Diet culture harms us all. It’s hard to find a woman who has never tried to lose weight. Unfortunately, the constant pursuit of a slim figure and controlling the caloric content of meals can soon turn into an eating disorder. And what if a person with an eating disorder also suffers from alcohol addiction? Then we are talking about drunkorexia, also known as alcoholism, which in a short time can lead to serious, irreversible changes in the body. What does drunkorexia consist of? What are its most recognizable symptoms? How can it be treated? Below is the most important information about drunkorexia.
What is drunkorexia?
Drunkorexia (alkorexia) is a behemoth disorder that combines eating disorders and excessive alcohol consumption. It was first described in 2008. People affected by this disorder choose alcohol over food. With a set amount of calories to consume during the day, they forgo meals so they can drink alcohol while coping with their self-imposed dietary restrictions. Initially, those affected by this disorder give up only certain meals before they plan to drink alcohol. Then very often they stop eating at all before consuming alcohol, because this way they can drink much more and not risk gaining weight. Often, later on, the amount of alcohol consumed increases, thereby aggravating the eating disorder.
An additional motivator to avoid eating before drinking alcohol may be the desire to feel the effects of alcohol more intensely and economically. Individuals who choose alcohol over food enter a state of alcoholic intoxication more quickly and require a smaller dose of the substance to do so.
Alcohol bulimia. Alcohol problem
It is worth knowing that in addition to alcoholic anorexia, there is also alcoholic bulimia. People affected by this type of eating disorder strive to reduce their body weight, but their attempts to maintain their diets end in overeating seizures. These seizures can also occur in response to daily hardships, boredom or to relieve mental tension. Then, in order to prevent weight gain, people with this disorder provoke vomiting or use laxatives to get rid of ingested food. The same mechanism occurs in alcohol bulimia. Bulimics who choose alcohol over food often end up in overeating fits while under the influence of the substance, as alcohol promotes loss of control and increases appetite.
Who is most often affected by alcoholrexia?
Alkorexia was first observed among young female students who had recently entered university. Women, as a group more acutely affected by the cult of the perfect body, are significantly more likely to deny themselves food in order to go out partying with alcohol. In addition, the difficult time of change in the lives of young adults-moving out of home, changing cities, changing peer groups, clashing with independent living-favor the onset of eating disorders. Often, college is also a time when young women have more opportunities to consume alcohol, and if they were previously strict about their diet, it is possible to fall into a disorder bordering on anorexia and alcoholism.
However, it is not only young adults who are at risk of developing drunkorexia. In fact, the disorder can appear at any point in life. A noteworthy group that is also often affected by alkorexia are people whose appearance is one of the elements of their work, e.g. dancers, models, TV presenters, etc.
Drunkorexia – causes. Causes of alkorexia.
The causes of drunkorexia can be found in both personality predispositions, biological and cultural factors. Biological factors include a genetic predisposition to eating disorders and a tendency to addiction, including to alcohol.
The most common personality factors include:
- low self-esteem,
- perfectionism,
- negative self-image, fear of weight gain,
- social phobia, shyness
- fixation on body weight and perceiving one’s worth as a human being through its prism,
- inability to cope with stress,
- past traumas from childhood, for example,
Cultural factors, on the other hand, include the aforementioned changes regarding college, moving out of the home, reduced parental control, as well as pervasive trends regarding slim bodies or diets and an environment that normalizes heavy alcohol consumption and the desire to be part of a peer group.
Triggers for the onset of drunkorexia can even be prolonged exposure to advertisements promoting the drinking of alcohol by slim, healthy women, the promotion of low-calorie alcoholic beverages as a way to a beautiful figure and other phenomena resulting directly from the culture in which we live.
Drunkorexia – symptoms. The problem of alcohol abuse
The main symptoms of drunkorexia include fear of weight gain and choosing alcohol over food. Restricting caloric intake in this disorder can take a variety of forms:
- limiting the amount of food – smaller portions,
- skipping certain meals,
- choosing very low-calorie food, even when it does not provide essential nutrients.
