Being overweight is considered a 21st century problem. Both men and women suffer from excess extra pounds. Increasingly, obesity is diagnosed in children, which was a relative rarity 30 years ago. The reasons are most often looked for in nutrition and low mobility, but there are much more prerequisites for fat deposition.
In this material, we will tell you what psychosomatic causes can lead to excess weight, and even obesity.
General information about the problem
The fact that the number of overweight people and children with obesity is growing rapidly is not only said by the lazy. The Ministry of Health, Rospotrebnadzor, nutritionists and food manufacturers are looking for reasons for the rapid growth of fat adults and children, as well as ways to cope with this situation.
Psychotherapists also do not stand aside, who argue that very often people create extra pounds for themselves on their own.
Before we know how they do it, we need to clearly understand the difference between obesity and being overweight. If the body mass index is equal to a value from 25 to 30, then they talk about being overweight, but if it is more than 30, we need to talk about obesity.
Extra pounds never pass without a trace, a person cannot but feel some discomfort associated with them. Excessive volumes appear on the body, chin, belly and butt, and these folds do not instill confidence in oneself, a person cannot, by an effort of will, draw in the belly. During physical exertion, “cold” areas appear on the body, which is warmed up and overheated, to which intensive blood flow does not reach - these are areas on the abdomen, on the sides and buttocks, sometimes on the thighs.
It's believed that overweight is mainly due to improper and unbalanced nutrition... Possible risk factors also called genetic predisposition (mom, dad had extra pounds), sometimes it acts as a starting mechanism violation of lipid metabolism, provoked by hormonal disorders.
If excess weight is considered a pathological condition, then obesity is a disease, and it is assigned a separate number in the International Classification of Diseases. With it, fat is deposited not only under the skin, but also in human tissues and organs. Obesity can be life threatening.
An obese patient tends to snore at night and often suffers from high blood pressure. Such people often have painful and aching sensations in the back and knees (due to the high load). Weight tends to increase, a person suffers from shortness of breath, palpitations, and has problems with motor activity. Weight in this case affects both sex life and self-esteem. Often, the feeling of hunger follows a person almost constantly.
Predisposing factors are also called heredity, metabolic disorders, diseases of the endocrine glands, stomach and intestines, bulimia. Women are twice as likely to be obese than the stronger sex.
Psychosomatic causes
If a person eats only fast food, then the reasons for his excess weight are approximately understandable. But often everything goes wrong: the child is fed healthy food, the adult does not eat harmful hamburgers, he tries to replace pasta with vegetable stew, and the kilograms are rapidly growing. Then he goes on a strict diet, limits himself literally in everything, performs daily athletic feats in the gym, but the weight stands still. If there is a decrease, then after it there is an increase again. In this case, you need to look for the reason not so much in the diet or mobility, but in the human psyche.
Psychosomatics - a science at the intersection of medicine and psychology - studies obesity from the point of view of the dependence of a set of kilograms on a person's mental state.
There are people who neglect all the rules of a healthy diet, eat cake at night, do not disdain food from fast food restaurants, do not move much, but at the same time maintain their figure. You can say that the matter is in a special metabolism in such people, but in fact the reason lies in the way of thinking, the emotional model that they use.
The bodily shell is just a shell for everything that is inside (meaning the soul, consciousness, subconsciousness). Therefore, the change in the shell cannot take place separately from the changes in the mental component, that is, the inner content.
Often, obese people need the support of psychotherapists, it was these specialists who analyzed personality traits, situations, characters of those who gained too many extra pounds, and came to the conclusion that the following categories of people are always more prone to obesity than others:
- constantly racing for weight, but not for one that is measured in grams and kilograms, but for social weight - they crave power, recognition, glory, approval from others;
- overly sensitivevery insecure, afraid of uncertainty, the future, suffering from low self-esteem;
- touchy;
- suffering from the desire to accumulate everything and more, such Plyushkins, who find it very difficult to part with money, material values (the more rapidly their fortune grows, the faster their own weight arrives);
- feeling defenseless.
Psychologists have come to the conclusion that body weight increases with accentuation in one of the listed areas. But even if a person says that he has recovered due to excesses in food, it is worth considering - why, that he was so actively seizing?
Food in psychosomatics is considered a symbol of life - a person eats to get energy for the body. But for some, food becomes the equivalent of joy - they try to pamper themselves, please with delicacies, sweets, meat delicacy. If there is little joy in life, a person begins to make up for its deficit in other ways, and food is the most accessible.
