Body Image Perception:

Have you ever felt that your body is not beautiful? Or do you constantly think about how your body looks ? Well most of the people are dissatisfied with their body image. The way you perceive your own body basically interacts with your brain towards your body image. By finding faults in our own body people tend to change their diet and develop certain bad eating habits. We see in our daily life that people who are energetic seem to have a positive approach for their life. As well as these people struggle with negativity regarding their own body image. Moreover the body image paradox is basically perceiving yourself with a positive self image and negative body image. Let’s dive into the understanding of different eating disorders and its impact on body image of the individuals.

Impact of Body Image on An Individual’s Mental Health:

Why do we feel that way? Well it’s because of certain environmental factors that we experience living in a society where everyone points at you. Males and Females both face negative comments from the society and some stood against these comments while some stayed quiet. For instance, a girl bought a new dress for her and wore it. Her family said you look too fat. Although she is happy, what she heard from her family makes her think bad about her body image. Our society sets so called standards of beautiful figures and everyone keeps struggling so that they can be accepted as a part of society. You must know that Allah Almighty created you beautiful and no one is like you. 

While keeping a good body people either eat too much or starve themselves and when they constantly do this they are diagnosed with eating disorders. Let’s discuss what eating disorders are and how they negatively impact our life.

 Understanding Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are defined as the mental condition when someone’s eating behaviors are constantly disturbed and because of that the daily functioning of the person becomes impaired. There are many eating disorders according to DSM 5 TR  and by understanding eating disorders you will be able to distinguish between various eating disorders. 

Pica Disorder:

Pica Disorder is a mental condition in which a person eats food that has no nutrition in it and as well as eating non nutritive food is not according to the developmental level of the person. For instance a young man eats mud. Do you think it’s nutritious for him?? Definitely not. Mud contains many little insects as well as microorganisms which cannot be seen through the naked eye and also the waste of animals. Do you think that dirty mud would provide him nutrition absolutely not that would make him sick for sure. When the person has eaten non nutritive food persistently for at least a period of 1 month then that person is diagnosed with pica disorder by certified psychologists.

Anorexia Nervosa:

The other disorder is Anorexia Nervosa which is basically a disorder in which the person has fear of gaining weight and due to that fear they starve themselves. When the person perceives themself as obese they stop the intake of food so that they can be slim and this behavior is not according to their age, sex and developmental level and it basically starts during adolescence or early adulthood.  Let’s dive into that with a short example. For instance a girl who just stepped into the modelling career after years of hard work would starve herself so much that she can have a perfect body figure that people want to see on social media and this is anorexia nervosa.

Bulimia Nervosa:

Another disorder mentioned in the DSM 5-TR is Bulimia Nervosa so what is basically bulimia nervosa? Bulimia Nervosa is the condition in which the person has recurring episodes of binge eating which basically means that the person eats too much according to their body and the binge eating is usually after some time like suppose after every 2 hours or after every 4 hours and when the person does binge eating they instantly regrets on their silliness and in order to get their body normal they purse purging behaviors or compensatory behaviors which includes vomiting, eating laxatives, diuretics, fasting or exercises. For instance a girl eats excessively then induces self vomiting so that she can be slim and smart.

Binge Eating Disorder:

There is another disorder which is Binge Eating Disorder.  Understanding this eating disorder is quite easy as in this the person eats excessive food. Individuals do this after every 2 to 3 hours and the time of binge eating varies. The binge eating disorder is associated with recurrent episodes of eating when they feel full but they still eat so much. They also prefer to eat alone so that they cannot become embarrassed in front of everyone. They eat until they feel uncomfortable after eating an excessive amount of food. Due to binge eating there is marked stress in the lives of these people. The episodes of binge eating occur once a week. After 3 months of recurring binge eating episodes the person is diagnosed with binge eating disorder, In binge eating disorder there are no purging behaviors and there are only recurring binge eating episodes.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder:

Well the last disorder is Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Let’s look at that disorder. Individuals significantly eat less food or stay on supplements in order to achieve or maintain their goal of specified weight. However doing that there weight is reduced as well as the body becomes deficiently malnourished. This eating disorder is different from other disorders and does not occur during other  eating disorders.

Well the above disorders are the eating disorders and each disorder has specifications. By understanding eating disorders and about your own body in an optimistic way is the right path to live happily.

‘You must understand that you are important you are beautiful and you have to prioritize your own mental health’

Don’t hesitate to seek professional help as it’s about yourself and don’t compare yourself with others just be happy and enjoy your life. You and your body are beautiful and perfect and you don’t need anyone else to compliment you. Compliment yourself and love yourself.