People who suffer eating disorders (TCA), among which the anorexia and the bulimia Because they are the best known, they establish a harmful relationship between food and your body that negatively impacts your physical and mental health. If it extends over time, it can be fatal because one in 10 affected dies as a consequence of these serious diseases.
This has been warned by Professor Celso Arango, a full academician of Psychology at the Royal National Academy of Medicine (RANME), who has treated patients with ED and points out that these people They do not perceive their body objectively because they suffer a cognitive distortion of their image. “I have seen patients die in the ICU after many years with a restrictive eating disorder, with 22 or 23 kilos that are bone and skin, and that are still absolutely convinced that they are overweight of the buttocks, legs or arms,” he lamented.
On the occasion of the commemoration of International Day to Fight EDs This Saturday, specialists wanted to raise awareness about the risks that these diseases entail and help the population expand their knowledge about them. Thus, the head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (Madrid), Mónica Marazuela, has emphasized that these disorders They go beyond anorexia and bulimia and they include conditions with different characteristics that affect both the relationship with food and the perception of one’s own body.
Marazuela, who is also a full academician of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at the RANME, has pointed out that women suffer between 85 and 90% of EDs, but has highlighted that the cases among men are increasing. The specialist has indicated that binge eating disorder is the most common because it affects up to 3% of the population and can contribute to the development of obesity, but has highlighted that anorexia nervosa carries a higher risk of mortality, followed by bulimia nervosa.
Increasingly younger patients
Celso Arango has pointed out that people who start an eating disorder are usually characterized by being “perfectionistic, meticulous, obsessive, self-punitive, self-demanding and rigid” and that, in many cases, they are victims of bullying and derogatory behavior for being a little overweight. The expert added that other cases are triggered because the person suffers from a virus or infection that causes them to lose weight and upon realizing that they can continue controlling it through intake, they continue losing weight “until it gets out of hand.”
Arango, who is head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service at the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital (Madrid), has warned that There are more and more cases of very young patientsaged between six and 11 years. “The earlier they appear, the better their prognosis, but if they are not treated in time, in the case of girls they will not even be able to have their first period,” he stated.
On the other hand, the director of the Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health has addressed the issue of vigorexiaanother mental disorder that is increasing among boys. “It is not an eating disorder per se, it is a variant, but it is a distortion of the body image and it causes a obsession with having a ‘bodybuilder’ body“They don’t want to be thin, but very strong, and everything revolves around this, it becomes an addiction to the gym,” he explained.
How to prevent and treat eating disorders
Experts have insisted that maintaining a good relationship with food It is essential to prevent and treat EDs, as well as learning to accept one’s own body and avoid comparisons with others. In this sense, Mónica Marazuela has detailed that you have to eat being aware of the foods you are eating, without rushing or guilt, following a balanced and varied diet and, therefore, avoiding very restrictive diets and always listening to the body’s needs.
“Patients with eating disorders will require the help of different professionals to perform a combination of psychological therapy, nutritional counseling, medical intervention to prevent and treat possible complications, especially in severe EDs, treatments in support groups and, in some cases, drugs that help them establish a healthy relationship between food and the body,” he pointed out.
Finally, Arango has urged that actions be carried out in schools on socio-emotional development, so that children learn from the beginning that the important thing is the values of each person and not what they appear or how others perceive them. , given that many teenagers “obsess” with what they believe others think of them and do not value themselves.
“I ask many of my girl patients who have ED: How would you like your partner to be? Very thin or a good person? Very thin or intelligent? Very thin or with a sense of humor? And They always answer me the second. To which I answer: And why do you think that they are going to value you the opposite of what you value others?”, he concluded.
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