Influences eating behavior. Eating disorder. What drives our hunger? Let us recall just a few of them.

The eating behavior of a person directly indicates whether he has excess weight, and strangely enough, does he have problems in life?

Many people who have overweight, do not link their excess weight and their own eating behavior.

As far as I know, some people generally have a bad idea - h What is eating behavior?

What does it mean, normal, and what does it mean, eating behavior with disorders?

Let's take a look at the term first.

Eating behavior is all the components of human behavior that are present in the normal process of eating. Most often, when the ratio of the hormones of hunger and saturation is violated, atypical eating behavior is formed, leading to obesity.

There are three main types of eating disorders:

external eating behavior (eating unconsciously, always at the sight of food);
emotiogenic eating behavior (hyperphagic reaction to stress);
restrictive eating behavior.

External eating behavior is overreaction the patient not to internal stimuli for eating, such as hunger, filling the stomach, but to external stimuli (set table, eating person, advertising food products).

Obese people with external eating behavior eat regardless of the time last appointment food. Of decisive importance is the availability of products (overeating "for the company", snacking on the street, eating too much at a party, buying too much food).

Eating is unconscious.

Emotional eating behavior, or hyperphagic reaction to stress, emotional overeating, "food drunkenness" (according to Shelton): occurs in 60% of cases.

The incentive to eat is not hunger, but emotional discomfort - a person eats not because he is hungry, but because he is restless, anxious, irritable, depressed, offended.

This type of pathology eating disorder can manifest itself either by bouts of overeating - compulsive eating behavior (occurs in 15-20% of cases), or timed to coincide with the night time - night eating syndrome or night overeating.

Restrictive eating behavior

Restrictive eating behaviors are excessive food self-restrictions and unsystematic strict diets. Periods of restrictive eating behavior are followed by periods of overeating.

The emotional instability that occurs during strict diets is called "dietary depression" and leads to refusal to continue dieting, new intense weight gain and relapse of the disease.

The patient develops a sense of guilt with a decrease in self-esteem. Periods of food reward are replaced by periods of food punishment, and a vicious circle is established.
Source: http://sportwiki.to/

How to improve eating behavior?

The question is, of course, very interesting.

And there will be no definite answer to it, why?

The listed violations are pure form, and all together in one person. Therefore, it makes no sense to give any one-sided advice - there will be no sense.

I can say right away that there are no diets or nutrition systems to restore and normalize eating behavior.

In these cases, overeating is very closely related to the psyche and emotional reactions. And not even with the reactions themselves at the moment, but emotional condition after the event, on what happens in a person’s head, in his thoughts and in his soul.

For example, you had a conflict at work, which seemed to be completely trifling, and you weren’t even upset much.

But then you came home, and the events of this conflict begin to scroll in your head, an internal dialogue goes on, your mood deteriorates, etc.

Someone after the stress experienced (and it was stress) will not even think about touching food, and someone will experience inhuman hunger, but at the same time it seems to him that he just wants to eat.

Few people associate their emotional state, internal state with increased appetite.

The body, it is so arranged that it needs to constantly keep a balance, scientifically speaking - to maintain homeostasis.

And the stresses that occur to a person constantly disrupt this energy balance.

Stress is tension, and tension, not only at the moment of stress, but the main part of tension, arises when remembering certain events, during an internal dialogue, when a person tries to “digest” some event that is unpleasant for him.

And many people constantly “hang” in their past, trying to figure out what they did wrong, and for what reasons something happened. With memories, the body automatically plunges into that situation and experiences all those emotions experienced in the past.

Let's get back to balance, for the body to function normally, it is simply necessary to work in two phases - activity and relaxation.

When we are stressed, we are super active and spend not only what is allocated at the moment, but also take a lot from reserves, that is, we reduce our resources intended for difficult times.

Naturally, the body tries to relax by any means in order to begin to restore the spent resources. In a tense state, this cannot happen.

And when does a person relax well?

When he sleeps, and preferably at least 8 hours ( "- popular science film).

And do not forget that 8 hours of sleep is necessary for a person who does not experience stressful conditions, 8 hours is the restoration of the body with stable functioning of the nervous and muscular systems.

But tell me, who sleeps for 8 hours now? Units!

What do you think the body does in this case? He puts into work spare options for relaxation - food.

We are so arranged that we cannot be in a state of tension and relaxation at the same time.

