| An eating disorder is an illness which adversely affects all aspects of each sufferer's life, is brought on by a variety of emotional factors and impacts. In this article we will concentrate on Anorexia and Bulimia. Eating disorder sufferers are characterized as having a low self-esteem and frequently a tremendous need to take stringent control over their surroundings and emotions.Anorexia is a unique response to various external and internal conflicts, such as stress, concern, unhappiness and feeling as if life is uncontrolled. Anorexia is a negative way to cope with these emotions. An Anorexic may be extremely sensitive about being overweight, or have deep-seated fear of becoming overweight - although not all Anorexia sufferers have this fear. They may fear to lose control of the amount of food they eat, accompanied by the desire to control their emotions and responses to their emotions. This makes them turn to obsessive dieting and starvation as a means to control not only their body weight, but what they feel and how they act. Some also think that they do not merit pleasures of life, and will avoid situations connected to pleasure (including eating).Common behavioral signs may include: calorie and fat gram counting, starvation and restriction of food, obsessive exercise, self-induced vomiting, the use of weight loss medications, diuretics or laxatives to to control weight, and a persistent concern over the body image.People with Bulimia seek binge and purge episodes - they cannot stop themselves from eating too much and then vomit to control their body weight - as they feel overwhelmed in managing their emotions, or to punish themselves. This can be in direct relation to how they feel about themselves, or about a particular event or series of events in their lives. Bulimia sufferers may seek binge and purge episodes to avoid and let out feelings of tension, anger, anxiety or depression.Recurring episodes of rapid food consumption followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting), a feeling of lacking control over food consumption, regularly engaging in strict diet plans and exercise, the misuse of diuretics or laxatives, and/or weight loss medications and a constant concern with the way they look can all be warning signs of Bulimia.The two eating disorders have a lot of similarities, the commonest being the trigger. They are complex emotional problems. Though they may seem to be nothing more than a dangerously obsessive weight concern on the surface, for most men and women having an eating disorder there are deeper emotional conflicts to be handled. |
