Permarexia: symptoms, causes and treatment

Permarexia is the eating behavior disorder of those who take dieting too far.

Many people decide to follow diets to lose weight. There is a large number of diets available to anyone, either through the Internet, social networks, health centers, etc..

Moreover, these diets are of all kinds: to lose weight, to gain muscle, to define oneself, to reduce Blood sugar levels...

But what happens when an obsession with low-calorie diets appears? Then we may be faced with a case of permarexia.What is this disorder, what are its symptoms, causes and treatments? We are going to answer all these questions through the following article.

Permarexia: what is it?

We have mentioned the fact of performing a certain diet... A priori, performing a diet should not be something dangerous or pathological, but... what happens when when dieting becomes the central axis of our life and our main concern is to lose weight and control everything we eat. and our main concern is to lose weight and control everything we eat? Then we are no longer talking about a more or less healthy habit, but about a psychological disorder called permarexia.

Thus, permarexia is an eating behavior disorder, which is mainly characterized by an obsession with performing slimming diets and counting calories eaten compulsively. Permarexia is classified as an "eating disorder not otherwise specified" in the reference diagnostic manuals (such as the DSM-5).

Thus, the diets followed by a person with permarexia are hypocaloric diets.The patient compensates for this unhealthy fear of gaining weight by practicing this type of diet, which he or she follows to the letter and obsessively. The patient compensates this unhealthy fear of gaining weight with the practice of this type of diets, which he follows to the letter and obsessively.

The following of these diets is added to a constant scrutiny of the labels of the products to be ingested, because of that great fear of gaining one calorie more, which he/she wants to avoid at all costs.

Permarexia is actually a disorder that can be a prelude to other disorders. can be the prelude to even more serious eating disorders (EDs), such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa.. To these last two disorders, other serious behaviors can be added, such as: intense physical exercise, compensatory behaviors (use of laxatives, self-induced vomiting, etc.), etc.

Symptoms

There are key symptoms to detect permarexia; thus, experts talk about some of them, and say that when a person changes diet more than three times in a period of two to four months, coupled with a constant concern to weigh and record the results, and an obsession with counting the calories of what they buy and eat, that person is at risk of suffering from permarexia.

But let's look at the most typical symptoms of permarexia in a little more detail:

1. Obsession with the calories ingested 2.

People with permarexia manifest an obsession with the calories they eat. This means that the patient compulsively counts how many calories he/she is ingesting with each food or product, and of what type.and of what type. For this, it is not that they look at the labels, but that they directly scrutinize and analyze them in detail.

2. Follow-up of miracle diets

Another symptom of people suffering from permarexia is a constant following of miracle diets to lose weight.

3. Deprivation of certain types of food

By constantly following diets, people suffering from permarexia deprive themselves of certain foods necessary for the proper functioning of the body in every way. These foods may contain essential vitamins or proteins that are being lost with this type of low-calorie diets, which negatively affects the body's health.This has a very negative effect on their health.

4. Influence of weight on self-esteem and mood.

Another primary symptom in permarexia is the fact that people who suffer from it have subordinated both their mood and self-esteem to their weight and physical appearance. In other words, They "measure" their well-being, their happiness and their self-esteem through how much they weigh and what their body shape looks like..

This, logically, at a psychological level is a great harm to the person, since they are feeding on external things to value something purely internal.

5. Swings in body weight

Another symptom of permarexia is the appearance of oscillations in body weight. Thus, although these are people who try by all means to follow the strict diets to which they submit themselves, they suffer variations in their weight, which affects them very negatively on the mental and physical health, because if they have gained some "extra" kilos, they feel very bad.

6. Consumption of slimming products

In addition to following low-calorie diets in order to lose weight and stay slim at all times, people with permarexia also consume different types of products to achieve their goal: slimming products, vitamins, diuretics... to achieve their goal: slimming products, vitamins, diuretics?

Causes

Like most psychological disorders, permarexia also usually has a multifactorial cause. That is to say, there are several factors that influence its onset.. Some of the most frequent (which in turn, shape the traits of a person suffering from permarexia) are.

1. Low self-esteem

Low self-esteem is at the basis of many eating disorders. In turn, this low self-esteem can be caused by many other factors.

People with permarexia, as we have seen, tend to value themselves according to how much they weigh and how their body is/is physically, which ends up undermining their self-esteem even more, turning this situation into a vicious circle..

Body dissatisfaction

Another cause of permarexia is a dissatisfaction with one's own body. This, in turn may be influenced by the current stereotype of beauty in society, which rewards thinness - in many caseswhich rewards thinness -in many cases extreme-, added to a generalized obsession with the cult of the body and its exhibition, etc.

3. Emotional instability

The profile of a person with permarexia often consists of an emotionally unstable person, who needs to "control" this instability through actions such as: following a very strict diet, analyzing the calories consumed, etc. Emotional instability is also often translated as "neuroticism"..

4. Obsessive traits

Obsessive traits are also one of the causes of people with permarexia (we insist, always in addition to other causes). In other words, the typical profile of these people is that of obsessive people, who need to control many aspects of their lives in order to feel "at peace". need to control many aspects of their life in order to feel "at peace"..

5. Great importance given to the opinion of others.

Finally, another cause of permarexia is the fact of giving excessive importance to the opinions of others, when it comes to valuing oneself.

This is directly related to the aforementioned low self-esteem. Thus, these are often insecure people, who constantly "need" to please, as well as the approval of others.

Treatment

In the treatment indicated to treat permarexia, logically, it should be assessed and adapted to each particular case. At the psychological level irrational thoughts associated with the body and the importance of being thin should be worked on..

Thus, one of the objectives will be to increase the patient's self-esteem, as well as to analyze his or her coping strategies when solving problems. Once the strategies have been analyzed, work will be done so that the patient acquires healthier and more adaptive coping strategies.

On the other hand, it will also be essential to work on their obsessive traits and, in short, the whole emotional sphere that is influencing the maintenance of the disorder.

For all this, we can opt for a cognitive-behavioral therapy, as it is one of the most effective when it comes to working on coping strategies, irrational thoughts, healthy habits, etc. However, we can also resort to other orientations, such as systemic therapy.

Finally, it should be noted that psychological treatment should always be carried out with the support of a physician specializing in nutrition to help regulate and adapt the eating patterns and diets that the patient is following.