Hiwell Online Therapy Platform Specialist Clinical Psychologist Selin Çelen gave information about the physical effects of eating disorders, their detection and what to consider when approaching these individuals. Çelen said that although there are different types of eating disorder, which is a nutritional behavior in which a person shapes the act of eating according to his or her mental state rather than physical hunger, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are among the two most common types.
Hiwell Online Therapy Platform Specialist Clinical Psychologist Selin Çelen, who emphasized that the basis of eating disorder was laid in childhood, but began to appear in adolescence due to development, said, “In childhood and adolescence; There are some risk factors such as depression, social media influence, violence, sexual abuse, peer bullying, parental pressures. In adults, it is seen after the age of 20. Eating disorders have physiological as well as psychological effects. Considering all these, it is very important to empathize with people with eating disorders and make them feel that we are with them.”
Emphasizing that eating disorders can occur due to many reasons such as an individual's restrictive diet, prohibitions, the need to be perfect, and the desire to be liked and desired, Çelen said: There is a desire to be.” he said.
Hiwell Specialist Clinical Psychologist Selin Çelen, who was brought to life for each individual to have easy and faster access to therapy, said; He stated that he can engage in behaviors such as restrictive diets, detoxes, starving himself, vomiting, using laxative-diuretics, and exercising excessively. Selin Çelen stated that these actions caused the deterioration of a person's relationship with eating, and gave information about the physical effects of this disorder, its detection and what should be considered when approaching these individuals.
Underlining that the foundations of the aforementioned ailment were laid during childhood, but it started to be seen at the age of 13-14 depending on the development, Çelen said, “Experiencing in childhood and adolescence; Anxiety disorders, depression, social media influence, psychological and physical violence, sexual abuse, peer bullying, losses and parental pressures are among the main causes of eating disorders. For this reason, it is very important to intervene early, taking into account all risk factors.
“The rate of eating disorders in Turkey is 3 percent”
Selin Çelen, who stated that according to the researches, the prevalence of eating disorders in our country is 3 percent, said that this rate is 2.33 percent in adolescents and 4.03 percent in adolescent girls. Selin Çelen emphasized that this rate varies between 0.1-4 percent for Anorexia Nervosa and between 18-20 percent for Bulimia Nervosa in a study conducted on university student girls, and underlined that the rate of anxiety disorder is also over 60 percent in people with eating disorders.
“Increased in the pandemic”
Çelen said, “According to ANAD, an association based in Chicago that fights with eating disorders, approximately 10 in 1 people worldwide are affected by this disease, and at least 9 percent of the world's population has an eating disorder. However, during the pandemic period, the incidence of eating disorders has increased in the community, although it is not clinically seen in the world and in Turkey. According to the research findings of ANAD Association on children and adolescents; 1 percent of girls in grades 3-42 want to lose weight, 10 percent of 81-year-olds are afraid of being fat, 35-57 percent of adolescent girls fast diet, fast, throw up on their own, and use diet pills or laxatives . Eating disorders are the diagnostic group with the highest risk of death. Especially in the Anorexia Nervosa group, the risk of death is around 10 percent in developed countries.” said.
“The most important point is to approach sensitively and carefully”
Selin Çelen stated that if there is an individual who is suspected of having an eating disorder in our environment, it is very important to approach these people very sensitively and said, “Because these individuals can be triggered quickly in the face of any positive or negative comments from their environment. 'You look very beautiful', 'You are not overweight', 'Did you gain weight?' or 'Did you lose weight?' Even if comments like these are positive or negative, they can create an effect that can activate the person's eating habits. Instead of such questions, it is much more important and valuable to empathize, ask and meet their feelings, learn about their needs, embrace them with compassion, act motivationally, make them feel safe and not alone.
“Detection is more important before treatment”
Çelen underlined that for the treatment of eating disorder, it is very important to first determine the root causes.
Increased food consumption, loss of control while eating, starvation, restrictive diet followed by binge eating cycle, vomiting after overeating, rapid weight loss, excessive physical activity, secret eating, calorie counting, menstrual irregularity or menstruation Selin Çelen said:
“After the determination of these reasons, the relationship between the causes and consequences of dissatisfaction with the body appearance of the person is examined in detail and studies are carried out. During the review mostly; we work with the beliefs of self-confidence, perfectionism, failure, inadequacy, being disliked and disliked. In addition to these, a number of behavioral intervention methods are applied to repair the relationship established with eating. Various methods are used such as awareness and monitoring of hunger and satiety signals, making peace with prohibited foods, transition from restrictive diet cycles to sustainable nutrition, discovery of past dietary experiences, alternative behavioral actions, creating new coping methods, and providing emotion regulation. Among the therapy schools used in the treatment of eating disorders; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dynamic Therapy, EMDR Therapy, Mindfulnes, Schema Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy are coming”
“There are also physical effects”
Stating that eating disorder has physiological effects as well as psychological effects, Çelen listed some of these disorders as follows:
“Cardiovascular problems, growth-development retardation in cases starting at an early age, decrease in bone mass, stomach irritation and bleeding, tooth enamel erosion and tooth decay, low potassium value, tendency to sleep, heart rhythm disorders, fatty liver, dry skin, increased hairiness, constipation , low body temperature, hair loss, inability to menstruate in women.”
“The individual who cannot cope with his emotions is trying to tolerate it with eating”
Underlining that eating disorder cannot be called emotional hunger alone, Clinical Psychologist Selin Çelen said, “People with emotional eating disorder may consume more food than normal when they feel any emotion. This eating behavior, which usually occurs with negative emotions, is actually used as a coping method. An individual who feels negative emotions such as failure, inadequacy, feeling under pressure, and anger engages in eating behavior and then mostly feels regret. However, in addition to negative emotions, eating behavior is observed after positive emotions.” he said.
Çelen stated that the reason for the eating behavior that comes with a positive feeling is that the person wants to reward himself and continued his words as follows:
“Emotional hunger is common in the field of emotional eating. However, on the basis of every eating behavior, the person is actually; Eating acts in many emotions such as hunger, satiety, sadness, grief, distress, anger, regret, and happiness. Since the individual cannot tolerate and cope with the emotion he is experiencing, he tries to manage and relax this feeling with the act of eating. Therefore, we can use the term emotional hunger at this point. However, using the act of eating with emotional hunger and the method of coping with the emotion or event experienced in this context is not a functional solution. At this point, it would be a better solution to find more useful and healthy coping methods.”