You have a hard time seeing shades of gray, at least when it comes to yourself. Emotional reasoning. You believe if you feel a certain way, it must be true. Musts, must-nots, and have-tos. You call yourself names based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings. You jump to the worst-case scenario. Once you identify the destructive thoughts patterns that you default to, you can start to challenge them with questions such as:.
As you cross-examine your negative thoughts, you may be surprised at how quickly they crumble. If you suspect that your friend or family member has bulimia, talk to the person about your concerns. Either way, bulimia should never be ignored. Offer compassion and support. Keep in mind that the person may get defensive or angry. But if he or she does open up, listen without judgment and make sure the person knows you care. Avoid insults, scare tactics, guilt trips, and patronizing comments.
Since bulimia is often caused and exacerbated by stress, low self-esteem, and shame, negativity will only make it worse. Set a good example for healthy eating, exercising, and body image.
Accept your limits. The person with bulimia must make the decision to move forward. Take care of yourself. Know when to seek advice for yourself from a counselor or health professional. Dealing with an eating disorder is stressful, and it will help if you have your own support system in place. Authors: Melinda Smith, M. This holiday season alone, millions of people will turn to HelpGuide for free mental health guidance and support. So many people rely on us in their most difficult moments.
Can we rely on you? All gifts made before December 31 will be doubled. Cookie Policy. Explore the warning signs, symptoms, and treatment options. This blog is part of a series that examines traits specific to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder that can be helpful in overcoming these diseases and living a happier, healthier, life.
Some of the traits helpful in achieving eating disorder recovery are similar no matter the subtype. However, it is important to remember that bulimia is its own, unique, disorder and, with that, come unique traits that can be honed to foster recovery such as self-control and novelty seeking. Self-control may be confusing because the first blog in this series discussed the need for those with anorexia to loosen their need for control.
This represents one of the most significant differences between anorexia and bulimia. Individuals with anorexia are found to have a high need for self-control and low impulsivity, whereas those with bulimia show higher levels of impulsivity and have a tendency to act when faced with negative emotions rashly [1].
This increased tendency to engage in irresponsible and impulsive behaviors often are what lead the person to binge and purge. Learning to fight this need for drastic and impulsive actions can help someone with bulimia gain a stronger sense of control which they need. Bulimia sufferers needing the self-control to overcome their eating disorder may be helped by completing an ABC Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence Chart.
When the person engages in bulimic symptoms such as binging or purging, they may use this chart to slow down and track what happened.
What precipitated the behavior, what did the person do, and what happened afterward? This can help individuals better understand their triggers, putting them one step ahead of the disorder so that they can control their reaction.
This trait is associated with those continually seeking new and exciting activities in order to feel the surge of dopamine and adrenaline that is released by doing so [2]. Researchers theorize, via the psychobiological theory, that this increase in novelty-seeking behaviors occurs because individuals with bulimia have higher sensitivity to reward [3].
Intuitive Eating can help you get back in touch with those signals so you can make peace with food. Instead of telling you what to eat, or how much to eat, Intuitive Eating is all about helping you trust yourself with food again and getting the nutrition your body needs!.
For someone in recovery from bulimia, it can be helpful to work closely with your treatment team as you explore Intuitive Eating. In the early stages, food plans and guidelines developed with your team can help you find your footing as you reconnect with hunger and fullness signals. So, conversely, managing anxiety is an essential piece of how to recover from bulimia. Work with your team to address your anxiety. Talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy CBT , and dialectical behavior therapy DBT can all be effective treatments for anxiety.
Medication is also an option to treat anxiety. Not all techniques work for all people, so it may take some trial-and-error to find what works for you.
Distraction can be a powerful weapon in combating anxiety. Find ways to self-soothe so you can get past a moment of anxiety. For some people, a repetitive task like knitting or coloring in an adult coloring book can be soothing and distracting enough that momentary anxiety melts away.
And some people may need to physically take themselves out of an anxious moment or situation by going for a walk or hopping in their car for a drive with the radio on. Bulimia is destructive to your relationship with your body in so many ways. It can cause physical damage, such as esophageal and dental problems, but the damage goes well beyond that. Bulimia can turn you into a combatant against your body, waging a war against your own flesh.
And an essential piece of recovering is healing that relationship and reconnecting with your body as a friend, not a foe. It is the opposite of a weight-centric approach, advancing health as a spectrum, not an end-point or moral imperative. The bathroom scale is a centerpiece of daily life for many people with eating disorders.
The number on that scale can feel like the determining factor on a good day or a bad day.
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