Excess weight, therefore, always signals that problems have arisen in the sensitive, sensual sphere of a person's life. He either lives with a spiritual emptiness, or does not have a passion and desire to move forward towards the goal, or he lives by resentment, or tries to be in the center of attention, but otherwise he cannot achieve this. Often insecure people, worried about the future, feeling defenseless, "build up" extra pounds for additional protection of the body in conditions that are subconsciously regarded as disturbing.
Female obesity has a distinctive feature - often it is associated with rejection of something in their own appearance or a complete dislike of their appearance.
According to the observations of psychologists, this often occurs in combination with increased responsibilities - the lady in fact takes on more responsibility than necessary, begins to resolve issues for the man, does not count on his help. She wants to feel strong, and strength in humans is often associated with large size. So the subcutaneous fatty tissue is growing in a strong woman.
Childhood obesity
Children begin to gain weight in order to attract the attention of adults, if it is not enough. Babies have the same needs for love, recognition, attention. If all this is in short supply in the family, if the mother prefers to compensate the child for the love and joy of communication with the purchase of chocolate or sweets, then, moreover, the baby quickly learns to "replace" the joy and love. In addition to extra pounds, he is threatened with diabetes mellitus, problems with the pancreas.
Children who are humiliated and "crushed" by authority are often rapidly fattened by adults, whose opinion is not considered... They want to become bigger, to grow in order to also be considered full-fledged participants in life, their body instantly reacts to such desires and begins to build up what can grow the fastest, namely adipose tissue.
Children who don't eat well are not uncommon. But they are the ones who are at risk of becoming obese babies.because mothers sometimes go for blackmail (if you eat, we draw, if you don't eat, you won't get something). For a child, all this is associated with manifestations of love, and he actually accepts information like this: if I don't eat, they won't love me. He begins to eat, and at the same time, the establishment of a clear relationship between food and love is formed.
If the root cause cannot be noticed, it will remain unchanged, then an adult with obesity and a bunch of concomitant diseases grows out of a chubby child. Very often children with psychogenic obesity have problems with the work of the endocrine system.
Researchers' opinion
Louise Hay wrote that being overweight and obese is a need for protection, depression of feelings. She believed that excess weight on certain parts of the body also has an important diagnostic value:
- arms - disappointment or anger due to failed or rejected love;
- fat folds in the abdomen - lack of emotional care, important feelings for a person;
- upper thigh - resentment and anger towards parents;
- lower thigh - resentment against the father.
Canadian researcher Liz Burbo writes in her books that obesity is based on a long-standing childhood experience of humiliation... Defending against a possible repetition of a humiliating traumatic situation, a person, in fact, builds up an additional protective layer for himself. And Liz also points out the possibility of obesity in people who do not respect their own needs at all, trying to please other people in everything. They are kind people (perhaps, this is where the saying that “there should be a lot of good people”).
Psychotherapist and homeopath Valery Sinelnikov claims that the cause of obesity is fear... A person absolutely dislikes, hates, scolds himself, sometimes even tries to deny himself, he is afraid to look at himself, the real, the body is forced to defend itself from destructive emotions - it creates a fatty "shell".
How to lose weight?
Weight loss in psychosomatics requires an integrated approach. Sure, it is important to exclude overeating, monitor the diet, follow certain requirements formulated by nutritionists, but it is equally important to put in order not only your stomach, but also your psyche... Losing weight without psychological correction will be impossible or unstable - a person will very quickly return the lost kilograms, and the weight gain will exceed the values, which led to the decision to grow thin.
First of all, you need to understand that no pill, miracle tea, or appetite remedies exist in nature. None of the above will help you lose extra pounds if you just swallow pills, without changing anything in your worldview.
A person does not need diet pills, does not need expensive ointments and creams to get rid of excess fat, everything that is needed to lose excess weight, he has - it is inside him.
You should find the true cause of weight gain and eliminate it. If the matter is in the thirst for fame and social influence, you need to change the goals, the vector of your movement, to abandon the claims to world fame. If you are really genius, recognition will come by itself, there is no need to chase after it.
If the reason is hoarding - learn to share easily, give to others... It's not only about money, but also about emotions - start sharing your experiences and feelings, your love, joy with others.
The reason is defenselessness - reconsider your attitude to the world, he is not at all hostile. All dangers are only in your head.
Those who are dissatisfied with themselves need to love themselves... Do not indulge yourself by buying another cake or ice cream, but accept yourself as anyone, with cellulite and a saggy tummy. Then, in response to love, the body will begin to take on normal forms.
Techniques that child psychologists can offer will help to treat obesity in children - these are role-playing, play techniques, during which the child must get the correct idea of the feelings. He should not feel a lack of love and attention - parents should pay more attention to the baby's problems.
But in no case should you compensate for his love with chocolate, ice cream or other delicacies.
