weight constantly fluctuates.
• You check your weight often. It gets to the point where you weigh yourself after every meal.
• You go on strict diets.
• You exhaust yourself in the gym.
• Your weight is below normal, but you try to lose it even more.
• You empty your stomach after every meal.
• You feel ashamed for wanting to eat.
• You blame yourself after every meal. It can even go to the point of self-punishment.
• You feel constantly hungry, there is no feeling of satiety.
• You believe that the cause of your life problems is your weight.

If you have detected at least some of the signs, you should immediately consult a doctor. Since RPP is a multifactorial disease, such treatment should be comprehensive: medical, psychological. It is worth contacting such specialists as: gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, gynecologist, therapist, nutritionist, psychologist or psychotherapist. Coordinated work of specialists, headed by work on the psychological state, will help to change not only eating habits, but also thinking itself, rewrite negative attitudes, accept your body and love it.

Self-treatment is possible. But this is a rather long and conscious process that will require strict systematicity. Only a few cope with RPP independently, because the basis of the disorder is that the person does not accept, does not realize what is happening to him and denies the traumatic experience that could have led to this disease. Accepting yourself, being able to express your emotions and feelings, being aware of your experiences and fears is an excellent prevention of RPP.