Eating disorders

At first glance, an eating disorder (ECD) may seem like one of the most harmless mental disorders. One way or another, everyone had to forget to eat due to stress or end a hard day with an extra piece of cake. But according to statistics, anorexia and bulimia have one of the highest mortality rates among mental illnesses – up to 20% of patients who do not receive treatment die. At the same time, only 60% of patients who received qualified help are completely cured of eating disorders.

If you notice symptoms of one of these eating disorders in yourself or your loved ones, do not waste time contacting a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

Experts distinguish the following main types of eating disorders:

There is a deficit of body weight, deliberately maintained by the patient. The disorder is predominantly found in females, regarded as self-harm in order to lose weight, prevent weight gain, achieve an ideal appearance, and fitness. The patient has the following symptoms: panic fear of getting fat, insomnia, depressive moods, irritability, reduced motor activity, denial of his problem.

The clinical picture is characterized by uncontrolled consumption of food in unlimited quantities, regular use of ways to control one’s weight (artificial induction of vomiting, exhausting training, abuse of adsorbents and laxatives), excessive dependence of self-esteem on one’s appearance. Most patients have a normal weight. Bouts of overeating are accompanied by insatiable hunger. The patient may either eat constantly, or the urge to eat may arise suddenly. Such attacks often occur at night. Such an eating disorder can also lead to death, depression, nervous exhaustion, neurasthenia, drug addiction, alcoholism, and acute heart failure.

Leads to a sharp increase in excess body weight. Chaotic and uncontrolled eating can be preceded by severe stress: the loss of a loved one, problems at work and in the family, surgery, strong emotional experiences. In fact, a person does not feel very hungry, prefers high-calorie carbohydrate foods to drown out this pseudo-feeling.

Pathological and obsessive desire for proper nutrition, which is accompanied by strict adherence to the diet. A person does not eat what he likes or wants, feels not free from obsessive thoughts and behaviors.

Eating disorders also include psychogenic vomiting, eating unsuitable food of inorganic origin, perverted appetite, and loss of appetite. Elimination of such mental defects should be carried out comprehensively. It is important to eliminate the psychological and physiological provoking factor. The most effective treatments for eating disorders are psychoanalysis and cognitive psychotherapy.

Eating disorders have various psychogenic, social, and physiological factors. As a rule, they are determined by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist when diagnosing a patient. Most often, several factors lead to eating disorders at once, among which several are the triggers of the disease.

The main causes of an eating disorder are:

For decades, the imposed “ideals” of beauty in the form of harmony have been forming the wrong attitude towards success and relevance.

Eating as a compensation for psycho-emotional overstrain gradually turns into dependence and an independent source of stress.

Most patients with eating disorders have experienced sexual or physical abuse in the past.

Eating habits and values in the family play an important role in the formation of the right attitude to food and appearance. Addiction to sweets, lack of diet, authoritarianism, hyper-protection, the use of food as a punishment or reward form the wrong attitude towards food. The trigger for RCP in young adulthood or adolescence is often hurtful remarks made by spouses, parents, or peers about appearance or weight.

Disorders are more often formed against the background of low self-esteem, dependence on the opinion of others, perfectionism, emotional lability, suggestibility or guilt. These factors are especially common for adolescents experiencing an age-related crisis.

Many mental illnesses are accompanied by eating disorders. These include schizophrenia, psychopathy, depression, and bipolar affective disorder. Eating disorders are characterized by resistance to therapy and severe symptoms.

Impaired transmission of neurotransmitters and genetically transmitted hormonal abnormalities lead to perversion, an increase or decrease in appetite, and the development of obesity.

Diagnostics of eating disorders is carried out by a psychiatrist, psychotherapist. During the conversation, the specialist finds out all the details of the history and symptoms of the disease, asks the patient and his relatives (when working with children and adolescents) questions about stressful and traumatic situations, the peculiarities of his diet and the patient’s attitude to his appearance and weight, applies various tests for eating disorders.

In the psychotherapy of eating disorders, one of the most effective methods, the method of cognitive-behavioral therapy. This method involves working with destructive attitudes that affect the patient’s behavior on an unconscious level. In treatment with the help of cognitive-behavioral therapy, the cooperation of the psychotherapist and the patient is important: the patient must not only attend psychotherapy sessions, but also do homework.

Psychotherapeutic assistance for an eating disorder brings the patient to the origins of the appearance of destructive attitudes in his life, the patient learns to recognize situations in which these attitudes are turned on automatically and affect decision-making. Gradually, he gets used to conscious decision-making in each case.

As a drug treatment in the psychotherapy of eating disorders, antidepressants or small doses of antipsychotics are used in order to relieve anxiety. If the patient is an adolescent, psychotherapeutic care for an eating disorder also includes family psychotherapy.

Treatment of RCP is a long process, it is individual for each person.