What Are The Psychological Consequences Of Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is one of the most common eating disorders (ED) that exist, and is characterized by a pathological need to lose body mass in an extreme manner, reaching situations in which the person’s physical integrity is violated. or even death may occur due to malnutrition. The most obvious warning signs are an alarming decrease in the person’s weight in a short time, an intense obsession with not gaining weight and avoiding food, and a distortion of one’s own body image.
This type of eating disorder is truly destructive for those who suffer from it and can be associated with a series of psychological consequences that contribute to severely deteriorating their mental and physical health. So that you know its characteristics better, here we will review The psychological consequences of anorexia nervosa.
What are the main psychological consequences of anorexia nervosa?
Here we are going to focus on seeing the most important psychological effects of anorexia nervosa; Of course, for a person to have anorexia it is not necessary for all of these characteristics to exist.
1. Depressive symptoms
One of the main sets of psychological symptoms presented by people who suffer from anorexia nervosa are depressive symptoms: hopelessness, habitual sadness and very low mood, in this case linked to the assessment of one’s own identity and body image. Furthermore, the physical problems triggered by anorexia make the person feel bad and see their quality of life as very limited, which also reinforces this tendency towards depression.
Scientific research regarding anorexia nervosa has shown that it very frequently occurs with this type of psychological alterations and that each of them often feeds back on the others.
It is evident that the radical change in eating habits and the drastic weight loss experienced by people with anorexia have a very negative impact on their psychology, since physical health greatly affects mental health.
2. Anxiety in social situations related to food
People with anorexia nervosa often feel very anxious in contexts in which they are expected to eat ; for example, when having breakfast with the family, or at a business dinner.
The experience of feeling these kinds of expectations, added to the need to hide the extent to which they avoid food, makes them become defensive or directly avoid these situations, entering a dynamic of social isolation.
3. Intense discomfort when seen
It is very common for people with anorexia nervosa to feel very bad when they see themselves in photographs or when looking in a mirror. This is the result of the distortion of their perception of themselves. If we add to this that the majority of people with anorexia are young women, a demographic group in which there is high social pressure to take care of their appearance, this discomfort intensifies even more.
4. Self-harm
Self-harm is another of the frequent psychological consequences of anorexia nervosa, and it is a truly harmful behavior for people who practice this type of painful punishment with the aim of distracting the hunger and anxiety generated by the desire to eat.
This type of self-harm They are usually cuts that the person makes to themselves on their legs or arms always in places that are inconspicuous so as not to raise any suspicion among friends, family or educators.
Currently there is a boom in the practice of these self-harming behaviors mainly due to the proliferation of messages that, on social networks of all kinds, recommend getting this type of wounds, content that reaches increasingly younger people in a very alarming way. .
5. Patterns of obsessive-compulsive behavior to avoid eating
The appearance of obsessive-compulsive disorders is also common in people who have developed anorexia nervosa, since in most cases this eating disorder is accompanied by a wide variety of obsessions and stereotyped rituals, mainly related to food. .
The tendency to do intermittent fasting to lose weight the obsession with one’s own physique and wanting to be thin or the obsession with not eating certain foods that are considered fattening, leads many of these people to cling to chains of actions designed to “protect” themselves from the temptation to eat, or to keep disturbing intrusive thoughts linked to self-image at bay.
6. Tendency to use drugs
The misuse of addictive substances in cases of anorexia nervosa is very common, mainly in the young population and especially in adolescents, a period in which they are more prone to developing either of the two disorders.
This phenomenon of comorbidity between an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa and an addiction disorder to alcohol or substances of any other type is produced by a wide variety of causes that do not always affect everyone in the same way. but overall It has to do with the need to escape from the present not thinking about the worries that plague the person, or even as a supposed “trick” to lose weight by eating less (for example, falling into the false belief that psychostimulants will allow you not to store fat).
The high prevalence of cases of anorexia nervosa and consumption of alcohol or illegal drugs can also be explained in part by the increasingly common normalization of alcohol consumption among young people due to the tendency of the person with anorexia to engage in self-destructive behaviors and also to relieve the anxiety that the person feels in moments of greatest hunger.
7. Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts
Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts They are very common in the most advanced stages of anorexia nervosa and constitute a real risk for the health and life of those who suffer from this eating disorder.
Recurrent suicidal thoughts occur due to the psychological discomfort that the person can carry for a considerable time, who usually has very low self-esteem and, therefore, assumes that he or she does not deserve to live.
It is essential to seek professional help
Mental health professionals emphasize the need to go to therapy as soon as possible when we detect the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. In this type of patient, it is essential to provide the necessary support from both medicine and psychotherapy, so that both their physical affections and the mental alterations that are the cause and/or consequence of this disorder are addressed.
If you are looking for treatment for eating disorders, contact us. In Psychology For We have more than two decades of experience caring for patients, and we work from both psychological therapy and psychiatry.