Sufferers of this disorder have a shaky self-image, in order to reduce/maintain a low body weight they may go as far as behaviors such as using starvation, taking large amounts of laxatives or weight loss aids. A common symptom of the condition is obsessive calorie counting and rigid adherence to one’s own dietary rules, lacking flexibility in this regard.
At an advanced stage of the disorder, people with drunkorexia also show symptoms of alcohol dependence, such as nervousness, lack of control in drinking, increased tolerance to alcohol, taking alcohol in order not to experience abstinence syndrome.
Physical symptoms of the disorder can include malnutrition and all the elements associated with it, such as concentration problems, sleep problems, hair loss, skin problems, etc. Despite maintaining a (usually) normal BMI, people with drunkorexia have nowhere to get the nutrients they need to live, and quickly develop body-fluid symptoms in addition to the strict symptoms of the disorder.
Eating disorders can often change form, and people with a predisposition to eating disorders can suffer from several types of disorders during their lifetime.
Also, in the case of alcoholism, other problems with eating habits, such as eating anarchy, sometimes occur. This type of disorder involves skipping meals and replacing them with snacks such as chips, finger foods or candy. A person with this type of disorder often develops deficiencies because his diet consists mostly of junk food devoid of nutritional value. Nutritional anarchy is irregular snacking, which further upsets the digestive system. This dietary profile fits perfectly with alcoholrexia- skipping meals and eating snacks in the company of alcohol is unfortunately a common mode of functioning for sufferers, especially considering how big an appetite trigger alcohol is. People with food anarchy often prefer ready-made food and eating in a hurry, a general carelessness regarding their own nutrition.
Diabulimia is another example of an eating disorder whose goal is to lose weight or keep weight down. This extreme method of weight control involves skipping or reducing insulin doses in type I diabetes. Diagnosis of type I diabetes is usually obtained in childhood or teenage years, hence diabulimia mainly affects young adults, especially women, who want to fit into the cult of slim body. The disorder in itself is very dangerous for a diabetic, and in combination with alcoholism it even leads to death.
Effects of alkorexia. Possible complications
The consequences of alkorexia appear rather quickly and bear the hallmarks of both the effects of the eating disorder and alcoholism. People with drunkorexia are at risk of hematopoietic and cardiovascular diseases. They may also encounter hormonal problems and immune disorders. A natural consequence of food denial and alcohol consumption is problems with the digestive system. Alcohol-induced stomach irritation and intestinal problems related to food deprivation are usually the first effects of alcoholorexia, which become more severe as the disorder continues. A dysregulated digestive system becomes increasingly unable to tolerate both the intake and lack of food, and the effects of alcohol affect every organ in the human body, leaving irreversible changes in many of them. As a result of deficiencies in essential minerals and vitamins, patients can develop osteopenia, for example.
The consequences of living with an untreated eating disorder can also be mental illnesses appearing, for example, in the form of neurosis or depression. Symptoms of alcoholism can include apathy, excessive sleepiness, rapid loss of energy.
How to diagnose alkorexia? Eating disorders
Alkorexia is diagnosed by a psychiatrist based on the symptoms present. A detailed medical history should show what came first in a particular patient-an eating disorder or problems with alcohol. Depending on the order in which the patient’s problems occurred, the treatment may be different. In people who first develop an eating disorder, alcohol is often a way to cope with unwanted symptoms from the mental side. In this situation, priority will be given to focusing on the patient’s anorexia/ bulimia.
In cases where the primary disorder is alcoholism, getting rid of this problem can improve the patient’s attitude toward food. Often alcohol itself is the cause of the addict’s change in eating habits. Alcoholics, for whom alcohol is the most important thing, pay no attention to the quality or quantity of their food intake, often forgetting the need to eat at all.
