The permarexia It is a psychological syndrome that affects mainly the female sex. It is a severe obsession with food and calories, which does not become part of an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia but can still cause all kinds of problems in people who suffer from it..
Individuals affected by permarexia are constantly concerned about not gaining weight. Because of this, they look at the nutritional value of everything they eat, and try to avoid high-calorie or unhealthy foods. This, which in itself does not have to be bad, is accompanied by great psychological discomfort.
Thus, people with this syndrome could carry out all kinds of changes in their lifestyle to avoid unhealthy food; or they could experience other related symptoms such as obsession with physical exercise, low self-esteem, or binge eating followed by periods of fasting to try to control weight.
Permarexia is not recognized as a disease within diagnostic manuals, but falls within the category of "unspecified eating disorders." Still, its effects are very real and can cause great discomfort to people who suffer from it..
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The clearest symptom of permarexia is a constant concern about the calories in all the foods that are eaten. People with this syndrome will try to avoid anything that could make them fat, even if they have to stop eating something that they like or that is healthy for them to do so..
Thus, for example, it is common for these individuals to try to avoid fat, despite the fact that this macronutrient is essential to maintain good health..
It is also common for them to completely abandon sweets and even protein, limiting themselves in the most extreme cases to eating fruits and vegetables.
The obsession with calories has its origin in the discomfort that the person feels with their own body image. Often these individuals look overweight or fearful of developing this problem. In addition, the fear of not having a good figure appears regardless of whether you are really fit or not..
Due to this, many times people with permarexia not only count the calories of everything they eat, but they will skip meals and become obsessed with physical exercise.
Being concerned about your own body image doesn't have to be bad in principle; But in the case of permarexia, the affected person has recurring thoughts on the subject even when he is immersed in other tasks. As with other disorders, your mind keeps sending you thoughts about your weight or food.
These thoughts often interfere with the daily life of those affected; and normally, they generate great discomfort. Therefore, people with permarexia will try to avoid any situation that reminds them of food or their own body image..
Discontent with one's own body image, recurring unpleasant thoughts, and avoidance of certain situations cause most people with permarexia to feel very bad about themselves..
Among other irrational beliefs, these individuals may think that they are not valid if they do not get a good physique; or that they are not worthy of being appreciated by other people until they are really fit. This also interferes with their social relationships and causes problems with the people around them..
There's a pretty fine line between worrying about your own health and being insanely obsessed with it. For this reason, people with permarexia usually try to justify their discomfort and their actions by stating that they only care about their well-being, and that there is nothing wrong with it..
In fact, these individuals often have a fairly extensive knowledge of nutrition and exercise, which they use as an excuse not to deal with their problem..
It is important to remember that the sign that there is some type of psychological problem is that the appearance of discomfort, and the interference of symptoms with the development of a normal life.
If diet and exercise are deteriorating the person's health or negatively affecting other areas of their life, it is likely that there is some underlying disorder.
Both in Western societies and in less developed countries, there is great social pressure that leads people to want to have a good body.
Obesity is viewed as extremely negative; And although there are compelling reasons for this, being constantly bombarded by this message can be very damaging..
Thus, it is true that being overweight or obese is very harmful to health; But obsessing over your body image and being chronically dissatisfied with your body is also dangerous. Many experts believe that the media is at the base of most eating disorders.
If we add to this the rise of social networks (in which the physical is especially valued) and the difficulty of finding a partner if a specific canon of beauty is not met, it is not surprising that more and more people feel dissatisfied with their body and become obsessed with calories and losing weight.
According to many psychologists, permarexia, like other eating disorders, always hides some kind of deeper psychological problem.
People who suffer from this syndrome believe that they will not be accepted by others or that they will not be valid until they have a certain appearance.
This may have been caused due to some traumatic event in the past, or to rejection by other people because of physical appearance.
For example, a person who has had bullying As a child, due to being overweight, she will be more likely to develop permarexia than someone who has not suffered from this situation.
