Overview:

An eating disorder is generally a psychological condition that causes unhealthy eating habits to develop. Human beings must eat to live and survive in this competitive world. Although in today’s world, almost everyone worries about their weight occasionally, people with eating disorders take such concerns to extremes and end up having psychological problems as well. It is a serious mental and complex illness, ranking third among the most common chronic illnesses. This condition can strike at any age and in any gender, although adolescents and females are reported to have higher an incidence of up to 13% and 5% respectively. Some people eat several times to suppress and calm down negative feelings. Some may feel guilty or ashamed after eating this way, which in turn leads to an unending cycle of overeating and weight gain.

In order to help understand the true hunger triggers and the emotional eating, Clinics have come up with the different points stated below:

Physical hunger

• It develops slowly over time.
• You desire a variety of food groups.
• You may feel satiated and take it as a cue to stop over-eating.
• You may not have any negative feelings attached to eating.

Types of eating disorders:

Rumination Syndrome:

It is an eating disorder in which an individual regurgitates undigested food which they previously chewed, swallowed, and either re-swallows or spits it. This behavior may occur after every single meal within 30 minutes or so. The exact reason for this syndrome is yet to be known. Rumination syndrome is often treated with behavioral therapy, of which the most commonly used is diaphragmatic breathing. This therapy helps in the relaxation of the diaphragm, which is a muscle located at the base of the lungs.

Pica disorder:

Pica is another eating disorder in which a person craves to eat something which is not considered foods like ice, dirt, soil, chalk, soap, paper, hair, cloth, wool, pebbles, laundry detergent, cornstarch, paint chips, etc. Considering the medical complications caused due to this disorder, closely monitoring the eating behavior and pattern is the therapy used to treat Pica. It may lead to serious infections, like lead poisoning due to paint chips, gut injuries, etc.

Binge-eating disorder:

This is a severe eating disorder in which a person frequently consumes a large amount of food and initially does not feel like stopping to eat. Sometimes a person may feel ashamed of overeating and try to stop it, but again develop the urge of eating food. Treatments for this can be psychotherapy as well as medications. Psychotherapy like Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Interpersonal psychotherapy, and Dialectical behavior therapy can help treat such conditions.

Bulimia nervosa disorder:

This is another type of serious eating disorder marked by bingeing, followed by methods to avoid weight gain. Every single binge episode can last till the person feels pain-free. Subjects suffering from bulimia then attempt purging behavior to compensate for the calories that have been consumed. Just like the binge-eating disorder, this also has psychotherapy and medications as treatment. Psychotherapy that can help includes Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Interpersonal psychotherapy, and Family-based treatment.

Conclusion:

It takes a lot to diagnose an eating disorder and gain acceptance over it. Appropriate awareness, acceptance, and valuing of one’s own adaptive interceptive emotional experience over exteroceptive feedback to achieve emotional validation, emotional self-efficacy, and self-agency should be done in order to overcome eating disorders.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most commonly used therapies to treat this disorder. Similarly, studies show that meditation could also prove to be a good treatment. Deep breathing is an easy and effortless exercise that can help deal with eating disorders and can be done anytime, anywhere. It doesn’t take much effort, either.

To get more appropriate results, one needs to follow specific guidelines which are available in various research articles and online platforms. Every disorder treatment or therapy has some particular guidelines set, which need to be followed to get accurate results.

If an eating disorder is getting in the way of living your best life, do not hesitate to seek further evaluation and treatment.  Well Coast Medical has mental health specialists that are ready to help! We offer disorder therapies, so call us at (833) 931-1716 to learn more when you are ready to take your first step towards healing.