Drunkorexia vs. anorexia – differences. Anorexia and bulimia
Since drunkorexia is a relatively new phenomenon, questions may arise as to how to distinguish it from anorexia. The answer is not clear-cut, and it is best for the patient to place himself in the hands of an experienced specialist. However, an important element that distinguishes anorexia from anorexia is the latter’s focus on drinking alcohol. In the case of anorexia, the patient’s goal is to lose, in his or her mind, excess weight. Such people rarely allow themselves to drink alcohol, which also contains calories, and if they do here, starvation before consumption is not intentional.
In the case of alkorexia, alcohol is the axis of events-the person starves himself in order to be able to indulge in alcoholic beverages later. People with alcoholorexia do not necessarily want to lose weight. Some of them care about maintaining their weight. They are characterized by a fear of getting fat rather than an obsessive need to lose weight. What’s more, in the early stages of the disorder, when alcohol consumption is not a daily occurrence for the patient, he may eat normal amounts of food on days when he doesn’t drink. A person with anorexia often isolates himself from society and the only thing he can focus on is food and its control. In alcoholism, the opposite happens – the sick person usually drinks at parties, in the company of peers.
Read also: phytorexia figure obsession
Treatment of alkorexia
Since alkorexia is an eating disorder but can co-occur with substance abuse, treatment must be comprehensive and holistic. Patients go through tailored psychotherapy aimed at improving their body perception, working on self-esteem and healing their relationship with food. There they also learn to work on their own habits and recognize their cognitive distortions. They may also be referred to detoxification and then alcohol rehab before the next steps are taken to cure the disorder.
Sufferers should also be treated for the somatic effects of alcohol abuse and starvation, if any. Here, it may be necessary to supplement deficiencies and conduct comprehensive tests to detect the potential ravages that are the effects of alcohol abuse, then treat them with a doctor of the appropriate specialty.
Nutritional education of the patient and pointing out alternatives to alcohol are also an important part of the fight against the disorder. Since drunkorexia most often befalls young people, it is equally important to prevent and educate society as a whole, so that both the patient and those around him can react early to the first symptoms of the disorder.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of drunkorexia
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be an effective form of therapy for treating alcorexia, a disorder involving an obsessive desire to avoid alcohol consumption due to anxiety or other psychological factors. CBT is a therapeutic approach that focuses on changing thoughts, feelings and behaviors that contribute to health and emotional problems. It is important that CBT therapy is tailored to the patient’s individual needs and situation. The effectiveness of the therapy also depends on the patient’s cooperation and involvement in the therapeutic process.
Here are some areas of work in treating alcoholism:
- Identifying irrational thoughts. CBT therapy helps the patient identify irrational or harmful thoughts related to alcohol and eating disorders.
- Changing thoughts. Once negative thoughts are identified, the therapist and patient work together to change these thoughts to more realistic and constructive ones.
- Developing healthy coping strategies. In CBT therapy, the patient can develop healthy coping strategies to deal with anxiety and other emotions that may contribute to alcoholism.
- Developing healthy habits. CBT therapy can also help a patient develop healthy habits related to mental health.
How do you support your loved ones in their fight against alkorexia?
If you suspect that a loved one may have the first signs of drunkorexia, try to convince her to see a specialist. Share your concerns with her, don’t pretend you don’t see the problem, because the disease can lead to serious consequences. Sometimes even a simple friendly or family conversation can be a good first step toward working on the disorder. Try to be supportive of the person with the disorder. Often the disorder activates with major changes in the life of a woman with alcoholism. Showing your support in the day-to-day adaptation to a new reality can open the sufferer up to other ways to spend her time than meeting alcohol.
It’s worth telling the patient directly that you see her problems with alcohol or skipping meals, and informing the patient about the complications that can arise from prolonged starvation or alcoholism. Often people in the snare of the disorder are unaware of how their behavior differs from the socially accepted norm. Remember not to criticize the sufferer, but leave space for conversation. A person who feels he or she has the support of others is more likely to work with a specialist to recover from the disorder.
Alcoholism is an increasingly common disorder. It is worth being aware of its existence in society and taking timely preventive measures.