Nowadays, two of the most widespread mental illness affecting people particularly the young ones are eating disorder problems and alcohol addiction. These may be outcomes of the drastic change of lifestyle among the people nowadays or the influence of media. Also, traumas from the long-ago could greatly contribute in the occurrence of these mental illnesses. As a basic unit of our society, our families can give the greatest impact on both the occurrence and the possible treatment of these problems.
Eating disorders are not merely a dysfunction in its eating habits and food intake but it is more of a distorted self-image. This comprises a negative mind set towards one’s physical form. People with eating disorders are not |essentially fat. Usually for anorexics, the patients are skinny and pale. Anorexics are likely to think that they are very plump that they should exercise more and eat lesser, even though in reality they tend to be very thin to the point of becoming malnourished. People who are anorexic intentionally miss out meals and almost eat nothing. They feel at fault when they eat. Even worse, just the mere action of thinking about food makes them guilty. They become obsessed of eating less or nothing. On the contrary, another eating disorder called bulimia entails binge eating. Habitual binge eating and forceful vomiting characterize bulimia. Usually, bulimic are not skinny rather, that could be normal in weight only their view of their body weight is distorted.
Various factors could contribute to the occurrence of eating disorders. One leading factor would be the potent influence of media. Media dictates the standards of society. Media materials make a picture of a beautiful woman through a skinny model and a hot and handsome guy through a male model with full abs and biceps. Undeniably, people watch T.V. more than they do their household chores. It may be an exaggeration but the point is people watch television almost everyday. Thus, what media shows, psychologically, records into their mind set and later on affects their behaviors. Moreover, peer pressure is also one possible cause of eating disorders, most especially among teenagers. We all always have the need to belong. It is during this stage that young boys and girls are still in the course of knowing their selves and trying to find their place in society. And the people that surround them matters so much that most likely, they end up giving efforts to be accepted. Lastly, traumatic experiences during the past may add to the occurrence of an eating disorder. People, when faced with a very stressful occasion which they feel they could no longer face, usually choose to doing unhealthy behaviors. Traumatic experiences such as being physically abused could greatly slow down one’s self-esteem. Lower self-esteem in turn allows the person to feel negatively towards the self- a very likely candidate for anorexia or bulimia.
Alcohol intake can also give anyone trauma for taking in excessively. With alcohol addiction, a glass of wine a week becomes a glass of wine a day or worse. Alcohol is a sedative-hypnotic drug that acts on the human brain akin to other sedative-hypnotic drugs such as the barbiturates and benzodiazepine tranquilizers. Alcoholism can be blame on one’s heredity but there can be more reasons. Other factors such as the influence of family, friends, and traumatic experiences could add to alcoholism.
Treating both eating disorders and alcoholism is not as easy as treating someone with cough or colds. These disorders entail breaking a sort of habit. For anorexics and bulimics, the fixation for weight loss and negative self regard should be abolished. As for alcoholics, the habit of too much drinking should be ended. How are these dealt with? Usually, treatment and rehabilitation centers give medical and psychological treatment. Withdrawal symptoms are taken care of by providing substitute drugs that would lessen the symptoms. Cognitive and behavioral therapies are also provided for a full recovery. The patient should not only be able to discontinue the behavior but also should be able to stop the unhelpful thoughts and the distorted mind constructs. Here, the patient is given a possibility to start a new life free from addiction and very low self-esteem.
Eating disorder treatment requires discipline which also needs in treating alcohol addiction.
