"What is eating you?"
"Body Image" is a mental representation of one's own body. However, your body is not you. Your mind is not you, nor is the "self-image" mental representation you. Nonetheless, this image-making has conditions to be met that your persona attempts to live by, judges you by.
Perhaps self- judgement is what is eating you. Perhaps comparing yourself with others is what is disempowering you. This is a form of Comparative Disempowerment. Comparative disempowerment generates dis-ease and disorder.
Your physical body is a tool of integration for all the bodies. Eating disorders can bring to light the need to gain clarity, balance, and harmony within the mental, emotional, energetic, and physical bodies. The psychology of denial manifests as the physical sacrifice of nurturance and nourishment of one's own nature.
You cannot be eaten, but your mind can, and your body can. You as an individual life force of innate intelligence join and bond with universal living energies, and those energies continuously join and bond with you. This dynamic interaction is infinitely and mutually beneficial to your natural essence. However, this reciprocity of living energies cannot happen when you are identifying with your "self-image."
To heal, one must attend to multiple levels of consciousness while integrating, understanding, and joining the flowing energies of life, and let go of image making. Joining and bonding with living energies can be sensed, felt, and appreciated only by the individual, not the persona, not the image-maker, nor the image. To maintain healing one must stay in their authentic individual nature.
One’s self-image needs to be appreciated, not believed. Empathize with this self, do not empower it. Un-conditionalize it, do not let it conditionalize you. The self-image, the body image, and the mind's image of itself contribute to empowering the core belief systems and syndromes of the eating disorders. These beliefs and syndromes are not you!
In summary, the skewed view that the ego-self (Ahamkara) has of the body (Anna Maya Kosha) is a mental/emotional judgement of a body-self by the ego, a vicious cycle of self/ body judgement, condemnation, and distress. This syndrome affects people of all ethnicities, cultures, genders, and ages across the globe.
From a mental health perspective, this invalid self-perception and self-judgement is the distressed traumatic energy which drives the disordering and disdain for one's own life force energies, your vitality. Thus, disorders are constructs of the belief systems of the mind that lack the integrity of individual innate intelligence. You can choose to adhere to your self-image, or you can choose to cohere to your true nature. (See The Doshas)
According to ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders), about 30 million Americans suffer from some sort of eating disorder. Eating disorders hold a record for having the highest mortality rate when compared to other mental illnesses; someone dies of an eating disorder every 62 minutes.
Types of Eating Disorders
There are copious numbers of eating disorders and, unfortunately, the statistics mentioned above do not begin to scratch the surface. Here are a few examples of eating disorders:
Anorexia Nervosa: People reduce the amount of energy intake required for their weight, age, gender, development, and physical health.
Bulimia Nervosa: Individuals consume large amounts of food, and then induce themselves to vomit to stop weight gain.
Binge Eating Disorder (BED): Eating large amounts of food in small periods of time.
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): Children are not just finicky when it comes to this disorder, but they become malnourished because they restrict themselves from eating certain foods.
Diabulimia: People with Type 1 diabetes purposely underuse insulin to control their weight.
Treatment Methods
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) focuses on behaviors, thoughts and beliefs, and DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) adds focus to include emotions and feelings. Both aim to remove the psychological motives for the continuation of these disorders. Somatic Experiencing focuses on healing the post traumatic stress which may be the cause of these psychological components.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Somatic Experiencing can be effective with people who have experienced a traumatic past event which initiated unhealthy coping mechanisms, negative imaging, and destructive memories.
Family counselling, communication, and conflict resolution focuses upon the structural and strategic aspects of personal empowerment within social structures, and addresses the need for social approval.
Ayurvedic remedies such as Doshic Balancing, Meditation, and Yoga can assist to achieve clarity, balance, harmony, and acceptance of one's own nature.
When treating mental disorders and illnesses, patient care ideally includes a diverse team of experts. It is recommended that professional caretakers include some of the following:
+ Ayurvedic Practitioner
+ Nutritionist
+ Primary care physician
+ Clinical Social Worker
+ Psychiatrist
+ Psychologist
+ Family Counselor
+ Medical Practitioner
Due to the severe toll that eating disorders may have on an individual’s physical health, psychological therapy is not enough. It is also important to incorporate family therapy and support groups if possible. Family-Based Treatment, according to NEDA, is a method used for patients who are minors.
In severe cases, inpatient care may be necessary; the person suffering from the eating disorder may be hospitalized or placed in residential care.
If you or someone you care about is suffering from an eating disorder, call the helpline now at 1-800-931-2237. An eating disorder is a serious medical and health concern that should be addressed as soon as possible.
Contact me for assistance in establishing a portal of self healing.