The Psychology of Eating Disorders
11th March 2019
By Nathan Harper.
Most eating disorders start with unusual human behaviour in the fields of exercise and eating. They develop mainly during childhood and in early adulthood. Children are able to hide the disorder from their family. It may also be caused by stress or your own concern about your body weight. It may only partly affect you. The main effect of an eating disorder is the harming of your body function. Eating disorders is recognised as a treatable medical illness but can cause serious medical issues, such as kidney failure. The issue, identifying it and finding cures is of critical importance to health specialists.
The start of an eating disorder can be recognised by the imbalanced portions of food you intake, that’s when you need to forcefully intervene as it will eventually get out of control.
There are several disturbances in eating behaviour, these include a detrimental reduction of eating or on the opposite end of the scale, an extreme and hazardous danger of overeating
The way that you would eat smaller amounts of food or you eat less regularly can majorly affect your health both psychologically and physically.
There are 6 main types of eating disorder, they are:
• Pica – The repeated intake of non-nutritive, non-food substances e.g. paper, fences, dirt, soap, gum, paint, ice, soil, hair and chalk. People with Pica normally don’t have any aversion to food. For Pica to diagnosed, the person must display this behaviour for at least a month. People may experience medical issues e.g. infections, bowel problems and intestinal obstruction. It is most common with people with an intellectual disability and pregnant women. The cause of Pica is unknown but it is likely to involve abnormal activity across all neural systems.
• Rumination – The repeated regurgitation of food. People would bring up eaten food back up to the mouth without being sick or displaying any sign of imminent nausea. The symptom is normally outside of the person’s control. Characteristics include: the repeated regurgitation of food over a period of time {at least one month}, weight loss, children failing to make expected weight, malnutrition, placing a hand over mouth or coughing in an attempt to hide the regurgitation and the avoidance of eating before school or other social situations. The repeated regurgitation is not a result of any other medical condition. The disorder can be contracted at any stage of life.
• Avoidant and/or restrictive food intake – The avoidance or restriction of food intake. People with the condition develop a lack of interest of eating or they avoid a certain food based on a previous experience with it. This may be caused by the food’s sensory characteristics e.g. its appearance, smell, taste, texture and its presentation. The condition may develop in childhood and may continue into adulthood. People with heightened sensory sensitivities e.g. autism may contract the condition. Symptoms include: weight loss, nutritional deficiency and an inability to take part in social activities e.g. eating with family/friends.
• Anorexia nervosa – Which is persistent reduction of eating, a fear of gaining weight or the fear of becoming obese. Some who have the condition feel that they are overweight everywhere across their body. Or for those who are skinny, they’re concerned that some of their body parts are ‘too fat’. The condition can affect self-esteem. Many people with the condition tend to have coexisting psychiatric and physical illnesses, e.g. depression, anxiety, substance abuse, cardiovascular and neurological issues and physical development impairments. But it can lead to serious, life-threatening issues. More symptoms include: weight loss, obsessive dieting, addiction to calories, a preference to eat alone, compulsive exercise, bingeing, purging, depression, a growth of body hair, weakness and loss of muscle tone, constipation, low blood pressure, the slowing down of breathing and pulse and a drop in body temperature making people feel cold and lethargy. People with anorexia nervosa think they are overweight even though they are dangerously thin
• Bulimia nervosa – Which is caused by frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts, the feeling of a lack of control of eating, purging, fasting, the intake of laxatives to try to lose weight, the frequent use of the bathroom after eating, red fingers, swollen cheeks, depression or mood swings, dental problems, heartburn, distress and irritation from laxative abuse, kidney issues and severe dehydration. Sufferers maintain body weight but tend to feel embarrassed and do try to hide their symptoms. Sufferers may obtain a fear of putting on weight, a desire to lose weight or/and feel immense dissatisfaction with their bodies
• Binge eating – Is the recurring episodes of eating. Sufferers lose control over their eating by eating amounts of food that are bigger than the average recommended in the same period of time. People often become overweight or obese. Studies say 1.6% of women and 0.8% of men develop the condition in a 12 month period. Binge-eating sufferers experience the issue at least once a week for six months by normally eating more rapidly than normal, they eat until they are uncomfortably full, they eat large amounts of food when they are not hungry, they eat alone because they are embarrassed, disgusted, guilty, distressed or depressed by how much they eat. The condition is not associated with purging, fasting and/or excessive exercise. Many people are overweight so feelings of self-disgust may be prevalent and that can cause bingeing again leading to a continuous cycle of binge eating.
Causes – Eating disorders are complex, there is still more research that needs to be carried out into the causes of it biologically, behaviourally and socially. There’s an allegation that eating disorders appear to run in families but researchers are now using tools from neuroscience and psychology to better understand eating disorders. Psychologically, low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy or lack of control in life e.g. anxiety, depression, anger and loneliness can contribute to eating disorders. Interpersonal factors include troubled relationships with other people, difficulty expressing emotions and feelings, cultural pressures that glorify thinness and valuing the desire to have the ‘perfect body’, cultural norms that value people on physical appearance and not inner qualities.
Treatments – Eating disorders are treatable and a healthy weight can be restored. The sooner symptoms are realised and disorders diagnosed and treated, the better the likely outcome. Eating disorders require a comprehensive treatment plan which involves medical care, monitoring and nutritional counselling. Treatments for anorexia has a specific programme that involves four stages: restoring the person to a healthy weight, treating psychological effects e.g. distortion of body image and interpersonal conflicts e.g. eliminating thoughts/behaviours that lead to eating disorders and preventing relapses. Patients with Anorexia can be treated by antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood stabilizers, these can resolve mood and anxiety issues. Psychotherapy treatments are an option for anorexia nervosa patients, or a combination of medical attention and psychotherapy is more effective than just psychotherapy alone. Hospitalization is also a possibility e.g. inpatient. Residential care in an eating disorder specialty unit is required if it has led to physical problems that may be life-threatening or if it has led to psychological/behavioural problems. The course and outcome for Anorexia Nervosa vary. Some recover after a single episode, some fluctuate between weight gains and relapse and others chronically deteriorate over many years. Anorexia Nervosa can kill you by way of cardiac arrest and electrolyte imbalance. The treatment goal of Bulimia is to reduce or eliminate binge-eating and purging. Ways of treatment include: nutritional rehabilitation, professional intervention and medication management. Antidepressants including Fluoxetine and appetite suppressants and psychotherapy may also help with binge-eating and depression
People with eating disorders often do not recognise that they are ill.