Today, there are all kinds of diets and theories about food that contradict each other. Some are supported by a lot of scientific evidence, while others have little academic support; but nevertheless, it is very difficult to know which of them are right and which are wrong.
The problem is that many diets, despite providing more or less rapid results, are based on false beliefs about food and the body.
For example, many theories propose avoiding fat altogether to lose weight. However, we currently know that this is extremely harmful to the body..
People with permarexia are often obsessed with a particular diet, believing that eating style is the only one that will allow them to achieve the body they want..
Therefore, what began as a simple interest in nutrition can end up becoming a true obsession, which would be at the base of this syndrome..
Not all people are equally likely to develop permarexia. Next we will see which factors have the greatest influence on the possibility of ending up suffering from this syndrome.
As with many other eating disorders, the majority of people with permarexia are women.
One of the most widespread explanations for this is that this group suffers greater social pressure to stay within beauty standards; however, this is most likely not the only cause.
Although this syndrome in itself can cause a lack of self-confidence in people who suffer from it, having low self-esteem is also a risk factor when developing it.
Individuals who do not trust themselves are more susceptible to trying to achieve a certain body type and becoming obsessed with this goal.
For various reasons, some people are more likely to obsess over a topic of interest to them than others. This personality trait is extremely common in people with permarexia, as well as those with other similar eating disorders..
In the same way, neuroticism (the characteristic of people whose emotions are very volatile and powerful) also correlates with the appearance of this syndrome..
Individuals with neurotic personality tend to worry excessively, a fundamental factor for the appearance of permarexia.
When a person has had a body that they were not satisfied with for a long time and goes to work to change this situation, they are much more likely to end up obsessing over the subject.
Losing weight or getting in shape is not always easy; and unfortunately this healthy goal can be pushed too far.
Thus, in many cases permarexia is suffered by individuals who have learned a lot about food or diets and have become so obsessed with the subject that they end up developing all the symptoms mentioned above..
Although permarexia is not yet considered an official mental disorder, its effects are very real for the people who suffer from it. In this section we will see some of the most important.
Depending on the specific diet followed by the person with permarexia or their particular eating habits, their health may be seriously affected by this syndrome..
For example, if an individual is convinced that he cannot eat fat under any circumstances, he will lose essential nutrients that his body needs to be well. Therefore, your health will end up suffering, sometimes to very serious extremes..
Several of the symptoms of permarexia (such as low self-esteem, obsessions or loss of pleasure from daily activities) are closely related to much more serious psychological disorders.
Therefore, it is quite common for people with this syndrome to end up suffering from larger problems..
Some of the most common mental disorders among people with permarexia are depression, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety..
However, other less common ones may also appear, such as somatoform type, or even other more serious eating problems such as anorexia or bulimia..
Usually, individuals who suffer from this syndrome tend to avoid all those situations in which they may be tempted to eat any food that they do not consider appropriate..
Because of this, many times they will give up attending events or meeting their loved ones simply to take care of their weight.
This behavior, when repeated many times, can cause a great deterioration of the person's relationships. This is especially true in the case of countries where food is central to all kinds of social gatherings, as is the case in Spain and in many Latin American cultures..
The hardest part of treating permarexia is detecting that this disorder is occurring. Individuals who suffer from it are usually unaware that they have a problem; and loved ones often come across seemingly logical excuses for such unhealthy behavior.
Once it has been determined that a problem exists, the most common approach is to use psychological therapy such as cognitive-behavioral.
This set of techniques can help the person reduce their symptoms, regain self-confidence, and regain a normal relationship with food..
On some occasions, medication (such as anxiolytics or antidepressants) may also be used to reduce some of the more serious symptoms of the syndrome..
This will normally be carried out in conjunction with the psychological therapy mentioned above to achieve greater effectiveness..
Finally, in cases where the person's health is severely impaired, they may need to be hospitalized temporarily until their body has recovered from the lack of calories or nutrients caused by the illness..
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