2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
What is hyperphagia?
Along with bulimia and anorexia, hyperphagia is classified as a pathological eating disorder. It is characterized by uncontrollable and fast ingestion of large amounts of food. Hyperphagia can be considered when at least three of the following criteria are present: eating faster than the average, eating without feeling hungry, swallowing food until you feel heaviness in your stomach, discomfort in eating in the presence of others. people, aversion to food, guilt after eating.
How is it different from bulimia?
There are many similarities between hyperphagia and bulimia, but what distinguishes them is the desire to eliminate what is ingested in bulimia - intentional vomiting, laxatives, intense physical activity, periods of deprivation of food. The victims of hyperphagia they are almost always overweight, and very often suffer directly from obesity. For them, eating is a way to overcome negative feelings.
What are the signs of hyperphagia?
It is not always easy to find out if a loved one is affected by hyperphagia, because it causes people to isolate themselves and eat in solitude, secretly throw away empty food packages and replenish food reserves unnoticed by others.
A clear indicator is overweight. Other signs are irritability and feelings of sadness, which can develop even into depression. Of course, the behavior of the table is also indicative - too much food or, conversely - very scarce, which speaks of a previous crisis with overeating.
Are there any risk factors?
Hyperphagia affects equally men and women, children and adolescents. However, young girls have a predominance in statistics. They most often depend on the imposed models of weak bodies, this makes them eat sparingly, skip meals, completely exclude fats and sugars from their menu, and all this leads to nutritional imbalance, which is prerequisite for hyperphagia.
Hyperphagia is triggered by negative feelings (sadness, fear, anxiety), arising from traumatic childhood experiences (physical and mental abuse) or dramatic moments in life (loss of a loved one, divorce). Sometimes the feeling of emotional deficit is crucial - lack of support and love from loved ones, social isolation. All this can happen to an antisocial person in an insecure professional situation, as well as to an overworked ambitious person who thinks that he is not coping at the required height.
How is hyperphagia treated?
As the causes of hyperphagia are numerous and different in each person, and treatment approaches are diverse. Those affected by the disease should consult a nutritionist, but also a psychologist.
The nutritionist can prepare an individual nutrition program based on several basic positions - eating as often as possible with family members, slow chewing, awareness of portion size, economical shopping (for example, 1 packet of biscuits per week) and more.
The psychologist, in turn, can help clarify the roots of the problem. Cognitive and behavioral therapies give the best results. Their goal is for participants to learn to recognize the factors that trigger crises, to manage negative feelings and low self-esteem.
At the same time, we are looking for what is important for the particular person and can give additional or different meaning to life. An interesting method that gives positive results is conscious meditation, which helps to filter negative feelings and replace them with positive ones.
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