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BED Help and Support with Nadine Ann :: Welcome! :: BED Support :: The BreakAway Program Module One Support
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A. Types of Binges
by Admin on Thu May 08, 2008 2:07 pm
We discuss certain types of binges in this topic in the program but I'd like to talk about an article from About.com that I found to be most interesting and beneficial. Although Matthew Tiemeyer uses girls as his example, boys are just as likely to fall into this category as girls. He makes some great comments about other factors that can trigger an episode of binging or starving etc. He makes a good point by saying that any trama can lead to an eating disorder. What I'd like to add is that I agree with that and also to say that it is our interpretation of the situation that can be a trigger. We might view a stressful situation as stressful until we learn to handle stress better, become assertive and learn to evaluate situations better. Also viewing the mind.body and spirirt as one unit can help make a person feel as though they are all on the same team and not fighting against each other as we do with our inner-wars.
Eating DisordersEating Disorder Triggers
Words (and Actions) Can Hurt
By Matthew Tiemeyer, About.com
Updated: February 5, 2007
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD
Eating disorders arise out of complex factors. Events that speed eating disorder development are commonly called triggers. Triggers are normally not enough to cause eating disorders by themselves: Often, a person is very vulnerable from other circumstances. The triggering event gives her clarity about how she will deal with the vulnerability (ANRED, 2005).
Verbal Eating Disorder Triggers
Words may seem innocent enough, but to an adolescent (or someone who simply doesn't like herself), they have great power.
Comments From Authority Figures
Imagine a successful gymnastics coach working with a twelve-year old girl. The coach has her respect; she hangs on every suggestion he makes. During a group workout, the coach makes a comment about how the size of the girl's legs makes it hard for her to compete in a certain exercise.
At twelve, the girl is concerned about how her body is developing compared to those of her peers. This comment says, "Your body isn't doing the right things...and you can't get my praise unless it does." Even if the coach is generally supportive, this vulnerable time gives his comments great force.
Or, consider a father who says he doesn't like the way his daughter looks, and that he'll give her ten dollars for every pound she loses. The daughter's thoughts may be angry. But anger may not be acceptable to the father, so it must go elsewhere. She may make a vow to herself: "He wants me to be thin? I'll show him thin."
The father will be pleased at first, but if his daughter loses too much weight, he will feel foolish--and angry. The daughter has communicated her anger without openly confronting her dad.
Teasing
Don't discount teasing from peers (ANRED, 2005). Adolescents are trying hard to figure out where they fit in the world, and they can take comments from anyone to heart. Looking different in any way is often not acceptable, and this is a time in which bodies are changing. Teasing only makes the teaser feel better for a short time, but it can affect the person she teased for a lifetime.
Sexual Abuse, a Powerful Trigger
Regardless of the time at which sexual abuse occurs, its effects are profound. A fourteen-year-old girl who was abused at age six will be more prone to view her body as bad because of the shame that arises from the abuse. When the body feels like a source of problems, it's natural to try to fix it, and radical eating behaviors affect the body quickly.
Not every person with an eating disorder has a history of sexual abuse, but abuse is common in the pasts of those with eating disorders (Carter et al., 2006). Sexual abuse affects parts of the body that are capable of generating pleasure. But the abuse is horrifying and dark. The result is an internal battle: "My body is able to do things that seem good, but the result is unbearable."
Bulimia nervosa (and anorexia nervosa, purging type) express this struggle in a unique way. Eating involves enjoyment. A binge, however, creates enjoyment while going numb (note that abuse victims are frequently numb to the abuse as it happens). Purging food later is a way to express rejection of enjoyment and remove the sense of self-disgust that comes with enjoying something.
Other Traumatic Eating Disorder Triggers
Anything that brings trauma can trigger an eating disorder if the person is vulnerable to it--a car accident, the death of a relative, the loss of a friend, or divorce. Even positive changes, like taking a new job or graduating from school, can be triggers (ANRED, 2005). An eating disorder is a way to take a big problem and focus it on a smaller scale. Often, the eating disorder itself then becomes a big and difficult problem.
Eating DisordersEating Disorder Triggers
Words (and Actions) Can Hurt
By Matthew Tiemeyer, About.com
Updated: February 5, 2007
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD
Eating disorders arise out of complex factors. Events that speed eating disorder development are commonly called triggers. Triggers are normally not enough to cause eating disorders by themselves: Often, a person is very vulnerable from other circumstances. The triggering event gives her clarity about how she will deal with the vulnerability (ANRED, 2005).
Verbal Eating Disorder Triggers
Words may seem innocent enough, but to an adolescent (or someone who simply doesn't like herself), they have great power.
Comments From Authority Figures
Imagine a successful gymnastics coach working with a twelve-year old girl. The coach has her respect; she hangs on every suggestion he makes. During a group workout, the coach makes a comment about how the size of the girl's legs makes it hard for her to compete in a certain exercise.
At twelve, the girl is concerned about how her body is developing compared to those of her peers. This comment says, "Your body isn't doing the right things...and you can't get my praise unless it does." Even if the coach is generally supportive, this vulnerable time gives his comments great force.
Or, consider a father who says he doesn't like the way his daughter looks, and that he'll give her ten dollars for every pound she loses. The daughter's thoughts may be angry. But anger may not be acceptable to the father, so it must go elsewhere. She may make a vow to herself: "He wants me to be thin? I'll show him thin."
The father will be pleased at first, but if his daughter loses too much weight, he will feel foolish--and angry. The daughter has communicated her anger without openly confronting her dad.
Teasing
Don't discount teasing from peers (ANRED, 2005). Adolescents are trying hard to figure out where they fit in the world, and they can take comments from anyone to heart. Looking different in any way is often not acceptable, and this is a time in which bodies are changing. Teasing only makes the teaser feel better for a short time, but it can affect the person she teased for a lifetime.
Sexual Abuse, a Powerful Trigger
Regardless of the time at which sexual abuse occurs, its effects are profound. A fourteen-year-old girl who was abused at age six will be more prone to view her body as bad because of the shame that arises from the abuse. When the body feels like a source of problems, it's natural to try to fix it, and radical eating behaviors affect the body quickly.
Not every person with an eating disorder has a history of sexual abuse, but abuse is common in the pasts of those with eating disorders (Carter et al., 2006). Sexual abuse affects parts of the body that are capable of generating pleasure. But the abuse is horrifying and dark. The result is an internal battle: "My body is able to do things that seem good, but the result is unbearable."
Bulimia nervosa (and anorexia nervosa, purging type) express this struggle in a unique way. Eating involves enjoyment. A binge, however, creates enjoyment while going numb (note that abuse victims are frequently numb to the abuse as it happens). Purging food later is a way to express rejection of enjoyment and remove the sense of self-disgust that comes with enjoying something.
Other Traumatic Eating Disorder Triggers
Anything that brings trauma can trigger an eating disorder if the person is vulnerable to it--a car accident, the death of a relative, the loss of a friend, or divorce. Even positive changes, like taking a new job or graduating from school, can be triggers (ANRED, 2005). An eating disorder is a way to take a big problem and focus it on a smaller scale. Often, the eating disorder itself then becomes a big and difficult problem.
