Anorexia: When Being Too Narrow Is Just The Tip Of The Iceberg

Anorexia tends to diminish to just a desire to be slim, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It is a complicated disease with a high mortality rate. For this reason, we should never confuse the disease with the symptom.

Most people are not aware that this need to be slim is a form of self-harm. For many people, it starts with a problem they can not control, so they go on to strictly control their diet as a way to protect themselves from their fears and their defenselessness. They feel the need to find positive encouragement in their body image, a need they value higher than their own life and survival.

But why is this happening? Is it a mental problem or are there other factors that are beyond the person’s control that affect the brain? Today we are going to answer these questions and discover how this obsession with slimness is only a small part of anorexia.

People with anorexia consciously try to reduce their food consumption to such a degree of discipline that they almost completely avoid food. The less they eat, the better.

So can we call it a mental illness? The truth is that this term can be a little confusing. What we are sure of is that it is caused by a compulsive behavior in which there is a great obsession with the consequences of eating.

This indicates that the brain of a person with anorexia does not function in the same way as the brain of a healthy person. We all have a system of responses to satisfy and reward that is very important for our survival. In the case of people suffering from anorexia, this system has changed.

Every time a healthy person feels hungry and eats, for example, the brain produces a positive response. In this way, their relationship with food is healthy. The same thing does not happen with people suffering from anorexia, because they can not distinguish between positive and negative stimuli.

But that’s not all. Many neurobiologists have determined that in people with anorexia, there is a change in the function of the neurons that communicate with the part of the brain that perceives hunger. Interestingly, this area corresponds to the region associated with emotions, sensations and bodily perception.

Hormones are also partly to blame. In people with anorexia, many of the hormones that stimulate appetite and weight have low levels, which causes a serious eating disorder.

We have seen how anorexia produces changes in the brain that reflect a changed reward system. But is that all?

People who suffer from this condition also show psychological symptoms, some of which are more pronounced in some than in others. Not everyone needs to be present either.

• Low self-esteem that has been linked to body image and that is disconnected from encouragement.
• The need to control everything. They exercise said control over their bodies and food, which they feel is the only thing they can control.
• A search for identity, which they feel gives them great anxiety.
• Constant changes in mood, which can range from euphoria to depression.

These are a few traits that people with anorexia can exhibit, but there are many more. As you can see, the self-esteem aspect is very important. It is related to other underlying problems that make the person want to stop eating.

Trying to intervene without the help of a specialist with a specific strategy, such as forcing the person to eat without working on aspects such as encouragement, will only make the person better at hiding their behavior and fooling you.

It can be a cry for help or the manifestation of a deeper problem. It’s not just a matter of appearance, of eating or not eating. Behind anorexia there is a drowning person with deep inner problems that also needs to be treated. Malnutrition is, of course, what can ultimately kill the person, but that does not mean that you should only intervene to tackle this problem. Instead, you should help tackle the pain that is causing the illness.

Anorexia does not mean being slim to look better; it means problems, insecurities, pain and sorrow. Not eating is just a way to avoid feeling bad. Encouragement for this behavior comes from avoiding suffering.

They see food as the worst enemy of the controllable world they are trying to build. A world in which the only hope is to experience a gray day in the middle of all the black days.