What is Eating Disorder or Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating or eating disorder is a syndrome in which a person adopts wrong eating habits which are harmful for his health. The symptoms, most of the time, occur concurrently with other psychological problems like depression, stress, anxiety disorder. Teenage girls and women are the main victims of this condition.
The wrong eating habit is associated with malnutrition, and malfunctioning of the body which can further lead to organ damage or even a person's death.
The common symptoms of eating disorder are:
- Not eating enough according to body's requirement
- Eating too much repeatedly within a short time span
- Following dangerous ways to get rid of the consumed food
Most of the time, people who are suffering from eating disorder or emotional eating, have a false notion about controlling food intake to get desired body shape. In this way, the obsession of eating less or eating as little as possible, overpowers their thought process.
Another category of people suffering from the same disorder may eat more frequently without feeling hungry, just to escape from their other emotional problems like depression or anxiety.
What are the different types of eating disorders?
Eating disorder has been classified mainly into four categories;
- Anorexia nervosa
- Bulimia nervosa
- Binge eating disorder
- Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS)
Anorexia Nervosa : This type of eating disorder is characterized by an obsession of losing weight which leads to a serious physical and emotional impact. This is one of the most common eating disorder. The person with anorexia will lose weight drastically and constantly without comprehending the hazard of refusing food.
According to Ohio State University Family and Consumer Sciences, food, calories, fat grams, weight, and weight management dominate that person's life and attempts to help are often ignored or met with denial or anger.
Symptoms : The common symptoms of anorexia nervosa are:
- Drastic weight loss
- Trying to lose weight even when the person is under weight or has minimum normal weight.
- Skipping meals and finding excuses for avoiding food
- Evaluating self on the basis of physical appearance
- Eating only low fat and low calorie foods
- Even when they are already thin, they would continuously complain about being overweight
- Looking in the mirror for self criticism
- Females missing three consecutive menstrual periods; males experiencing decreased sexual desire
- Avoiding social gathering where food is the focus
Bulimia Nervosa: This is a serious type of eating disorder in which a person overeats or binges and then uses different unhealthy ways to get rid of the calories consumed. This disorder has the potential of endangering a life because in this the process of bingeing and purging is used as a means of weight management. The person suffering from bulimia nervosa uses hazardous ways of losing the consumed calorie; frequently using laxatives, water pills, enemas, starving, vomiting, or extreme exercise. The bingeing and purging behavior turns into an uncontrollable habit.
Symptoms: The common symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa are
- People with this eating disorder are not underweight, most of the time either they are of normal weight or are overweight because they eat much more than required.
- Person with this disorder will keep secrecy around the time when they eat, because they need to eat frequently and then purge.
- They will behave bizarre when eating with others; either they will eat a very small portion or show sudden dietary changes. Mainly they will avoid eating with others, rather skip meals, consume a lot of water or diet soda to make vomiting easier, chew the food excessively, cut food into very small bites etc.
- Their family member will notice large amount of food items being disappeared from the fridge; find numerous empty wrappers or containers in the garbage. The person with bulimia nervosa will eat more without gaining weight.
- They exercise rigorously but will not eat enough to compensate for the burnt calorie.
- Their lifestyle becomes complex and strange because they need to keep their bingeing and purging a secret, so they will always go to the bathroom after meals, run the water to conceal the sound of vomiting. Lots of laxatives and water pills can be found in their rooms.
- They have a poor self-esteem, so, would avoid facing the mirror, will wear baggy clothes to hide the shape of their body. They, most of the time, are preoccupied with dieting, weight loss, body weight and control of food.
- Discolored and decalcified teeth due to lack of vitamins and stomach acid coming out of because of vomiting.
- They usually suffer from constipation or diarrhea
- The female may experience absence of menstrual periods.
Binge Eating Disorder: Some people having binge eating disorder i.e. they use food to combat emotional crisis and low self-esteem. Some of those suffering from this disorder enslave themselves to food, and in a way, they are addicted to food. In spite of their realization about their wrong eating habit, and being ashamed of it, they cannot actually stop themselves from overeating and so give in to the impulse.
Symptoms: The most common symptoms of binge eating disorder are;
- People with this disorder continue eating at a larger amount even when they are not really hungry.
- They keep on eating until their stomach refuses to take any more.
- They prefer to eat alone, because they know they are eating abnormally excess.
- They can go on eating continuously without feeling filled up.
- They feel guilty and disgusted after overeating.
- They may later on develop bulimia symptoms to control their weight gain because of overeating.
Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS): There are few more eating disorders, the consequences of which can also be dangerous. There are people who restrict their food consumption, but do not have all the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. There are a few symptoms which can be identified as the symptoms of EDNOS;
- They normally chew and spit out the food without swallowing.
- Bingeing and purging at times, when under mental pressure.
What are the effects of eating disorder?
All types of eating disorder are harmful for health as well as the mind;
Physical Effects:
- an imbalance in electrolytes;
- inflammation of the esophagus, salivary glands, and jaw;
- problems with teeth, gums, and lips;
- chronic irregular bowel movements due to abusive laxatives;
- Hair loss
- Lowered resistance to illness
- Hypersensitivity to heat
- Less need for sleep than normal eaters
- Severe dehydration, which can result in kidney failure
- Fatigue and overall weakness
Psychological Effects
- feelings of shame and guilt;
- depression;
- low self-esteem; and
- Damaged family and social relationships.
- Difficulty in concentrating on anything else except weight
- Emotional regression to a child-like state
- Dependence upon alcohol or drugs to handle the negative outlook
What are the treatments of eating disorder?
The treatment of eating disorder concentrates on both physical and psychological aspects of this problem to ensure complete cure by eliminating underlying psychological causes. The eating disorder treatment team generally comprises of a physician, a dietician, and a psychotherapist.
A lot of physical complications may occur due to eating disorder which may lead to serious health concern or death. So, an experienced doctor in this field monitors the health of the patient and if required, they recommend thorough physical examination. Physicians prescribe antidepressants and appetite suppressants like Adipex in cases like binge eating disorder, but medication alone cannot treat the condition. So, a dietician is required to help him develop follow a dietary plan to regain normal body weight.
While the physician and dietician take care of the physical threats of eating disorder, psychotherapist try to eliminate the root of this disorder like identity crisis, body image concerns low self-esteem, low self-confidence, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, anxiety, and depression.
The psychotherapist use a combination of therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, rational emotive therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy to address different psychological issues related to eating disorder. |
