Eating Disorder Help

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Author:
Greg Culver

Body image is what you see yourself to be when you look into a mirror. Depending on your psychological state, you will see something very specific to your mental picture. Things like, your beliefs about your appearance, how you personally feel about your body and also how you feel in your body are all characteristics of general body image.

People who "see" a distorted image of themselves will be prone to developing an eating disorder of some sort and this is problematical. This will be related to negative body image and some characteristics of this image include:

1. Distorted body image
2. A mental state that only other people are attractive and that your own body image is a failure
3. Feeling of anxiety , being self conscious and ashamed of your body
4. Feeling of awkwardness and being uncomfortable.

As mentioned, a person with a negative perception of themself will be prone to developing an eating disorder and so if this occurs it is very important to seek professional help as this is a mental disease and must be tended to. Early detection of an eating disorder will mean that there is a greater chance that it can be cured.

Quite obviously, part of the rehabilitation of a person will be to instill positive body images in their sub conscious so that they can see themselves as they really are and learn to accept that image. Characteristics of a positive body image will include:

1. Acceptance of your body as it is
2. You see more importance in your own character and strengths rather than just your own physical appearance
3. You are very proud of who you are and spend very little time worrying about your weight, diets, calories and so on
4. You give yourself and receive from others positive affirmation about yourself, thus negating negative thoughts and feelings from your sub conscious.

Positive body image is fundamental to assisting and curing people of eating disorders so make sure that you seek professional help if you know of a loved one who is developing an eating disorder based on low self esteem or any other psychological condition. It could save their life.

Greg Culver is the owner of http://www.eatingdisorderweb.com which is a comprehensive information portal dedicated to providing qualityinformation about eating disorders.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Eating Disorders... Eating Disorder - Bulimia Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder caused by a person's feelings of low self-esteem, worthlessness and depression. They view themselves as being fat and overweight, which causes them to resort to bizarre eating habits in order to lose weight. The bulimic will binge eat and then purge. This habit after awhile becomes addictive and they fall into a pattern of bingeing as a way to cope with their negative feelings about themselves. The bulimic binge consists of a large amount of food intake with a high calorie count, usually eaten in private away from other people. They will eat sweets and foods high in fat. Although some binges are planned, most are spur-of-the-moment, being triggered by an emotional outburst of a happening in their live that sinks them into a depression. They use food as a comfort, stuffing themselves and then vomiting. This practice can happen several times a day. The eating binge tends to have a numbing effect on their feelings, with a feeling of anger toward themselves shortly afterward. They are ashamed of their actions and realize they have lost control, which further contributes to their feelings of low self-esteem. This feeling of shame causes them to be reluctant to admit their problem to anyone and to seek help for their condition. The self-induced vomiting is done to compensate for their binges. They are relieved of the full feeling from eating too much food and expect the vomiting to prevent any weight gain from the binge. They also use laxatives, enemas, diet pills, fasts and extreme exercise in order to prevent weight gain. In some cases they will chew their food and then spit it out without swallowing it, thinking this will prevent any weight gain. Like the anorexics, bulimics feel their self-worth is determined by the...