Why are EDs among the most dangerous psychopathologies?

Here are the reasons why Eating Disorders are very harmful.

Eating Disorders (EDs) are among the most dangerous psychopathologies with the greatest capacity to rapidly wear down the physical and mental health of those who suffer from 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 make society aware of the importance of taking mental health problems seriously, today it is not uncommon to see how suffering from a psychopathology of this type is normalized; in some cases, there is even an attempt to instill the idea that "controlling" excessively what one eats is a necessity for professional success in certain fields.

In this article we will see why it is very important to take eating disorders seriously and what makes them dangerous..

Characteristics of the main EDs

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

1. Anorexia

Anorexia is probably the Eating Disorder associated with the highest mortality; it is estimated that 5% of women with anorexia suffer from it.It is estimated that 5% of people who develop it die during the ten years following the onset of this psychopathology.

It is characterized by the fact that the person who suffers it develops the illusion that he/she is well above his/her ideal weight, which generates a great dissatisfaction.which generates a great discomfort. The anguish caused by the fact that he/she does not accept him/herself 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 their age and size, the person with anorexia still sees themselves as "too fat" and continues with their goal of losing as much weight as possible, which generates serious malnutrition problems and, over time, brings them closer and closer to death by starvation and other mental health complications derived from this lifestyle.

This disorder affects mostly young women, but can also occur in men.

Bulimia

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

It is a psychopathology in which there is usually no distorted perception of one's own body weight that we find in anorexia, and although many times those who suffer from this disorder try to follow a hypocaloric diet to avoid accumulating fat, they respond to situations associated with stress and anxiety by gorging themselves with food, even without being really hungry; this is a behavior that they perceive as uncontrollable, an impulse that they have trouble repressing. After this kind of binge eating come feelings of guilt for what happened, which they try to placate by preventing their body from absorbing all those calories, usually by making themselves vomit and/or using laxatives, diuretics, exercising....

Although bulimia is much less linked to malnutrition and death by starvation than anorexia, generates malnutrition and physical and mental health problems resulting from this cycle of bingeing and purgingThe following are just some of the problems: damage to the enamel of the teeth, the skin of the hands and the digestive tract due to constant vomiting, stress, intrusive thoughts linked to their weight and their way of eating, etc.

3. Binge eating disorder

Binge eating disorder is similar to bulimia in the sense that its main characteristic is the tendency to uncontrolled binge eating, but in this case there is no binge eating. in this case there is no induced vomiting or other purging behaviors.. As excessive consumption of calories is part of its raison d'être, this pathology is associated with overweight and even obesity.

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

4. Eating disorder not otherwise specified

The concept of "eating disorder not otherwise specified" has been developed to include those cases that do not meet the criteria for this category. has been developed to encompass within this category those cases that do not meet the diagnostic criteria of either anorexia or bulimiaand that somehow fall in between both psychopathologies. For that reason, it groups very diverse symptoms, but in general it is associated to highly problematic feeding patterns and to an obsession by the control of the food.

5. Orthorexia

Although it does not appear officially in the main diagnostic manuals used in psychiatry and clinical psychology, orthorexia is a proposed form of ED that has been theoretically developed to refer to cases of people obsessed with the idea of eating only what suits 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 for following a diet through an iron discipline, which involves adopting an attitude of hypervigilance when eating and buying food, suffering disturbing intrusive thoughts about what they have been eating or will eat proto if they go to certain social events, etc.

Why are EDCs so dangerous?

These are the aspects of EDs that make them highly harmful psychopathologies, which require professional treatment as soon as possible.

1. They have a previous history of normalization.

Especially in the case of women, the idea of "virtue" was understood as something that was also achieved 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.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 led to the arrival of behavioral models and beauty standards that are often unattainable and that favor the appearance of ED, leading people to become obsessed with food.

2. There are professional ecosystems that encourage them

It has been observed that in fields of work such as dance or modeling it is common for there to be competition dynamics to see who can get closer to "the ideal figure".

For this reason, even those who had not been particularly concerned about taking care of their diet can become obsessed with this issue in a relatively short time.In addition, once you have made many sacrifices to excel and succeed in your discipline, you may see the idea of no longer reinforcing your TCA as synonymous with giving up on success.

3. Malnutrition and malnutrition favor the appearance of psychopathologies.

When the organism lacks nutrients, it becomes more vulnerable to the becomes more vulnerable to the onset of psychological disorders, especially anxiety disorders, anxiety disordersThe main psychological disorders are anxiety disorders, mood disorders and addictive disorders.

This occurs both because of having to deal with a great deal of physical and mental discomfort (which gives the opportunity to adopt dysfunctional coping strategies, such as heavy Smoking to alleviate the discomfort felt) and because the body has fewer material resources with which to satisfy its most urgent needs, so mental health is compromised in favor of more priority aspects linked to the here and now.

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

Another factor that adds to the danger of EDs is that many times those who suffer from it try not to sound the alarm bells in their social environment by hiding the most problematic behaviors; for example, by pretending that they are eating or not.For example, by pretending to eat but keeping the food in a pocket or in the sleeve. Thus, it takes longer to seek help in therapy.

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