It is impossible to eat and swear very strongly or run away at the same time, it is impossible to sleep and attack, these are two incompatible things.

But, this is in reality .. but, in the inner world, in our thoughts, we can do this, which we constantly do.

Memories are as real to our subconscious as real action. And the tension experienced during such "journeys" is the most real.

In a word, in order to relax and switch the emotional state, a person feels a desire to eat something.

Not because he really wants to eat, but in order to calm down and relax.

Such a law of physiology - turns on the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for relaxation.

Why hasn't there been such a problem with being overweight before?

Because there was not so much stress as now.

The amount of stress in life increases, there is no correct behavior model, and if there is no correct behavior model, then the outcomes various situations do not suit the person, and there is stress, tension.

That's the whole chain, excess food.

Where does the eating disorder come in, you may ask?

The reaction to stress and excess weight of a person is a consequence, oddly enough, and not a cause at all.

Yes, of course, you can somehow reduce the amount of stress with the help of additional relaxation - this helps a lot, but only for some a short time until something happens in your life.

So what is the root of the problem?

Where to dig in such a way as to fix everything, change everything?

What I am going to tell you now, you will definitely not like it 🙂

Firstly, you need to dig for a long time, most likely (do not be alarmed) for several years.

Secondly, you need to deal with your beliefs and values, because your beliefs, or in other words, attitudes, create your emotional reaction to some events that happen to you.

And accordingly, it is beliefs that trigger the entire chain of events - situation - reaction - action - reaction - result - reaction.

Everywhere there is a reaction, you notice?

What's the reaction?

This is an emotional reaction, a mental reaction, because your action is also a reaction leading to some specific result, i.e. somehow the situation ended.

And if the result does not suit you, then you got another stress.

Beliefs create certain patterns of behavior and scenarios of behavior in us. We behave very similarly in different situations, sometimes there is a feeling that, as if, according to routine. It's like a rut from which it is impossible to get out on your own, you slide off all the time.

Let me give you one simple example:

Belief - you need to be a good girl. It is not good to refuse people, they will not appreciate and respect you!

This is about the impossibility of saying “no” when a person literally harms himself by agreeing to an additional job, for example.

Do you think he doesn't worry afterwards, this man?

He also worries, and does not sleep at night, and thinks about it, and conducts internal dialogues, and plans how he will definitely refuse next time and insist on his own.

But for now, he does all this in his inner space, in reality - he eats. And the more he thinks about it, the more he eats.

Why can't he say no?

He has fears that appeared as a result of an incorrect internal attitude about himself and about the world around him.

The fear of “they won’t love me”, I will be rejected, I won’t be needed, etc., there are a huge number of options, at the same time, all options are individual, arising from personal history and those events that happened to a certain person.

And as you understand, it is useless to take any actions aimed at reducing appetite, because appetite and subsequent food arise as a need to relieve stress and relax.

That is why the restoration of eating behavior is possible only with the help of psychotherapy and work with a psychologist.

A person with such problems will not be able to independently see those negative attitudes that trigger certain emotional reactions that cause stress, and then overeating.

What can you do on your own in the first stages of restoring eating behavior without resorting to the direct help of a psychologist?

Understand what violations are present.
Track what situations (triggers) trigger ineffective behaviors that cause stressful conditions.
Keep a diary of emotions and your reactions (all the information about keeping a diary in the article "Diary of emotions")
Try to identify your negative beliefs and attitudes.
Work them out, change them to positive ones (effective at the current time)
Start implementing new beliefs in your life.

As I wrote above, that the work is long-term and rather painstaking, working with personal history, finding something in yourself and then changing it, is not always very pleasant.

But at the same time, it must be remembered that such changes will lead to a sustainable change in eating behavior and not only.

After all, our emotional reactions affect not only weight gain, but also the quality of life in general, as such - this is the attitude towards ourselves, loved ones, relationships with loved ones and loved ones.

Because, we get almost all the stress from communication, and if communication happens the way we plan and if we get the expected results, then we do not experience stress and do not spoil relationships with people.

You have read the article to the end, and I would very much like to know your thoughts and feelings, was the information new and unusual for you?

Although probably, if you have known me for a long time, you are familiar with similar materials on the site.

Write your thoughts about eating behavior in the comments)

Best regards, Natalia

Eating behavior can be normal, episodically disturbed and pathological (in this case they talk about). Eating disorders are ways to get from food what you usually get from other sources: care, distraction, relaxation, etc.

