Nowadays, two of the most widespread mental illness affecting people particularly the young ones are eating disorder problems and alcohol addiction. These may be products of the severe alteration 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 pessimistic mind set towards one’s physical appearance. People with eating disorders are not |necessarily fat. Usually for anorexics, the patients are thin and pale. Anorexics are inclined 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 have anorexia intentionally miss out meals and almost eat nothing. They feel guilty when they eat. Even worse, just the mere action of thinking about food makes them faulty. 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 insight of their body weight is distorted.
Various factors could contribute to the occurrence of eating disorders. One leading factor would be the powerful 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. It cannot be denied that people watch T.V. more than they do their household chores. It may be an overstatement but the point is people watch television almost everyday. Thus, what media shows, psychologically, records into their mind set and later on influences their behaviors. Moreover, peer pressure is also one likely 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 route 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 contribute to the occurrence of an eating disorder. People, when faced with a very stressful episode which they feel they could no longer face, usually resort to doing unhealthy behaviors. Traumatic experiences such as being physically abused could greatly lower one’s self-esteem. Lower self-esteem in turn makes the person to feel negatively towards the self- a very likely candidate for anorexia or bulimia.
Another resort for traumatic experiences is excessive and unhealthy alcohol intake. 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 similar to other sedative-hypnotic drugs such as the barbiturates and benzodiazepine tranquilizers. They say alcoholism is genetic but this may not be the only cause. 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 involve breaking a sort of habit. For anorexics and bulimics, the fascination for weight loss and negative self regard should be abolished. As for alcoholics, the habit of too much drinking should be stopped. How are these dealt with? Usually, treatment and rehabilitation centers provide medical and psychological treatment. Withdrawal symptoms are taken care of by providing substitute drugs that would decrease the symptoms. Cognitive and behavioral therapies are also given for a full recovery. The patient should not only be able to stop the behavior but also should be able to stop the unhelpful thoughts and the distorted mind constructs. Here, the patient is given a opportunity to start a new life free from addiction and very low self-esteem.
Eating disorder and alcohol addiction are the two most common illness being faced by our society today especially the younger ones.
