PREVI - psychology and virtual reality

What is Bulimia Nervosa?

In Bulimia Nervosa, the principle and most noticeable characteristic is the presence of episodes of binge eating and of purgative behavior (generally vomiting), which occurs repeatedly.

A binge eating is characterized by the ingestion of a large quantity of food and the person feels that he/she has lost control over what he/she is eating (he/she cannot stop eating until he/she is full or there is no more food).

States of negative moods, stressing situations and intense hunger tend to bring about the gorging episodes.

After a binge-eating episode a sense of great dissatisfaction with ones own body is produced, and the person feels shame, guilt, scorn and disgust towards themselves. One way of alleviating this negative emotional state is to do things that will compensate for the session of gorging, so they vomit, use laxatives, diuretics or do physical exercise. Their objective is, on the one hand, to "throw off" or "burn" the calories that they have ingested, in order to avoid what they fear so much: to put on weight and, on the other hand, feel better about themselves. In spite of the fact that after each episode they promise themselves they will never do it again, this habit becomes automatic, and these persons enter into a vicious circle of gorging-vomiting-gorging which at the same time makes them depressed, nervous, and feel that they have no control over their life.

With bulimia, personal worth and self-esteem are very much influenced by the body and its weight. Before the onset of the Bulimia, many of these persons felt very unsatisfied with their bodies; they "see and feel fat" (a consequence of the alteration of the Body Image), so they begin to avoid certain foods, miss meals, and follow restrictive diets in order to lose weight. The onset of gorging episodes normally comes later, and it is normal that the foods they ingest during these sessions is precisely what they prohibited themselves from eating on their diets.

You may be reading these lines because you identify yourself with the description of this problem. The following questions track the presence of some of the typical aspects of Bulimia Nervosa, taking into account that this does not in any way substitute the process of assessment carried out to establish a clinical diagnosis, but rather represents a first approach to and a preliminary exploration of the problem.

If in addition the people around you mention to you that your personality has changed, that you are more irritable with others, it is possible that you have problems that could develop into an Eating Disorder such as Bulimia. But remember: this is only an approximation to the process of evaluation that is necessary before initiating any treatment. If you think you might have this problem, consult a health care professional so that you can decide if you wish to receive treatment.

1.- In some occasions, when you are going to eat a specific food do you loose control in front of food to the point that you cannot stop the intake ending up eating more than you had planned to eat?

YES NO

2.- After having eaten certain food that is "forbidden" for you, do you need to compensate and eliminate this food by vomiting, using laxatives, diuretics or exercising?

YES NO

3.- When you eat more than you had planned, do you feel guilty, upset, depressed, etc.?

YES NO

4.- Does in some occasions your state of mind such as boredom, sadness, nervousness, loneliness make you eat, make you loose control in front of food? .

YES NO

5.- Does it emotionally affect you a lot to gain weight (for example 1 kg.)?

YES NO

6.- Do you think about food the majority part of the day?.

YES NO

7.- Do you need to count the calories in the food that you eat?

YES NO

8.-¿Cuándo haces ejercicio, cuentas las calorías que estás quemando?.

YES NO

9.-¿Estas insatisfecha con tu cuerpo hasta el punto que evitas ir a determinados lugares, llevar determinadas ropas, o estar con ciertas personas por temor a mostrar tu cuerpo?

YES NO

In recent years important advances in the research into treatment of nutritional disorders has been carried out. In PREVI we work with those treatments that have been scientifically validated by the international community. For Bulimia Nervosa and for the Binge Eating Disorder, we are using the treatment which is considered to be the treatment of choice for these disorders: the cognitive behavioral treatment for bulimia nervosa. The main objectives of this treatment are:

Elimination of binge eating and of purgative behaviors.
Obtain an improvement and normalization of the general physiological state.
Normalization of behavioral adjustment problems and food-related problems.
Modification of problematic attitudes and beliefs related to food, the body and weight.
Treatment of alterations to Body Image
Counselling and support to the families all thought the process of treatment