Normally, a person is when he needs to reinforce his body, get the energy necessary for life. Food also brings pleasure, aesthetic pleasure, promotes communication, but all these are not its main, but its accompanying functions. When a person constantly eats to calm down, when he is bored, or just because he is offered food, this is an eating disorder.

There are many types of eating disorders, for example, frequent snacking (more than 5 times between main meals), pathological hunger (an urgent desire to eat something in between meals).

Another type of eating disorder is carbohydrate craving, which is expressed in a strong desire to eat sweets (and preferably at the same time fatty foods, such as ice cream or chocolate). When refraining from eating sweets, a person with such a disorder begins mild depression.

There are three types of eating disorders: emotional, external and restrictive eating behavior.

External eating behavior is associated with a person's habit of eating food depending not on the feeling of hunger, but on external stimuli. For example, walking past a candy store, a person feels the desire to go there and buy something tasty, and then eat it, regardless of whether he is now hungry. Other examples of external eating behavior: the habit of eating what is available, such as in the refrigerator; food for the company; the urge to eat due to the delicious smell or appearance of the food.

Restrictive eating behavior is the unsystematic adherence to strict diets and excessive restriction of oneself in food. Because of such restrictions, bouts of overeating occur when the body begins to absorb food in large quantities, as if trying to catch up during fasting. Restrictive eating behavior is associated with constant stress, both during food restriction and during "food sprees" (due to guilt).

Emotional eating behavior is the habit of eating when feeling psychological discomfort (anxiety, irritation, bad mood, boredom, loneliness). Emotional eating behavior is “eating your emotions”. The reason for its formation is the offer of food to the child in response to the manifestation of any of his emotional needs, for example, the need for protection, comfort, bodily contact.

Emotional eating behavior manifests itself in two forms: compulsive eating behavior and night eating syndrome.

Compulsive eating behavior is expressed by clearly limited episodes of overeating (lasting no more than 2 hours), during which food is absorbed in larger quantities than usual, and faster than usual. The person feels that they cannot control these attacks until they end on their own. Compulsive eating behavior is usually accompanied by unpleasant sensations or even stomach pain and intense guilt.

Night eating syndrome is a form of emotional eating behavior in which a person usually does not want to eat in the morning, and later in the night he feels very hungry, from which he cannot fall asleep. A person suffering from night eating syndrome falls asleep only after eating and may wake up at night to eat more.

You can determine if you have one of the types of eating disorders (external, emotional, and restrictive) using.

In addition to eating disorders, there are three types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive overeating.

Anorexia nervosa is a conscious restriction of oneself in food, associated with imaginary or overly critically assessed fullness. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by alternating bouts of binge eating and purging by inducing vomiting, exercise, taking laxatives, etc. Compulsive overeating is a disorder consisting in periodic, uncontrolled seizures gluttony.

Treatment of eating disorders is carried out with the help of psychotherapy and consists in correcting the image of oneself, increasing self-esteem, changing the value system and ways to satisfy the need for intimacy, love and security, and correcting relationships with other people.

One of the main causes of obesity is our poor eating habits. We all have our own specific eating habits, and it depends on them whether we gain weight or not. If you have extra pounds, then there are habits that are harmful to the figure, so it remains only to identify and replace them with those that are useful for gaining and maintaining harmony.

Psychological origins of malnutrition

It just seems that we all eat the same way: with a spoon and a fork from a plate. In fact, there are a lot of nuances in our manner of eating food. It is these nuances, in other words, eating habits, and not hunger itself, that help to gain extra calories.

Desire to receive positive emotions.

Probably only the lazy did not hear that a large number of products contain substances such as the amino acid tryptophan, carbohydrates, which, when digested, produce hormones of joy, pleasure and good mood in the body: dopamine, serotonin, endorphins.

AT modern conditions a person often has to confront stressful situations, fight depression, fears, feelings of loneliness.

To compensate for negative states and feelings with joy and good mood, for many it is much easier and faster to eat delicious food than to enjoy creativity, communication, favorite work, etc.

The opportunity to enjoy delicious food is a great blessing, and it would be foolish not to use it, if it is given to man by nature. However, not everyone is able to stop in time to get pleasure, hence the overeating.

Family traditions.

In a huge number, the origins of obesity are in the violation of eating behavior not of an individual, but of his entire family.

