| An eating disorder is an illness that adversely affects all facets of each sufferer's life, is brought on by a variety of emotional factors and impacts. In this article we will take a closer look at Anorexia and Bulimia.
Anorexia is a unique response to a variety of outer and inner conflicts, such as tension, concern, unhappiness and feeling as if life is out of control. Anorexia is a negative way to handle these emotions. A person suffering from Anorexia may be exceedingly sensitive about being fat, or have an intense fear of becoming overweight - although not all people with Anorexia have this fear. They may fear to lose control of the amount of food they eat, combined with the craving to have strict control over their emotions and reactions to their emotions. This makes them turn to obsessive dieting and starvation as a means to control not only their weight, but what they feel and how they react. Some also believe that they do not deserve pleasures of life, and will stay away from situations related to pleasure, including eating.
Some of the behavioral signs can be: calorie and fat gram counting, starvation and limitation of food, obsessive physical exercise, self-induced vomiting, the use of weight loss medications, laxatives or diuretics to to control body weight, and a constant concern with the body image.
Men and women with Bulimia seek episodes of binging and purging - they will binge on food in a comparatively short period and then use behaviors such as pickings diuretics or laxatives or self-induced vomiting - since they feel overwhelmed in coping with their emotions, or to punish themselves. Those having Bulimia may seek episodes of binging and purging to avoid and let out feelings of strain, anger, anxiety or depression.
Repeated episodes of binging followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting), a feeling of losing control over eating behaviors, engaging in stringent diet plans and physical exercise on a regular basis, the misuse of diuretics or laxatives, and/or diet pills and a constant concern with the way they look can all be warnings of Bulimia.
The two eating disorders have many similarities, the most common being the trigger. They are very complex emotional problems. Although they may seem to be nothing more than a health-threatening obsessive body weight concern on the surface, for most people having an eating disorder there are more profound emotional conflicts to be handled. |
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