Eating Disorder
Eating disorder is psychological and behavioural condition
that is described by unhealthy eating habits basically severe and persistent
disturbance in eating behaviours and associated distressing thoughts and
emotions.Preoccupation with food, body weight, and shape may also lead to
unhealthy eating habits and hence eating disorder.
Signs and Symptoms of Eating Disorder
- Drastic change in weight loss or gain
- Feeling not satisfied or unhappy with body shape and size
- Disturbed sleep
- Compulsive exercise in order to be active
- Fear of gaining weight
- Avoiding or hiding food on social occasions
- Eating too much and then vomiting
- Eating fast during binge episodes
- Behavioural changes – such as social withdrawal, irritability
or depression
Types of Eating Disorder
· Anorexia nervosa: characterised by restricted eating, loss of weight and a fear of putting on weight
· Bulimia nervosa: periods of binge eating (often in secret), followed by attempts to compensate by excessively exercising, vomiting, or periods of strict dieting. Binge eating is often accompanied by feelings of shame, guilt and being 'out of control'
· Binge-eating disorder: characterised by recurrent periods of binge eating (can include eating much more than normal, feeling uncomfortably full, eating large amounts when not physically hungry). Feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety, disgust and depression can follow binge eating episodes. Compensatory Behaviours is not present in binge eating disorder.
Myths and Facts
Myth: Parents are the reason of eating disorders in
their children
Fact: Parents
are NOT the reason of eating disorder, but they are crucial to treatment &
recovery. However, there is no one reason for the development of an
eating disorder, but a number of predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors
resulting into risk individuals in a complex and dynamic interplay. It is
noted that eating disorders are an efficient means to cope with difficult life
and developmental challenges.
Myth: Eating disorders are lifestyle choices.
Fact: No,
one wishes to select to have an eating disorder, however, it starts as a
reasonable plan to “get healthy” through diet and exercise get transform into
an unhealthy and potentially life-threatening illness. It often begins as
a means of gaining a sense of control in one’s life which escalate into
out-of-control behavior. Its fact that no one wishes or select to get an
eating disorder, however, recovery requires making determined decision to give
up the eating disorder habits and replacing these coping mechanisms with
healthy eating and exercise habits.
Myth: Only young female gets eating disorders.
Fact: Eating
disorders tend to affect young adolescent or adult females, however, these
conditions are devoid of boundaries—gender, racial, ethnic, cultural,
geographic and socioeconomic—no ethnic group is immune. In practice,
males may not be identified as having an eating disorder due to this
misconception.
Myth: Eating disorders patients are trying to punish
their loved ones.
Fact: No
one decides to get an eating disorder, rarely are the behaviors spiteful or
intentionally hurtful to others. However, loved ones often feel hurt, guilty,
embarrassed, perplexed and blame themselves for their child developing an
eating disorder.
Myth: Eating disorders are a way to get attention.
Fact: Sheila
MacLeod in her book The
Art of Starvation reports that “dieting is a matter of vanity, but
anorexia nervosa is a matter of pride”, most patients make effort to hide their
bodies under loose or bulky or baggy clothes as they feel fat. In the initial
stage weight loss due to an eating disorder, there may be positive attention
with comments from others about looking “better”, however as the illness
progress, the attention turns as more unwanted and negative.
Myth: Eating disorders are features of “adolescent “,
it should be ignored and will go away over time.
Fact: Eating
disorders generally begin during teenage years as a means to cope with normal
developmental tasks like identity formation and/or establishing
independence. Effective, targeted treatment is more likely to result
in recovery than ignoring the unhealthy habit and waiting for spontaneous
resolution.
.
Myth: Its often consider that people with a normal
body weight do not have an eating disorder.
Fact:
In eating disorders the core principle is undue influence of body weight or
shape on self-esteem or self-worth, distortion of body image, and pervasive
thoughts regarding means to become thinner or to avoid gaining over
weight. A person with normal body weight may have these attributes. The normal
weight individuals having these attributes often suffer more than those with an
abnormal body weight, because their symptoms are often not validated by their
appearance, accordingly there is lot of resistance to change.
How do you know you need counselling/Therapy?
One
can find out if the need counselling or therapy by checking the following
points:
- You eating habit is unhealthy
- You are forcing yourself to eat or
to not eat food often
- You engaging in vigorous exercise
just to be in shape all the time
- You have drastic changes in weight
loss or gain
- You’re
experiencing disturbances which impact your day-to-day life like work, social
engagement etc.
- You’re
experiencing disturbances which impact your overall wellbeing.
- You’re
experiencing emotions on
the extremes. For
example,you’re
either too happy or too angry.
- You
have a difficult time in understanding your emotions or in making sense of what
is going on around you.
- Feeling
disconnected from yourself and your loved ones.
Role of counselling &Therapy in overcoming eating disorder
Counselling will help client to understand
possible underlying reasons for unhealthy eating patterns,
feelings associated with it and learn new skills to cope
effectively with them.Depending upon the severity of
the symptoms, client’s own
personal preferences, and their therapy goals one can find out which types of
therapy will be the best work for them. Counsellor and
nutritionist work together to make goals and will help you eat healthy to reach
and maintain a healthy weight.
How does TalktoAngel Help you in overcoming youreating disorder?
TalktoAngel is an
online platform that provides quality therapy and other mental health services
online. We have qualified and experienced professionals working with us. Eating disorder is one of our areas of expertise.
We have experts and specialists who have
successfully worked previously on cases of eating disorder. Studies have proven that online
mental health services are as effective as the conventional mode. Furthermore,
at TalktoAngel, we put your needs first. Our
therapists/counsellors help you with flexible appointments,
personalized and customized intervention plans all at the tip of your fingers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-
How can I treat my eating disorder?You need professional help to deal with your eating disorder. Few self help tips you can incorporate in your lifestyle to manage eating habits and emotions are as follow: • Mange your emotions related to your body and weight when someone comments on the same • Boost your confidence and esteem with positive self affirmations • Foster a healthy relationship with food • Eat healthy and on time • Indulge in healthy practices like nature walk and yoga
-
Is eating disorder a mental illness?Yes, eating disorder has been identifies as mental disorder.
-
What medication is best for eating disorder?You cannot take medication for eating disorder by your own without the consultation of a psychiatrist. It is unprofessional and ethically wrong for us to disclose any medication in this manner. You can consult with one of our professionals. Moreover, medication is only effective in the long term if coupled with effective psychotherapy.
Get online counselling services from our trained & experienced therapists.
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