The young boys and girls were celebrating their success in the Board exams. They had planned this outing to a hip café-cum-diner, and were ordering their favourites. Only Ritu refused to even look at the menu card. When the food came, she was the only one who faced the other side. The kids attacked the pizzas, pastries and burgers ravenously, but Ritu just nibbled on some fries and greens.
Kushal was finishing his fourth packet of onion rings while watching a thriller on an OTT platform. Empty cans of Coke lied around. The bell rang, and two large pizzas were delivered. Raj wolved down the pizza as fast as he could. The words of his father kept coming back to him – Get a job fast you lazy bum, or get out of the house.
The above two incidents reflect opposite types of eating disorders– rigorous dieting and binge eating. Both over-eating and not eating are behaviours that are a fallout of low self esteem, induced by peer pressure, the obsession with perfect body shape, guilt, body shaming by peers, or other psychological problems.
If you are someone who is binge eating on a regular basis, or is starving yourself to get the perfect figure, do seek professional counselling services. healthline.com, terms eating disorders as “complex mental health conditions that often require the intervention of medical and psychological experts to alter their course”.
Common Eating Disorders
Let’s take a look at the common unhealthy eating patterns that happen, most often during adolescence. Teenagers, pre-teens, young adults are particularly prone to rigorous dieting due to peer pressure to look a certain way.
Some of the most common eating disorders would be:
- Anorexia Nervosa. It comes from the acute fear of being overweight and forces people to starve themselves. If you are eating very little or binge eating, and then purging or throwing up to eject the food you have eaten, it is a sign of Anorexia.
- Bulimia Nervosa. You are struggling with this problem if you eat excessively, almost till you can’t eat anymore, and then purge the same.
- Binge Eating Disorder. People with this disorder eat unusually large amounts of food in relatively short periods of time. Those who are obese indulge in this kind of uncontrollable eating behaviour that is generally followed by feelings of shame, guilt, and disgust.
The important thing is that you take charge of your wellness and approach an experienced counsellor to impart holistic counselling near you. If going out is too much of a bother, you can seek professional counselling services online.
How Can Online Counselling for Depression Help?
The triggers for binge eating or rigorous dieting are often excessive parental control, low self esteem, body shaming, or peer pressure.
A counsellor will help you identify your thoughts and beliefs regarding food, body shape and weight, and devise strategies to modify these. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps in controlling eating disorders, as well as related depression and anxiety. You can also avail of online depression counselling to cope better with the feelings of low self esteem or negativity.
If required, family-based treatment will be applied, in which all family members would be involved in maintaining healthy diets and interrupting unhealthy behaviours like binging or purging.
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