Eating disorders: How to tell if you have an unhealthy relationship with food
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Obsession with dietary restrictions, obsessive calorie counting, post-dessert guilt, and intense fat-burning workouts that this dessert must burn is a reality for many girls who strive for a perfect figure. But in 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 the fact that BPD is a disease, a disorder that is associated with disordered eating, an unhealthy attitude towards food, an excessive focus on eating, as well as on one's body and weight. Although there is a genetic predisposition to RPP, this disorder is considered a mental disorder. It has been proven that if the first-line relatives had or have a history of this disorder, then the probability of the appearance of this disease is many times higher.
What is RPP?
It is necessary to distinguish between the types of the disorder in order to understand and assess whether there are reasons for concern.
Anorexia nervosa is too little food intake, which leads to exhaustion of the body. It is characterized by a painful appearance of the body. The body weight is extremely small. There is a violation of the work of internal organs. It is considered the most complex and dangerous type of RPP.
Bulimia nervosa– excessive consumption of food. Binge episodes are followed by compensatory behavior. Most often, this causes vomiting. But taking laxatives, fasting, and excessive physical exertion are also symptoms.
Overeating – consuming large amounts of food in a short time.
It should be noted that that obesity is not a type of eating disorder. This is a chronic disease in which the increase in body weight 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, family factor. Society determines the canons of beauty of the female body. Slender models flaunt on the pages of glossy magazines. Social networks are full of photoshopped photos in swimsuits without a single fold on the body. These stereotypes push girls to improve their body, bring it to the ideal. Restrictions in food, various diets begin, which leads to failures, disturbances in the body's work as a whole.
What could be the reasons?
- Parental neglect in childhood;
- Rejection of your body in adolescence, when there is an active physical change in the body;
- Parental resentment;
- Bullying at school related to weight;
- Excessive control and hypervigilance with on the part of parents;
violation of self-esteem; - Blurred or absent personal boundaries;
- Inability to understand and accept one's feelings and emotions;
- Anxiety, vulnerability;
- Perception of the world as dangerous;
- Boredom, inner emptiness and the desire to become invisible;
- Psychological trauma (violence, parental divorce, abuse).
< li>Distorted perception of one's body;
< h3>How does it work?
For example, the girl grew up in a complete family with mom and dad. The child had everything, she was taken care of. Parents fulfilled their function. But parental concern mainly concerned only social and household issues. The girl never felt that she was loved. Mother was “cold”, did not pay due attention to the girl. No one in the family was interested in the feelings and emotions of the child, it was not important. The main thing is to feed, clothe, and put on shoes. As a result of this upbringing, the child developed low self-esteem, a sense of deprivation by the closest people, a feeling of invisibility. The girl felt very small physically. There is a big world around, many people, but she is simply invisible. In order to correct this situation, at least somehow attract attention to herself, the girl begins to eat excessively. To become big and noticeable, only this will help to make it visible. And then they will begin to notice her, love her, give her their attention. This is a private example of the psychological mechanisms of RPP, in this case bulimia.
Another situation. The girl in the family had loving parents, they took care of her. They did not give an opportunity to express themselves as a person. The girl could not make her own decisions, her mother decided everything for her. Eventually, mom began to control every step. It was she who knew what and how to do. Control applied to everything: what to eat, what to wear, who to be friends with, how to think. This method of upbringing led to the fact that the girl wanted to run away, become invisible, so that her mother would reduce her control, in fact, she would simply stop noticing her again. A psychological attitude is formed: the more inconspicuous 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 is losing weight, but the weight does not go away, she continues to lose weight. And this turns into a painful disorder – anorexia.
And there can be many such examples, since each person will have his own personal psychological reason.
How to understand that you have RPP?< /h3>
You can do a little self-diagnosis that will require honest answers. You should not lie here.
- You do not perceive your body adequately. Some part seems too fat or too thin. You can't look at yourself in the mirror, it disgusts you. You start to hate your body.
- Lie about how much you eat.
- Try to eat without anyone seeing. You are hiding.
- Uncontrollable obsessive thoughts about food and weight appeared.
- Started to count calories. It was necessary to first calculate the number of calories, and then eat.
- Weight fluctuates constantly.
- Check your weight often. It gets to the point where you weigh yourself after every meal.
- You're on a strict diet.
- You're exhausting yourself at the gym.
- Your weight is below normal, but you try to reduce it even more.
- Empty your stomach after every meal.
- Feel ashamed that you want to eat.
- Blame yourself after every meal food It can even lead to self-punishment.
- You feel constant hunger, there is no feeling of satiety.
- You believe that your weight is the cause of your life problems.
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 complex: medical, psychological. It is worth contacting such specialists as: a gastroenterologist, an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a therapist, a nutritionist, a psychologist or a psychotherapist. The coordinated work of specialists, led by work on the psychological state, will help to change both eating habits and thinking itself, rewrite negative attitudes, accept your body and love it.
Self-treatment is possible. But this is a rather long and well-informed process that will require strict systematicity. Individuals cope with RPP independently, because the basis of the disorder lies in the fact that a person does not accept, does not realize what is happening to him and denies the traumatic experience that could lead to this disease. Self-acceptance, the ability to express one's emotions and feelings, awareness of one's experiences, fears are excellent prevention of RPP.
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