Why are eating disorders among the most dangerous psychopathologies?

Eating Disorders (Eating Disorders) are among the most dangerous psychopathologies and with a greater capacity to rapidly wear down the physical and mental health of those who suffer them; some, such as anorexia, lead to death in a relatively large proportion of cases.

However, and despite the efforts that have been made in recent years to raise awareness in society about the importance of take mental health problems seriously, nowadays it is not uncommon to see how the fact of suffering a psychopathology of this type is normalized kind; In some cases, an attempt is even made to instill the idea that excessively “controlling” what you eat is a necessity for professional success in certain fields.

In this article We will see why it is very important to take TCAs seriously and what makes them dangerous.

• Related article: "Keys to understanding eating disorders"

Characteristics of the main TCAs

These are the main Eating Disorders and the distinctive characteristics of each of them.

1. Anorexy

The anorexia

is probably the Eating Disorder associated with higher mortality; It is estimated that 5% of the people who develop it die during the ten years following the appearance of this psychopathology.

It is characterized by making the person suffering from it develop the illusion that they are well above their ideal weight, which causes him great discomfort. The anguish caused by the fact that he does not accept himself makes the person try by all means to lose weight, limiting the intake of food and beverages other than water to a minimum; Even when their Body Mass Index is well below what is indicated for her age and size, the person with anorexia continues to look "very fat" and continues with their goal of losing all the weight possible, which creates serious problems of malnutrition and, over time, brings her closer and closer to death from starvation and other mental health complications derived from this style of nutrition. life.

This alteration mainly affects young women, but it can also occur in men.

• You may be interested in: "Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment"

2. Bulimia

Bulimia is an eating disorder in which excessive binge eating alternates and, on the other hand, vomiting and other purgative behaviors to try to "compensate" for overeating.

It is a psychopathology in which, in general, there is no such distorted perception of one's own body weight that we do find in anorexia, and although many times those who suffer from this They try to follow a hypocaloric diet so as not to accumulate fat, they respond to situations associated with stress and anxiety by gorging themselves on food, even without being hungry for truth; This is behavior that they perceive as uncontrollable, an urge that they have trouble suppressing. After this kind of binge, the feelings of guilt for what happened, which they try to appease by preventing your body absorbs all these calories, usually by making yourself vomit and / or using laxatives, diuretics, making exercise…

Although bulimia is much less linked to malnutrition and death from starvation than anorexia, generates malnutrition and physical and mental health problems derived from this cycle of bingeing and purging: damage to the enamel of the teeth, the skin of the hands and the digestive tract due to being caused constant vomiting, stress, intrusive thoughts related to your weight and diet, etc.

• Related article: "Bulimia Nervosa: Binge Eating and Vomiting Disorder"

3. Binge eating disorder

Binge eating disorder is similar to bulimia in that its main feature is the tendency to binge uncontrollably, but in this case, provoked vomiting or other purgative behaviors do not occur. As the excessive consumption of calories is part of its reason for being, this pathology is associated with overweight and even obesity.

It is the most common Eating Disorder in the US population, where obesity is practically an epidemic.

• You may be interested in: "Binge Eating Disorder: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment"

4. Eating disorder, unspecified

The concept of "unspecified eating disorder" It has been developed to include within this category those cases that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for either anorexia or bulimia, and that somehow they are situated between both psychopathologies. For this reason, it groups very diverse symptoms, but is generally associated with highly problematic eating patterns and an obsession with food control.

• Related article: "Eating Disorder, Unspecified: What is it?"

5. Orthorexia

Although it does not appear officially in the main diagnostic manuals used in psychiatry and in the clinical psychology, orthorexia is an ACT proposal that has been theoretically developed to refer to cases of people obsessed with the idea of ​​eating only what is good for them and what is best for their health or beauty ideals.

This causes them to adopt an irrational fear of exceeding any of the "red lines" that are set to follow a diet through iron discipline, which implies adopting an attitude hypervigilance when eating and buying food, having disturbing intrusive thoughts about what they have been eating or will eat proto if they go to certain social events, etc.

• You may be interested in: "Orthorexia: the obsession for healthy foods"

Why are TCAs so dangerous?

These are the aspects of eating disorders that make them highly harmful psychopathologies, requiring professional treatment as soon as possible.

1. They have a previous history of normalization

Especially in the case of women, it was understood that the idea of ​​"virtue" was something that was also reached in the relationship that each person has with food, and the fear of receiving a social stigma linked to the "vice" of gluttony has permeated the idea of ​​beauty and personal perfection of many people.

These inertias have made some models of behavior and beauty standards continue to this day. often unattainable and that favor the appearance of eating disorders, leading people to become obsessed with meal.

2. There are professional ecosystems that encourage them

It has been observed that in areas of work such as dance or modeling, it is common for there to be competition dynamics to see who is closest to “the ideal figure”.

Thus, even those who had not been particularly concerned with taking care of their diet can become obsessed with this issue in a relatively short timeAnd furthermore, once you've made a lot of sacrifices to excel and succeed in your discipline, you will surely see the idea of ​​stopping reinforcing your ACT as a synonym for giving up on success.

3. Malnutrition and malnutrition favor the appearance of psychopathologies

When the body lacks nutrients, this becomes more vulnerable to the appearance of psychological disorders, especially anxiety disorders, mood disorders and addictive-type disorders.

This occurs both from having to deal with a large amount of physical and mental discomfort (which gives the opportunity to adopt strategies dysfunctional to deal with it, such as smoking a lot to alleviate that discomfort that you feel) as well as the fact that the body has less material resources with which to satisfy their most urgent needs, so that mental health is compromised in favor of more priority aspects linked to the here and now.

• You may be interested in: "Psychology of feeding: definition and applications"

4. Many people with eating disorders try to hide what is happening to them

Another factor that adds danger to eating disorders is that many times whoever suffers them try not to sound the alarms in your social environment by hiding the most problematic behaviors; for example, pretending to be eaten but keeping food in a pocket or sleeve. Thus, it takes longer to seek help in therapy.

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