Some individuals with eating disorders may avoid weight gain following meals by inducing vomiting or abusing laxative, diuretic and diet pills. People with eating disorders often avoid social eating settings and eat alone. In avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, excessive concerns with weight and shape are generally absent, but those affected are at risk for malnutrition due to very selective eating.
There is no single cause of an eating disorder. Eating disorders, like several other psychiatric conditions, often cluster in families, and we now recognize that genetic vulnerability plays a significant role in risk for developing an eating disorder.
Genes, however, are only part of the story and environment plays a role too, especially in triggering onset of an eating disorder, often in adolescence or young adulthood. Pressure to diet, or weight loss related to a medical condition or life stressor, can be the gateway to anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
Losing those first five to 10 pounds, in someone who is genetically vulnerable, seems to make further dieting increasingly compelling and rewarding. How can I best help and support someone who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder?
Treatment for an eating disorder is challenging. It involves interrupting behaviors that have become driven and compelling, and overcoming anxiety about doing so. Recovery takes a team, which includes family, friends and other social supports, as well as medical and mental health professionals. Be empathic, but clear. List signs or changes in behavior you have noticed and are concerned about.
Help locate a treatment provider and offer to go with your friend or relative to an evaluation. Be prepared that the affected individual may be uncertain or ambivalent about seeking treatment. Treatment is effective, many are able to achieve full recovery and the vast majority will improve with expert care. Treatment assists those affected with an eating disorder to change what they do. It helps them normalize unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors and challenge the irrational thoughts that sustain them.
Food is central to many social activities and the practice of eating meals with supportive friends and family is an important step in recovery.
We tend to hear about young women and eating disorders, but are there other groups of people that are more often affected by eating disorders? Eating disorders do not discriminate and can affect individuals of any age and any gender. Although they are most common in younger women, it is not unusual for older women to have an eating disorder. Some have had one all their life, others were only mildly affected until some life event triggers clinical worsening — a stressor, physical illness, or co-occurring psychiatric illness, such as depression or anxiety.
Evidence strongly suggests that anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality traits increase individual vulnerability to an eating disorder. Eating disorders occur in men and in transgender individuals too.
What would others say are your good qualities? Include your talents, skills, and achievements. Stop body checking. Pinching for fatness, continually weighing yourself, or trying on too-small clothes only magnifies a negative self-view and gives you a distorted image of what you really look like. We are all very bad at detecting visual changes in ourselves.
Perhaps we make self-deprecating jokes about our appearance, criticize a celebrity for gaining a few pounds, or when we greet friends, we focus on how they look—their new outfit or newly toned physique, for example.
But focusing on appearance—our own or others—only leads to feelings of body dissatisfaction. Challenge negative self-talk. We all have negative thoughts about our appearance from time to time. The important thing is not to base your self-worth on these thoughts. Instead, when you catch yourself being self-critical or pessimistic, stop and challenge the negative thought.
Ask yourself what evidence you have to support the idea. What is the evidence against it? Dress for yourself, not others. You should feel good in what you wear. Pick clothes that express your personality and make you feel comfortable and confident. Stop comparing yourself to others.
Even people without an eating disorder experience feelings of anxiety and inferiority when they compare themselves to others on social media. People exaggerate the positive aspects of their lives on Facebook, Instagram and the like, brushing over their flaws and the doubts and disappointments that we all experience. If necessary, take a break from social media —and toss the fashion magazines. Even when you realize that the images are pure Photoshopped fantasy, they can still trigger feelings of insecurity.
Pamper your body. Instead of treating your body like the enemy, look at it as something precious. Pamper yourself with a massage, manicure, facial, a candlelight bath, or a scented lotion or perfume that makes you happy. Stay active. The key is to differentiate between compulsive exercise—which is rule-driven, weight-focused, and rigid—and healthy exercise that is rule-free, fun, and flexible.
Focus on activities you enjoy and do them because they improve your mood, not because they might change how you look. Outdoor activities can be especially good at boosting your sense of well-being. Develop a solid support system. Surround yourself with people who support you and want to see you healthy and happy. Avoid people who drain your energy, encourage disordered eating behaviors, or make you feel bad about yourself.
Or are difficulties at work or in your relationship likely to trigger your disordered eating habits? Know what your early warning signs are, and have a plan for dealing with them, such as going to therapy more often or asking for extra support from family and friends.
Avoid pro-ana and pro-mia websites. These sites are run by people who want excuses to continue down their destructive path. Keep a journal. Writing in a daily journal can help you keep tabs on your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Stick with your eating disorder treatment plan. Follow the recommendations of your treatment team. Fill your life with positive activities. Make time for activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. Recovery is a process—and that often involves setbacks. Authors: Melinda Smith, M. In the U. This holiday season alone, millions of people will turn to HelpGuide for free mental health guidance and support. So many people rely on us in their most difficult moments. Can we rely on you?
All gifts made before December 31 will be doubled. The search for the treatment of disordered eating behaviors is overwhelming but critically important. Whether facing anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or any other variation of disordered eating, beginning treatment with a professional who specializes in eating disorders is vital to a successful recovery. This is the motivation behind creating the website offering numerous resources of support and treatment options for patients, families, as well as other clinical professionals.
The resources in these directories can help you explore and compare treatment and recovery options, including outpatient, inpatient, and residential treatment providers. Trauma has been linked to numerous negative health behaviors, including disordered eating and eating disorders. Trauma can include interpersonal violence such as…. The world currently exists in a state of uncertainty and desperation.
People feel helpless in the face of a viral predator they cannot see. Concern regarding work and finances has become the norm. Moreover, living in isolation, which is contrary to healthy human existence, only serves to intensify fear, loneliness, and worry. This is a perfect storm for a constellation of mental health issues to take hold and thrive.
Not the least of these is…. The information contained on or provided through this service is intended for general consumer understanding and education and not as a substitute for medical or psychological advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All information provided on the website is presented as is without any warranty of any kind, and expressly excludes any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Returning to school can undermine the health of high school and college students who struggle with or are at risk for developing eating disorders. People with muscle dysphoria are struggling with a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder BDD.
0コメント