Remember what dishes were most often cooked in your parents' family, at what hours you gathered at the table, how much it was customary to put on a plate, etc.

Surely you will pay attention to some mistakes and excesses in nutrition that you have become accustomed to since childhood: for example, eat quickly, almost without chewing, or always add salt to food, or are used to eating for company or out of boredom, etc.

And the tradition of forcing a child to eat up a dish is always known to the end by many: it usually appears in the family because adults do not adequately assess the volume of the child's stomach.

Ignorance of the needs of your body.

Many of us are negligent about the drinking regimen and simply do not consider it serious the requirement of nutritionists to drink at least one and a half liters of water in the morning.

The fact is that hunger and thirst sometimes manifest themselves very similarly, and thinking that we want to eat, we compensate for the need for water - food.

Many reasons for overeating are not primarily in the plate, but in our head. This means that you need to start with changes in internal attitudes and habits regarding nutrition.

Create your own habit change program

If you are concerned about the problem of how not to overeat, then make a list of healthy eating habits for yourself - and gradually change your behavior at the table and relationship with food.

Psychologists advise introducing habits one at a time, as they form and consolidate. And this is absolutely justified.

But you can’t get used to putting less food on your plate for a month or two, then spend another couple of months accustoming yourself to chew food slowly, and so on - to introduce each new healthy eating habit over several years. You need to lose weight in the coming weeks and months...

Therefore, make for yourself several checklists or just lists with tips, each of which will relate to different areas of life and will help form good habits regarding the culture of proper nutrition.

You can use these lists, checklists or just separately written reminder tips:

write on pieces of cardboard and put in a bag, purse, etc .;
type on the keyboard and store electronically on a computer, smartphone and tablet;
write on stickers and stick them in the places you need: on the refrigerator, at the dining table, above the stove, etc.

All of the tips will relate to different stages of your relationship with food. Choose the ones that suit you best, add your own and fix them on electronic and paper media, and your personal program change of eating habits is ready.

Before the diet

Think about and make extensive lists of healthy foods that should fill your refrigerator and pantry so that they last at least a few days.

Before you go to the shops and the market, make lists of useful things that will replace your usual harmful products. For example:

the place of sausages and ham should be occupied by lean meat;
fresh fish and poultry are more suitable for losing weight than smoked meats;
it is better to replace mayonnaise with sour cream, to which you can add table and Dijon mustard, wine and apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to get no less tasty sauces;
it is better to forget sweets for a while in favor of dried fruits and fresh fruits;
deep-frozen berries and fruits will help you prepare delicious desserts no worse than ice cream, etc.

The quantity and variety of foods is important: this will create a psychologically safe atmosphere for you to be full, which will help fight overeating, which may be caused by the fear of hunger. At the sight of an empty refrigerator, you will feel sorry for yourself and want to eat even more, and the filled shelves themselves will hint that if you have an appetite, you will not starve.

Also note that healthy foods usually located around the perimeter of shops, closer to the walls, although there may be some deviations. Therefore, bypass the counters and rows along the perimeter, without missing the most useful.

But closer to the cash registers, they often have something that will be more like a temptation for you, threatening to overkill calories: semi-finished products, sweets, snacks and not always useful goods at a discount. Try to look less at such shelves and racks.

Well, few people have heard about the ban on going to the grocery store on an empty stomach: in a well-fed state, it is much more difficult to buy harmful and superfluous things.

Row good habits on the location of products in the kitchen and serving dishes will help reduce the calorie content of your daily diet.

Buy crockery blue color: psychologists say that it reduces appetite.
Let your slimness plates be as small as possible: a large portion will not fit on a small plate, and a small one looks impressive, and your brain will receive signals that you have eaten enough.
As for drinks, people drink less from tall and narrow glasses than from wide and short ones: keep this in mind when drinking sugary drinks.
How not to overeat if there is a vase with healthy nuts and dry fruits? Remove snacks, sweets and fruits from your mind, which, by the way, contrary to popular belief, are closer to sweets in terms of usefulness.
Do not deprive yourself of goodies completely - severe restrictions are fraught with disruptions. Just remember to count the calorie content of sweets, but put them away so that you can't grab them on the go.
Putting food on a plate, if possible, immediately remove the pot, baking sheet, salad bowl, etc., if they are in the zone easy accessibility, it will be much easier to take supplements ...
Outwit yourself: put the usual portion on the plate, and then set aside half or a third; eat slowly: you may have enough and a smaller portion.
Serve the dish beautifully: we enjoy not only the taste, but also the appearance of the dish. And let there be several colors and shades on the plate; tomato slice, carrot, bell pepper, greens - all this will add vitamins, increase the nutritional value and usefulness of the dish, and at the same time it will occupy your brain so that, while enjoying the aesthetics, it provokes you less to get taste pleasures.

