Comorbidities of Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders (TCA) are a very complex psychological phenomenon, since they involve both a direct affectation on mental health as a dynamic of self-sabotage that also progressively deteriorates health mental.

This process of weakening of emotional stability means that among the blinds with an eating disorder, the coexistence of another psychopathology that, in principle, has nothing to do with adopting a dysfunctional relationship with food. In this article about Comorbidities of Eating Disorders we will see what they are.

• Related article:"Keys to understanding eating disorders"

What is an eating disorder?

As its name indicates, an eating disorder, or Eating Disorder, is a psychopathology in which that a person manifests the symptoms of his psychological problems through his way of relating to the meal. It should be noted that when we are faced with an ACT, the problem is never of an organic type related to the digestive process (for example, a deficiency in intestinal transit or a problem in the absorption of nutrients); In any case, if these health disorders appear, it is as a consequence of the behavior of the person who has been eating poorly for some time.

The main types of eating disorders, and the best known, are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa., although what is known as binge eating disorder is also relatively common. In all these alterations, the person internalizes a series of routines and rituals that lead them not to eat what they need to eat, or binge eating without needing to (and in addition, in these cases it is usually food hypercaloric).

The most common mental disorders among people with an eating disorder

These are the most frequent psychopathologies in those who have developed an eating disorder.

1. Anxiety disorders

In this sense there are no surprises; the anxiety disorders They are the most frequent group of psychopathologies among human beings in general, and this does not change if we focus on people who have developed an eating disorder. However, in this segment of the population, these are more than twice as frequent compared to the rest of the citizens: They occur in approximately 62% of cases.

Within this category we find alterations such as phobias, generalized anxiety, or panic disorder.

2. mood disorders

In this case, the prevalence among people with an eating disorder is 54% of the cases, approximately. Although this type of psychopathology is significantly less frequent among people with an eating disorder in Compared to the previous ones, it is worth noting that in this segment of the population, the increased risk is of triple. In other words, the increase in the percentage of cases among people with eating disorders in relation to the general population is significantly higher than it is with anxiety disorders among people with eating disorders compared to the rest of the population.

On the other hand, major depression is the most common type of anxiety disorder also within this person profile, just as it happens with other citizens in general; he follows him Bipolar disorder.

3. Drug addiction

The addictive disorders they are also much more common among those who have developed an eating disorder; above all, chemical addictions to easy-to-find drugs predominate. This kind of drug dependence problem occurs in approximately 30% of cases.

Regarding the two main types of eating disorders, there are some differences in the degree of frequency in which these alterations occur:

3.1. Bulimia

Among bulimic people, it stands out how common it is to have developed some form of addictive disorder, since It happens in more than half of the cases.. This could be explained as a consequence of the impulse regulation problems that they usually have. these people in regards to the experiences they see as a way to escape from their discomfort immediately.

3.2. anorexia nervosa

For people with anorexia, drug addiction is also much more common than among the general population, although somewhat less so than among people with bulimia. This greater probability of having developed an addiction is especially remarkable in the case of those who have purgative anorexia nervosa, in contrast to cases of restrictive anorexia nervosa (that is, in which there are no purging behaviors such as the induction of vomiting).

4. Posttraumatic stress

Post-traumatic stress occurs in just over 22% of cases; it may have a common cause with eating disorders, as many people develop these harmful behavior patterns towards their own bodies precisely as a response to conflicting feelings about the Self, as an attempt to improve through self-punishment and the search for perfection in the body. This type of psychological alterations associated with a feeling of guilt and self-hatred are common in victims of traumatic experiences, who often feel responsible for what happened in their past.

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If you need psychotherapeutic support to overcome an eating disorder, contact me.

My name is blanca ruiz and I have experience helping people with eating disorders, trauma, self-esteem problems and emotional disturbances.