Ways to Cope with anorexia nervosa

Author: Randy Alexander
Date Of Creation: 28 April 2021
Update Date: 1 July 2024
Anonim
Treatment for Eating Disorders
Video: Treatment for Eating Disorders

Content

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that can lead to death. If you are looking for ways to deal with anorexia nervosa, seek help from a mental health professional, such as a psychotherapist. While seeking support, there are a number of things you can do to deal with your feelings. In the past, only people with a body mass index (BMI) of 17.5 or less were diagnosed with mental anorexia. If your BMI is higher than 17.5, you will be diagnosed with a disorder called "Other specialized eating disorders".

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Improve your physique awareness

  1. Understand that anorexia is often the result of negative emotions. Lust for a slim body can lead to anxiety and harmful thinking. This condition is sometimes genetic, but it's important to understand that such thoughts compromise your perception of your body and your body.
    • Negative emotions you may experience include sadness, anger, anxiety, restlessness, and similar emotions.
    • You may find you have a tremendous fear of gaining weight and an intense desire to lose weight. These sensations are symptoms of anorexia. Try to remind yourself that those thoughts stem from the illness.

  2. Stop comparing your figure to others. When you find yourself admiring someone else's body and comparing it to yourself, try to dispel the thought immediately. This is a flare-up behavior governed by anxiety and restlessness, a urge caused by anorexia. Realize what it is - those are the thoughts and feelings that come from anorexia.
    • When you find yourself judging people's physique or comparing their looks to yourself, stop yourself. Tell yourself that you should accept others no matter their bodies, and accept yourself as you are.
    • Think about your friends and family. You must love and care for them no matter their size and size. Your love for your loved ones is unrelated to their size, and so is their love for you.

  3. Stay away from sites that advocate anorexia and other unhealthy internet content. The Internet can be a great source of accurate information, resources and support for people with eating disorders, but it also contains unhealthy, harmful and exciting content that also try to misconceptions about the form and lead to unrealistic standards. Stay away from these websites to make it easier to deal with your feelings.
    • Even social media networks can contribute to your emotional impact. Maybe you need to cut down on your exposure or cut off social media altogether for a while.
    • You should probably also avoid fitness apps and websites, as they are also a trigger for some people.

  4. Identify factors that make you want to become anorexic. You may want to lose appetite or initiate behaviors that lead to anorexia caused by being tempted by unhealthy body images, eating habits, and situations that promote being extremely thin. You need to be aware of what motivates you to want to in order to know the situations to avoid. Here are some questions that can help you figure out the cause of your loss of appetite:
    • Do you have a group of friends who are obsessed with calorie intake? If so, it is possible that you have been influenced by those friends. Try to spend less time with them or ask them not to always mention calories.
    • Is a member of your family normal about your body or weight? Or did you often hear people's comments about you as a child? Any bullying comments or behaviors you experience should be identified and communicated with a psychologist. Talk to others about the problem and how it is making you. You should also talk to someone else in your family to have someone supporting you.
    • Do you enjoy reading fashion magazines or watching shows honoring your body and figure? If so, stop monitoring for a while. Remember that these images were edited in Photoshop, and really, the models look real are not Just like that.
  5. Find friends with a healthy view of their body shape and diet. Your friends' attitudes about food and their physique can affect your own perception and eating habits. Try to find friends who have a positive outlook on your physique, have a healthy attitude about food, their weight, and spend more time with them.
    • Your loved ones can also help you refine your perceptions of food and your figure. If they say that you are too thin or look unhealthy, listen and think seriously.
  6. Avoid stimulating situations. Try to limit your exposure to unhealthy situations and find entertainment in your spare time. If you have a hobby or are in an environment that aggravates anorexic behaviors, now is the time to change. Please choose something more positive.
    • Consider stopping gymnastics, modeling activities, or any other hobby that emphasizes body size.
    • Do not weigh or look in the mirror too much. Continually checking our weight and paying too much attention to your looks can reinforce the negative behaviors many people with anorexia experience.
    • Limit time with people when it comes to your weight and compare with others.
    • Avoid websites, TV shows, and other entertainment that praise unrealistic shapes.
  7. Relax. If you tend to lose your appetite, you may have high levels of cortisol, a hormone that causes stress. When you suffer from anorexia, you may become obsessed with perfection, the ability to control or hide feelings of insecurity. That obsession can cause a lot of stress. To cope with stress, take some time to relax each day.
    • Pamper yourself. You can give yourself a manicure, enjoy a massage or an evening of spa at home.
    • Try yoga or meditation. Both of these activities have been shown to reduce stress.
    advertisement