Such tips will not immediately rule out violations of your eating behavior, but if you place them in a conspicuous place in the eating area and glance over each time, and then apply them, they will be absorbed pretty quickly, and the most suitable ones will take root for many years.

During and after meals

Treat eating like a ritual. It is easier for believers to take such a position: for them, this is a sacred act, because after a prayer that sanctifies food, they treat it with gratitude, which means they do not eat on the go and in a hurry.

Even if this attitude to food is new to you, try to follow a number of useful rules.

In no case, categorically do not eat with a TV, tablet or while reading a book. This is the most unhealthy eating habit and one of the main reasons for overeating: in addition to being guaranteed to eat more than you need, you will also get used to always chewing something while reading a book or in front of a screen.
Chew slowly. This not only helps digestion, but also allows you to eat much less.
Faina Ranevskaya jokingly advised in the name of preserving the figure to eat naked in front of the mirror. But every joke is only part of the joke: try posting old photos of yourself when you were slim near the dining area, or any other photo that embodies the idea of a slim body for you.
Brush your teeth immediately after eating: With the cost of going to the dentist in mind, you're less likely to want to eat anything again after cleaning your mouth.

There are a number of techniques that help to correct eating behavior. They can also be applied depending on individual needs and possibilities.

For example, some psychologists advise taking special applications for gadgets as assistants, which will not only help count calories, but will also motivate, remind you of the need to encourage or, conversely, punish a person who is losing weight.
For those who do not like gadgets, partnerships can be a good help, which involve a special influence on the mood, sense of responsibility and inspiration of the one who has embarked on the path of harmony.
For someone, maintaining an electronic photo diary is suitable, where photos of everything eaten per day will be accumulated and reminded of the amount and calorie content of food.

In any case, our mind is primarily to blame for eating disorders. So, having purposefully worked with our eating habits for some time, we will gradually correct our habits and, as a reward, we will receive a slender and beautiful body.

Video: How to avoid overeating. Secrets of nutritionists.

Modern concepts of beauty require serious efforts from girls to achieve an ideal figure. Until recently, the parameters 90-60-90 were the ultimate dream. Now, from TV screens and magazine covers, ladies who have much less outstanding forms look at us, more often they don’t exist at all. It takes 10-20 years before a girl grows up to the awareness and acceptance of her own body as the most beautiful in the world. It is during this most vulnerable period in her life that she often tries to live up to these ideals, often striving to achieve them even at the cost of her own health.

An eating disorder is one of the most common mental disorders in young people under the age of 20-30 years. Often they suffer from girls - they account for 85% of all cases. It often begins gradually and until a certain period is not taken seriously either by the patient himself or his relatives. What types of eating disorders exist and how to deal with them? All the details in a new article on the MedAboutMe portal.

Anorexia nervosa can be called one of the most dangerous eating disorders, which, in the absence of timely medical and psychological help sometimes leads to fatal outcome.

The main symptoms of this disease are the following:

An obsessive desire for thinness, because only she is associated with an ideal appearance.
Dysmorphophobia is a disturbed negative perception of one's own body. Even with a weight of 30-40 kg, patients consider themselves fat and do not want to accept the fact that this is not true.
Obsessive fear of gaining weight. An increase of even a few tens of grams is perceived as a tragedy.
Strict accounting of the calorie content of the food eaten. Patients know by heart the number of calories contained in any product, and how much it needs to be eaten in order not to gain weight.
Persistent refusal to eat, reducing the amount of food consumed to a minimum. As a rule, they sit down at the table no more than 1-2 times a day, if at all. Usually they try to avoid family dinners, visits with feasts.
The need to constantly expend calories received from products. Patients exhaust themselves with physical activity: running, swinging the press, bending over, etc.
The last point is supplemented by artificial induction of vomiting, enemas, the use of laxatives or diuretics.
When they break down, they experience a strong sense of guilt, increase physical exercise and take the above drugs in large quantities.

