Tag: mental disorder

Bulimia-An Eating Disorder

In today’s instagram world,People especially adolescents are getting image and body conscious.They look at the perfect bodies of celebrities and aspire to be like them.In this aspiration,they are psychologically and physically wounded.Most of such people experience eating disorders where in they undergo extreme changes in their eating and exercise habits.Ultimately they damage themselves.

So,in today’s blog lets look at one of the eating disorders called Bulimia Nervosa,it’s causes and it’s impacts.Let’s get started.

READ mORE

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by episodes of binge eating—consuming a lot of food quickly—followed by compensatory behavior, most commonly vomiting or “purging.” People who are bulimic often feel a lack of control over their eating. A bulimic can consume as many as 3,400 calories in little more than an hour and as many as 20,000 calories in eight hours.

People with bulimia often know they have a problem and are afraid of their inability to stop eating. Bingeing is then followed by purging — namely, self-induced vomiting or the abuse of diuretics or laxatives. Bingeing and purging are often performed in secret, with feelings of shame alternating with relief.

The bingeing and purging cycle is usually repeated several times a week. As with anorexia, people with bulimia often have coexisting psychological illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse problems. Many physical dysfunctions result from the purging, including electrolyte imbalances, gastrointestinal troubles, and dental problems.

An estimated one to four percent of females have bulimia nervosa during their lifetime. The prevalence in males is unknown, but bulimia nervosa is far less common in males than females. Most cases begin in the late teens and early 20s, but can go undetected until the 30s or 40s.

SYMPTOMS

Bulimia signs and symptoms may include:

  • Being preoccupied with your body shape and weight
  • Living in fear of gaining weight
  • Repeated episodes of eating abnormally large amounts of food in one sitting
  • Feeling a loss of control during bingeing — like you can’t stop eating or can’t control what you eat
  • Forcing yourself to vomit or exercising too much to keep from gaining weight after bingeing
  • Using laxatives, diuretics or enemas after eating when they’re not needed
  • Fasting, restricting calories or avoiding certain foods between binges
  • Using dietary supplements or herbal products excessively for weight loss

CAUSES

Exact causes are not completely known and are believed to complex.Hence there is no single known cause of bulimia, but there are some factors that may play a part,such as:

  • Culture:As in strict body expectations:Slim and trim girls wanted for marriage in India.
  • Families:Constant pressure and criticism from parents on looks of children
  • Life changes or stressful events: can trigger bulimia.
  • Personality traits: Those with bulimia may have low self-esteem and feel hopeless.
  • Biology.:Genes, hormones, and other biological factors may contribute to development of bulimia.

Impact

Bulimia has a great impact on the individual and can lead to following complications:

  • Negative self-esteem and problems with relationships and social functioning
  • Dehydration leading to kidney failure
  • Heart problems
  • Severe tooth decay and gum disease
  • Absent or irregular periods in females
  • Digestive problems
  • Anxiety, depression, personality disorders or bipolar disorder
  • Misuse of alcohol or drugs
  • Self-injury and suicidal thoughts.

Management

If left untreated,bulimia can create major complications in life as mentioned above.Hence if you see your loved ones experiencing symptoms of bulimia,support them and console them.If the symptoms are unbearable,immediately consult a doctor and psychologist who will be able to help the patient successfully.

Please spread empathy and kindness.Acceptance and kindness can prevent bulimia in such insecure people.Every difficulty can be defeated with empathy,patience and willingness to improve and come out.

If you all found the article useful,do give it a like.

Thankyou!

Stay Kind!

ADHD: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

ADHD - Unique Mindcare

An ADHD patient behaves a certain way because they feel like they lack people’s attention, right? Wrong. Actually, People who have ADHD are impulsive and/or unable to pay their full attention to anything. The mental disorder is very common in children and even after therapy and medication, it can still persist in childhood. With increased awareness now, it is easier to detect but earlier, it wasn’t so as so many people discovered their condition in late adulthood, only after getting tested. Detection becomes crucial as it is the first step that an ADHD patient could take towards learning to deal with it as it is not completely curable.

There are three types of ADHD – inattentive, hyperactive and a combination of the two. If a person has the inattentive type of ADHD, they might show symptoms like inability to be attentive during a conversation or lecture and get distracted easily, forgetfulness and losing their things often. These people are also unable to stick to a routine and meet deadlines because they lack organizational skills. If they remain unaware of their state, they might start feeling that they are just inferior to their peer and become depressed. People who have the impulsive type of ADHD get agitated quickly, so much that they become impatient when they have to wait for their turn and they interrupt a conversation often in order to get their point across. 

Imagine having a constant urge to move that you are unable to sit quietly in one place. People who have ADHD are so hyperactive, they often get up from their seat and start to move around in the middle of a lecture. Their energy is evident from the way they can talk nonstop. They also try to multitask or switch from a task to another without completing the first one and switch to something else later. All of these episodes of lack of attentiveness and impulsivity can lead to distress in both personal and professional lives. People surrounding the ADHD patients may try to help them without knowing that they have ADHD, but their advice can make the patient feel even more helpless as an ADHD brain is very different from neurotypical or normal brain. After detection. however, a patient can find their own strengths and ways in which they can deal with their weaknesses.

There are also good sides of ADHD. It brings out some very special personality traits like generosity, fairness, compassion and persistence. Individuals with ADHD tend to be more humorous with exceptional conversational skills. They can also have the ability to hyperfocus which could serve as a great advantage in almost all professional fields. With so many years making trials and errors in just getting on with life, their level of resilience becomes very high. They would also make great entrepreneurs, owing to their spontaneity, risk-taking behaviour and ingenuity. Present a problem to them and they would come up with the most creative, out-of-the-box solutions to them because like Jessica McCabe said, in her Ted Talk, “We not only think outside the box; we’re often not even aware that there is a box.”

Check out Jessica McCabe’s Tedx Talk.