Method 2 of 3: Change the way of thinking

  1. Understand that "fat" is not the feeling. When you feel "fat," you may be dealing with another emotion you associate with feeling fat. Đó that's the emotion you need to be mindful of.
    • Next time, if you feel "fat" for no good reason, stop and think. How do you feel? What situation caused you to have such negative feelings? Who were you with at that time? Try writing down answers to those questions as much as possible to find the pattern.
    • For example, you may feel this feeling every time you are with someone or when you have an unlucky day.Use this information to change your environment to see if you feel better about yourself.
  2. Remember that no single diet can help you manage your emotions. Anorexia is not just about being extremely strict. It is an attempt to combat a larger problem. Following a diet like this makes you feel more in control, and this can give you a sense of success. However, any satisfaction you gain through limiting your intake is just a way to hide a deeper problem.
    • Find more positive ways to regain control of your life. For example, you can cut down on stressful activities or tasks, try to manage your time more efficiently, and seek help when something doesn't understand.
    • Try to have fun. Do things that make you feel happy, such as pursuing hobbies and having fun with friends.
    • Every day look in the mirror and praise yourself. For example, you could take a picture of yourself in a mirror and say something like "My hair today is beautiful."
  3. Fight against negative thoughts. Make a habit of replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. Every time you find yourself thinking something negative about yourself, try to turn the thought into a positive one. For example, if you find yourself thinking negatively about your appearance, think about something you are grateful for. Maybe it's just something as simple as being grateful for being lived, you having a place to call home, or being loved by friends and family.
    • You can also make a list of your good qualities. Come up with as many items as possible, such as your unique talents, skills, accomplishments, and interests.
  4. Think realistically about the effects of anorexia on your body. Another way to dispel the desire to become anorexic is to look at what happens to people with anorexia. The mortality rate among people with anorexia is 5% -20%. If you are overweight, you can:
    • development of osteoporosis (brittle and brittle bones)
    • are at risk of heart failure due to anorexia that damages the heart
    • there is a risk of kidney failure due to dehydration
    • experience fainting spells, exhaustion, and weakness
    • hair loss
    • dry skin and hair
    • growing more body hair (to keep warm)
    • appearance of bruises all over the body
    advertisement

Method 3 of 3: Get help

  1. Seek help, no matter what your symptoms. Anorexia manifests itself differently in everyone. You can limit calories or eat - vomiting, or both. Regardless of your anorexia, you need help.
    • Even if you just feel the idea of ​​anorexia has something to appeal to, hurry up and get help. Your doctor, a psychologist, or even an educator can talk and get you through. Anorexia is not healthy and is not good at all.
    • If you have anorexia, you should hospitalize or seek treatment. You need specialist help to overcome and recover.
  2. Chat with someone you trust. You may want to keep your appetite or anorexic behaviors a secret, but it is still necessary to talk to a close friend or family member, preferably with an older person. Look for someone who is not confident about your body shape and who is not on a strict diet. Sometimes the opinion of outsiders has a huge impact.
    • Discussing your concerns about your weight and your image with loved ones can help you to adjust your expectations for a healthy body and weight. This will help reduce your loneliness and maintain your resolve to fight anorexia tendencies.
  3. Talk to a health professional about your concerns. Talk to your doctor or nurse about your weight and how you see your body. Let your doctor know that you are stressed by the thought of limiting your food intake and losing weight so they can advise and help you.
    • Choose a doctor committed to helping you prevent or fight anorexia. If your first attempt fails, keep looking for another doctor who is enthusiastic and able to help you develop a treatment plan.
    • In some cases, the nutritionist is a great resource and can spend more time discussing your progress than with a regular doctor.
    • Follow your treatment plan, monitor your progress, and talk to your doctor about any deviations you might encounter.
  4. Ask about therapies to avoid behaviors that lead to anorexia. If you have begun to have eating habits that lead to anorexia, you may need to take a vitamin and mineral supplement or take nutrition through an IV. Talk to your doctor about psychotherapy, support groups, exercise exercises, anti-anxiety strategies, and diet.
    • A mental health professional is also helpful in this. Not only can chat help you through the present, they can also help counter the causes that motivated you in the first place. A mental health professional can also prescribe medication to treat the illness.
    • Talk to your doctor about weight levels for your age, gender, and height. Each person is unique, but your doctor can advise you on an actual and healthy weight to match your characteristics.
  5. Make a strong plan to prevent anorexia and build better awareness of your body. Your doctor or psychologist can also help you with this. Consider studying the arts, journaling, yoga, meditation, nature photography, volunteering or other daily activities to reduce obsession with food or lose weight, and practice at the same time. focus more on overall health.
    • Try choosing a "spell" that reinforces body awareness and realistic expectations based on your body size and shape. Write this mantra in your journal and read it out every morning you wake up. For example, you could choose the phrase "Food that nourishes your body and keeps you healthy."
    • Adhere to a meal plan. Promise yourself (and your doctor) that you will eat three healthy meals a day. If you don't, you will disappoint yourself and your doctor. Reward yourself when you eat it the right way. You should also eat with someone and talk to them during a meal to distract yourself and reduce anxiety.
    • Track progress and regularly seek support or feedback. Record the successes you have achieved by learning new things, experiencing new activities, overcoming negative self-image, and learning to appreciate and recognize healthy body images.
  6. Call the eating disorder hotline. If you cannot reach a health professional or would like to speak on the phone first, you can contact the national hotline. If you are in the US, here are some useful phone numbers you can reach someone who can help:
    • KidsHealth for Parents, Children, and Teens: www.kidshealth.org or (+1) (904) 697-4100
    • Mental Health America: www.mentalhealthamerica.net or 1-800-969-6642
    • National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders: www.anad.org or (+1) (630) 577-1330
    • National Eating Disorders Association: www.nationaleatingdisorders.org or 1-800-931-2237
    • Beat - Beating Eating Disorders: www.b-eat.co.uk or 0845 634 1414
    advertisement

Advice

  • Learning to set realistic expectations for body size and planning a healthy, well-balanced diet can be essential to preventing anorexia and keeping an active lifestyle.
  • Other consequences of anorexia include: fatigue, emotional disturbances, depression and infertility. Infertility can last for a year or is permanent. It also prevents you from doing things that you enjoy, such as playing sports or traveling. Talk to someone you trust. The voice in your head is deceiving you, and you need to smash those hurtful words. Don't forget that body size doesn't matter, and people love you for who you are, not for your looks.

Warning

  • If you notice a friend or relative has symptoms of anorexia or another eating disorder, encourage them to see a health professional as soon as possible for evaluation.
  • Anorexia can be fatal. If you regularly limit calories or exercise excessively, or if you set unreasonable standards for your body size, you may need your health professional's help to cope. this disease.