Paradox anorexia nervosa lies in the fact that even when reaching a life-threatening weight of 25-30 kg, patients do not feel happy. The disease makes them lose weight more and more. As a result, secondary somatic diseases join: digestive disorders, the appearance of erosions, ulcers in the stomach, 12 duodenum, esophagus, skin diseases, musculoskeletal system and internal organs.

bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is not the opposite of anorexia, they are two very similar diseases that have the same nature. With her, the patient is also afraid to get fat, but he does not seek to achieve thinness. His main task, he sees the fight against periodic bouts of overeating. During last man has an irresistible desire to consume a large amount of food, and indiscriminately. Often this happens at night when no one sees him, so for relatives, the presence of a person with bulimia nervosa is often shocking news.

In the morning the patient begins to experience strong feeling guilt, reproaches himself for the breakdown. He starts to clean up. Enemas, vomiting, laxatives, diuretics are used, he spends hours in gyms or self-torture themselves with physical exercises. Breakdowns happen, as a rule, 3-5 times a week, and each of them is followed by retribution in the form of a kind of cleansing.

As a result, as a rule, appearance in adults and adolescents with bulimia nervosa does not change significantly: their weight remains within the limits normal indicators, sometimes there is overweight, but nothing more. However, bouts of overeating and the following, enemas and drug use seriously undermine physical and mental health.

With this type of eating disorder, patients really gain a lot of weight. Against the background of stressful situations, and in any disorder, they find the main consolation for themselves in food. Often the reason for gluttony is simple boredom, lack of interest and a lull in personal life.

As a result, a person spends most of the day at the table. He is constantly chewing on something. As a rule, there are no attacks of night overeating. He feels guilty, but it provokes an even greater need to look in the refrigerator, since he has no other way to relieve stress. In food he finds the main source of pleasure. Decreases due to weight gain physical activity which in turn leads to obesity.

The main symptom of this disease is that patients do not feel full. They eat to the point where they already feel bad: a full stomach prevents normal breathing movement, nausea or even vomiting. Obesity significantly increases the risk of developing hypertension and coronary disease heart, type 2 diabetes, joint disease.

psychogenic vomiting

This is another type of eating disorder. With it after meals or at any stressful situation is developing. This condition should be separated from the one in which the patient causes it artificially. However, their soil is the same, it's just that the body begins to do it on its own, without artificial help.

This violation can be called a peculiar opposite of psychological overeating. Patients react to stress, failures in work, personal life, difficult periods in relationships with loved ones by refusing to eat. Very often psychogenic loss of appetite develops after the death of a spouse, child or other loved one. A person ceases to feel a sense of appetite, even hunger is not a reason to eat. Often, suicidal thoughts or even suicide attempts occur against this background.

Eating inedible objects

This is another type of eating disorder in which the patient experiences an obsessive desire to eat clay, chalk, stones, cotton wool, plant leaves, branches, etc. It is often a symptom of serious somatic or mental illness and requires mandatory testing.

Eating disorders in adolescents

Teenagers are at risk for various violations eating behavior. The reason is the instability of the psyche, the appearance of a number of age complexes, negative impact peers and, of course, unhappy love. Parents should notice the condition of the child in time and take action as soon as possible, because often not only his health, but also his life is at stake. First of all, this concerns anorexia nervosa, as the most threatening eating disorder.

Parents should pay attention to the following changes in the behavior and condition of a teenager:

He (and more often it happens after all, she) began to rapidly lose weight, a decrease in this indicator by more than 5 kg within 1 month should alert.
The child began to refuse food under various pretexts: he was not hungry, he had recently eaten (although no one saw this), secretly throwing food into a trash can or toilet bowl.
Parents saw that the child artificially induces vomiting.
Parents found pills (more often laxatives) among the child's personal belongings, or they disappeared from the adults' first aid kit.

Any of these behavioral disorders should be a reason to contact a child psychotherapist.

Eating disorders in adults

Adults can also suffer from various types of eating disorders. There can be many reasons, for each of them they are different. Among the people faced with such a problem, there are many well-known creative personalities.

