| An eating disorder is an illness that affects all aspects of each sufferer's life, is triggered by a variety of emotional factors and impacts. In this article we will concenatrate upon Anorexia and Bulimia.
Anorexia is a unique response to various outer and inner conflicts, such as stress, concern, unhappiness and feeling as if life is out of control. An Anorexia sufferer may be extremely sensitive about being overweight, or have a strong fear of becoming overweight - although not all Anorexia sufferers experience this fear. They may fear to lose control over the quantity of food they consume, coupled with the desire to control their emotions and reactions to these emotions. This forces them to turn to obsessive weight control and starvation as a means to control not only their body weight, but their feelings and actions. Some also believe that they do not merit pleasures of life, and will stay away from situations connected to pleasure (including eating).
Some of the behavioral signs can be: obsessive physical exercise, calorie and fat gram counting, starvation and restriction of food, self-induced vomiting, the use of weight loss medications, laxatives or diuretics to attempt controlling body weight, and a persistent concern with the way they look.
Bulimia sufferers seek binge and purge episodes - they will eat too much in a comparatively short period and then use behaviors such as taking diuretics or laxatives or self-induced vomiting - because they feel overwhelmed in coping with their emotions, or in order to punish themselves. Bulimia sufferers may seek binge and purge episodes to avoid and let out feelings of tension, anger, concern or depression.
Recurring episodes of quick food consumption followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting), a feeling of losing control over food consumption, regularly engaging in strict dieting and physical exercise, the misuse of laxatives or diuretics, and/or weight loss medications and a constant concern over the body image can all be warning signs somebody is having Bulimia.
There are many similarities in both illnesses, the most common being the trigger. They are complicated emotional issues. Although they may seem to be nothing more than a dangerously obsessive weight concern on the surface, for most people suffering from an eating disorder there are deeper emotional conflicts to be resolved. |
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