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EATING DISORDERS (EDs)

Which are the main eating disorders?

The three main eating disorders are: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder mainly.

Anorexia nervosa is a disease characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. People who suffer from anorexia have a distorted body image, feeling fat despite being at a weight well below normal for their age and height and have a very intense fear of gaining weight.

Bulimia nervosa is characterized by a secret cycle of eating too much, feeling out of control, followed by various behaviors to try to avoid weight gain such as: self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives, diuretics, diet pills and other medications, excessive exercise, or restrictive dieting or fasting. The person who suffers from bulimia feels a constant concern about their weight and silhouette.

Binge eating disorder is characterized by periods of impulsive voracity or continuous eating, behavior that is followed by feelings of guilt, shame and self-recrimination. It is common for the person suffering from BED to go on many diets to avoid gaining weight, followed by periods when they eat indiscriminately.Weight is highly variable in these patients.

What causes an eating disorder?

Eating disorders have a very complex origin in which several factors are involved, which have combined in such a way that they have resulted in an eating disorder. These factors are:

Biogenetic factors: This basically has to do with the propensity of the person to have a certain type of figure, metabolism and tendency towards obesity or thinness.

Psychological Factors: It has been seen that people with this type of problem tend to present feelings of inadequacy and lack of control over their lives, depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, fear of growing up; as well as problems expressing their own wants and needs and in their personal relationships. It is also common for people with these types of problems to have difficulty identifying their emotions and internal states and managing their aggression. A very important factor to consider is that people with these conditions generally feel alone and ashamed of their problem.

Sociocultural Factors: Society, which is heavily influenced by the media, demands that women be as thin as magazine models, making eating disorders more and more socially acceptable. It should also be considered that there are professions such as modeling, acting, dancing or gymnastics that require people to be thin, also contributing to triggering eating disorders in many members of these professions.

Family Factors:It has been seen that the families of patients with an ED generally have several of the following characteristics: rigidity, overprotection, boundaries are confusing and intrusive, lack of privacy and independence, little or no resolution of conflicts or denial of them, and neither desires nor conflicts are openly expressed.

However, the family can and should also be the main support network to help a person cope with an eating disorder.

NARCISSISM, NARCISSISTIC ABUSE AND TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

What is narcissism?

It is a maladaptive personality style that presents different traits and patterns of behavior which present themselves in different ways. Among these patterns of behavior, we find grandiosity, arrogance, entitlement, the constant need for validation and a significant lack of empathy.

Narcissism comes on a spectrum which has a range from benign where the person presents some traits, but moderate and for example seeks to be the center of attraction at a party but does not cause great discomfort in the lives of those around them, to a diagnosable narcissistic personality disorder where the person can become cruel and even do illegal things. They are people who handle themselves with two faces, a public one where they show themselves as good or even as innocent victims of others and a private face where a manipulative, controlling and abusive being comes out behind closed doors.

We live in a society where there are more and more narcissistic or toxic people. Unfortunately, these individuals are enabled and even admired by many and can even occupy high positions in the government, run very important companies or be very famous artists. This is highly worrying because, by not taking others into account, they do not see the harm they can cause to others, nor do they care.

People who have been involved with narcissistic individuals see their self-esteem and identity destroyed, their dreams fade away, their social circle become smaller and smaller, their family become further and further away, their career and finances in ruins, etc. The damage is very deep and does not require the narcissist to resort to physical abuse. These people are great masters of manipulation and control. The person for various factors is dwarfed and transformed to please the narcissist until one day, without realizing it, they become the shadow of who they were and depend on him/her.