The famous actress Tara Reid, who was previously very attractive, has now lost more than a third of her original weight. Despite the fact that now she looks very thin, she is not going to stop there. It is possible that the actress has anorexia nervosa. It seems that something similar is happening with Angelina Jolie, who in the past few years has shocked her admirers with abnormal thinness.
After a divorce from actor Ashton Kutcher, the famous screen star Demi Moore developed the same disease. Any girl could envy her figure, but Demi began to lose weight rapidly, which caused a wave of discontent among her fans. After treatment by a psychotherapist, the actress regained her former forms.
King of rock and roll Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, Jane Fonda suffered from bulimia nervosa, which most often began after severe stress.

Eating Disorder Treatment: Medications and Psychotherapy

Any eating disorder is an indication for the consultation of a psychotherapist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst. Going to a psychologist medical education often fails to solve the problem. The doctor conducts an examination, during which he talks with the patient, gives him to perform special tests, sends him for tests if he suspects the presence of somatic complications.

Treatment is carried out individually, and for each type of eating disorder it is different. Apply different kinds psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, work in groups can be effective. It is supplemented by an appointment from the group of antidepressants, tranquilizers. Conversations are held in which patients are taught to adequately accept themselves, their bodies, to be aware of the presence of the disease, to raise self-esteem, to restore relationships with relatives and colleagues at work. For this, relatives are also involved, who should help to consolidate positive results therapy.

Take the test What is your diet and diet? Take the test and find out what mistakes you should take note of.

Shutterstock photo materials used

We took this text from our friends of the mega-popular site factroom.ru. Its creators are smart, advanced and cool people: Selena Parfenova and Alexander Taranov. On factroom they publish the most Interesting Facts, news and all sorts of useful things. Subscribe.

You have probably heard of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, but as a rule, these diseases are not taken seriously and are considered something like harmless "quirks" that girls obsessed with model beauty suffer from. However, this should not be taken lightly: experts have long been saying that eating disorders are the most severe mental disorders that can cause irreparable harm to human health and even cause death.

1. Eating disorders are not just hunger strikes and “two fingers in the mouth”

Many believe that the essence of anorexia is that a person starves himself to death, and bulimia is when he eats a huge amount of food and then tries to make him vomit. AT in general terms this can be considered true, however, there are some nuances - for example, with bulimia, nausea is not always artificially provoked, other methods are used to empty the contents of the stomach.

According to Sarah, one of the patients who has bouts of bulimia, laxatives and diuretics help her effectively get rid of excessive amounts of ingested food, but the problem is that sessions of such a “cleansing” of excess calories are almost impossible to control, unlike intentionally induced bouts of vomiting.

Those who do not like such methods may pay attention to the case of Christine - a woman who, like Sarah, suffers from bulimia, but copes with it in her own way. Previously, Christine consumed large amounts of diet pills that speed up the metabolism, however, in addition to removing calories from the body, these drugs overload cardiovascular system, which may cause serious problems health and even lead to death. After consulting with her doctor, Kristin decided to forego her medications in favor of exercise, which is much less hazardous to her health and still effectively eliminates fluids and calories. A woman has to do physical education several times a day, each approach lasts at least two hours - otherwise she feels severe psychological discomfort.

2. Eating disorders are not the desire to "lose weight by summer"

Between a real eating disorder and a desire to get in shape is about the same difference as between clinical depression and mild sadness, although most often people do not understand the difference between a patient with an eating disorder and a person who wants to be healthy and fit. According to specialist research, about 97% of cases of eating disorders are provoked by mental problems, such as depression, anxiety disorder or abuse of psychoactive drugs. Thus, almost all those suffering from bulimia or anorexia have serious mental and psychological problems, however, many tend to believe that people who regularly provoke attacks of vomiting in themselves are completely healthy and "just want to get rid of extra pounds."

This widespread misconception is extremely dangerous because it causes people to perceive eating disorders, as something quite ordinary, inherent in many normal people. Surprisingly, the very word "anorexic" is considered almost an insult, and not a term that doctors use to denote the presence of certain eating problems in a patient.

Sarah compares eating disorders to a person's constant bullying of himself, and Kristin agrees with her - according to her, even at night she has such severe attacks that she has to go to a fitness club and, after waiting for the opening, intensively “cleanse” her body for several hours: “I have to do this, just to calm down.” An eating disorder is similar to a drug addiction or an obsession, and according to scientists, the mechanisms behind these mental phenomena almost identical. AT recent times there has been a steady increase in the number of people suffering from eating disorders, experts believe that the reason for this is the "Hollywood" beauty standards imposed by the media. At the same time, convincing those suffering from bulimia or anorexia that their natural beauty is better than artificially imposed ideals is the same as asking a patient with depression: “Have you tried not to be sad?”

