| An eating disorder is an illness that affects all facets of each sufferer's life, is triggered by a variety of emotional factors and influences, and has strong effects on sufferers and their loved ones. In this article we will take a closer look at Anorexia and Bulimia.Anorexia is a unique reaction to various external and internal conflicts, such as stress, anxiety, 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 perceived as fat, or have a strong fear of becoming overweight - although not all Anorexics have this fear. They may be afraid of losing control over the quantity of food they eat, coupled with the craving to control their emotions and responses to these emotions. This makes them turn to obsessive body weight control and starvation as a means to control not only their weight, but what they feel and how they act. Some also think that they do not deserve pleasure out of life, and will stay away from situations connected to pleasure, including eating.Some of the behavioral signs can be: obsessive exercise, calorie gram counting, starvation and restriction of food, self-induced vomiting, the use of weight loss pills, laxatives or diuretics to to control body weight, and a constant concern about the body image.Bulimia sufferers seek episodes of binging and purging - they will consume a large quantity of food in a relatively short period of time and then use behaviors such as fetching diuretics or laxatives or self-induced vomiting - as they feel overwhelmed in dealing with their emotions, or in order to punish themselves. This can be directly related to how they feel about themselves, or about a particular event or series of events in their lives. Bulimia sufferers may seek episodes of binging and purging to avoid and let out feelings of tension, anger, concern or depression.Recurring episodes of rapid food consumption followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting), a feeling of losing control over eating behaviors, engaging in stringent dieting and physical exercise on a regular basis, the misuse of laxatives or diuretics, and/or weight loss solutions and a persistent concern over the way they look can all be warning signs someone is having Bulimia.There are many similarities in both illnesses, the most common being the trigger. They are very complex emotional problems. Although they may seem to be nothing more than a dangerously obsessive body weight concern on the surface, for most sufferers there are deeper emotional conflicts to be resolved. |
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