3. The presence of an eating disorder cannot be diagnosed “by eye”

There is an opinion that people suffering from bulimia must certainly be overweight, and patients with anorexia always look like skeletons, but in reality, most people with similar mental problems look no different from healthy people. The already mentioned Christine, during her treatment for bulimia, noticed that almost all patients with eating disorders look completely normal.

The body can handle excessive amounts of calories, regardless of whether a person uses various methods purge or not. Due to this, the number of calories consumed by the patient often does not exceed the norm.

In addition, many people with eating disorders are great at hiding their mental problems- for example, Sarah claims that she has become a real master at inventing various excuses for bouts of bulimia. The woman admits that she can indulge in unbridled gluttony all day, and in the evening go to a restaurant with friends and order a huge number of dishes, assuring her companions that she “hadn’t eaten anything all day”. Previously, to avoid suspicion of bulimia, Sarah had to, as they say, "put two fingers in her mouth" in the most different places: in the shower, in the roadside bushes, in your bedroom - the main thing is that there are no friends and relatives nearby, who will certainly begin to suspect something is wrong if a person constantly retires to the restroom and at the same time makes sounds that unambiguously indicate attacks of nausea. With the help of such tricks, she managed to hide her illness for about a year and a half, but in the end the woman was forced to reveal her secret.

4. Eating disorders not only hurt the health, but also the patient's pocketbook.

Kristin laughs as she recalls an article she read on a popular blog titled "5 Reasons Why You Should Date Girls with Eating Disorders". Among other things, the author of the material claims that girls who starve themselves are cheaper for guys than others, because the boyfriend does not need to spend a lot of money on food. With all the logic of this statement, it is worth noting that in reality the situation is most often exactly the opposite.

First, those obsessed with getting rid of extra pounds are ready to spend huge sums on the purchase of laxatives and diuretics, as well as various "miracle pills" for weight loss.

Second, people with eating disorders often feel an overwhelming urge to spend hours at the gym, and gym memberships tend to be expensive.

Thirdly, during attacks of bulimia, many patients can easily empty the refrigerator with a week's supply of food - this can hardly be called savings. Fourth, some "help" weight loss diets include insanely expensive exotic foods, which again greatly increases food spending. Can't even mention the others unconventional ways, which are resorted to by sufferers who are desperate to get rid of "extra" kilograms - and so it is clear that only wealthy people can afford to try to lose weight.

If you think that after a few months of diets, treatment courses and regular fitness classes, a losing weight person will give up his idea and heal normal life, you are wrong. As already mentioned, eating disorders are like drug addiction - a person can rarely deal with it on their own. There are rehabilitation programs for patients with bulimia and anorexia, but do not rely on specialists to quickly and cheaply save your soulmate from mental disorder- The average cost of a monthly course of such treatment is about $30,000.

5. Treating Eating Disorders Isn't a Sanatorium Vacation

Everyone knows that the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs is harmful to health and can cause premature death. Eating disorders are no better in this regard. bad habits- there are many cases when people died because of anorexia or bulimia.

“It becomes part of your personality,” says Sarah, explaining that the disease affects the rhythm of a person's life, his money spending and way of thinking. The woman knows what she is talking about - during the exacerbation of the disorder, she experienced fainting and cardiac arrest, but even they could not force her to seek qualified help.

Getting rid of painful cravings for food or the desire to starve is often more difficult than coping with alcohol or drug addiction, because a person can live without alcohol and psychoactive drugs, but with a complete refusal of food fatal outcome will not keep you waiting, so that the patient has to eat. At the same time, each meal turns into stress and provokes the person suffering from an eating disorder to another starvation or an outbreak of gluttony.

Apart from psychological factors, making it difficult to fight this kind of disorders, there are also physiological ones - for example, when Sarah was undergoing a course of rehabilitation, she was fed six times a day, for which "weaned" from such a diet digestive tract“responded” with cramps, bloating and constipation. She was forbidden to take a laxative, otherwise the benefit of the treatment would have come to naught.

Even after minor digestive troubles pass, the metabolism of a patient who is in or recently undergoing rehabilitation remains disturbed. Constant hunger strikes, overeating and drinking medicines make the body work for wear and tear, which increases the risk of other health problems.