How to Overcome Bulimia by Eliminating Subconscious Blockages

I know you are thinking right now "Why do I have bulimia? How can I overcome it? And why isn't anything I tried before stopping it and has failed to help?"

You understand that bulimia is slowly killing you and ruining your life but you can't stop. It seems like something inside you is stronger that your own will.

Do you want to know what this "something else" is?

Well! It is another part of your brain called the subconscious mind that not only is responsible for your feelings, emotions and non-conscious actions that keep you alive, but it can also work against your own free will.

It is the part of the mind that is responsible for our actions when we do something but we don't know why we did it. Like when we get angry and explode, then we don't know why we did it (when there is no conscious explanation for it).

The subconscious mind operates on feelings and senses. And very often people can't even describe it logically. They just do what the subconscious mind wants.

So, the reason you have bulimia lies in your subconscious mind and to overcome bulimia you need to get rid off your subconscious blockages that always keep you being a bulimic against you will.

This is a major reason why conventional therapy doesn't work in most cases, because they try to affect the conscious mind of the person only. They don't change a person's subconscious. That's why when bulimics come back home from the clinic or doctor's room they continue their distractive eating behavior unabated again and again.

One of the common subconscious blockages bulimics have is the "broken eye syndrome". This is when bulimics see themselves fatter then they are and see their entire environment and other people in a different (wrong) way.

So, in order to overcome bulimia you should really find a way to change your subconscious mind and overcome these subconscious blockages that cause your bulimia.

Without working on your subconscious you will always come back to the same spot when you first started your bulimia and recovery becomes impossible, it is a never ending circle.

To conclude, if you have been unable to stop you bulimia it more that likely is a result of a subconscious emotional blockage. For example, the most common blockage is the "broken eye syndrome".

If you have a subconscious emotional blockage preventing you from stopping the bulimia, you are unlikely to realize it. An example of this is a bulimic who doesn't realize that they have "broken eye syndrome" - they see in a mirror a different picture from everyone else: basically their own mind is lying to them.

You are almost certainly not consciously aware of what the blockage is. For example again the "broken eye syndrome" - people are not aware of it, they truly believe that what they see in a mirror is the truth.

Subconscious self-beliefs cannot be identified and changed at the rational thinking level. For example, the "broken eye syndrome" gets worse and worse the longer you have bulimia, because the bulimic brain is constantly working on false information.

Identifying and eliminating your subconscious blockages is the best and really the only way you will ever overcome bulimia. More information http://www.bulimia-cure.com

Dr Irina Webster MD is the Director of Women Health Issues Program which covers different areas of Women Health. She is a recognised athority in the eating disorders area. She is an author of many books and a public speaker. http://www.bulimia-cure.com

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History of Bulimia and How It Evolved Into a New Problem

The History of bulimia is old. Even in ancient Rome people used to vomit up food they ate in the period of feasting. They even had special places for it called "vomitorium". There is a lot of recollection about these events in ancient Rome books. Roman emperors Claudius and Vitellius were bulimic.

Some other cultures like ancient Egyptian purged themselves every month for three days in succession, using emetics and clysters to preserve health. They thought that human diseases come from food.

In Europe in Middle Ages purgation was used like a remedy for many diseases and was advocated by middle age physicians.

In ancient Greece and Arabia there were also descriptions in texts of binging and purging.

But all these ancient practices of binging and purging are similar but not the same as what we call "bulimia" now. There was no evidence of a drive for thinness that is the obvious trait in all modern bulimics; in fact skinny women were not the normal shape for women.

From the evidence that have been reported it is obvious that bulimia nervosa as it is presented now was an unknown disease until the late 20th century.

In the 1970s there were cases described in medical literature of three patients in whom overeating alternated with under eating and was classed as anorexia nervosa. One patient vomited and the other two took a lot of laxatives to get rid of food.

The first description of the modern bulimia nervosa was published in 1979 by Dr Russell. He stated in the result of his research that overeating and self-induced vomiting may have been common practices among otherwise normal female students attending North Americans universities. He mentioned that the condition was always most relevant to females.

There is no doubt that bulimia incidents significantly increased in the 1980s and came to exceed the incidences of anorexia nervosa.

Still there are many questions remaining about bulimia nervosa.

Questions like, is a bulimia nervosa a new disease or it is it the same disease that has been known for centuries, but manifesting as a different version? And what made bulimia increase so significantly in the last a few decades? Was it modern pressure to be thin or more like inherited personality traits or both?

To conclude, bulimia like simple overeating has been known since ancient time. But the term "bulimia nervosa" can not be applied to the cases recorded in histories that were published before 1979. Simply because the motives in the past for overeating and then purging were different from today and the psychological aspects were also different.

The modern term "bulimia nervosa" means not just the simple practice of binging and purging, there are now certain personality traits behind the term. These traits include addictive tendencies, problem with impulse control, obsession with weight and general looks and certain personality disorders can be associated with the term of bulimia nervosa.

So my own opinion is that bulimia nervosa is a new disease of our time that has emerged due to the intensive pressure to look slim. Also the fact that they are used by many sufferers as a coping mechanism for the extra stress we have in our lives nowadays.

Modern medicine as put all its reliance on cognitive behavior therapy for dealing with Bulimia. Although there was some early success it has now become apparent that it is failing for the majority of sufferers as the disease continues to evolve.

The new way forward in treating the disease is to remove the subconscious blockages that have been shown to hinder and hold back a person from recovery. As more and more is know about how the mind works medicine has to move with the flow of discoveries and not rely on an outdated methodology.

But unfortunately throughout history medicine has never moved at a quick pace, so many sufferers who do not find out about the newer methods will have to suffer needlessly until medicine catches up.

Find out more at http://www.bulimia-cure.com

Dr Irina Webster MD is the Director of Women Health Issues Program which covers different areas of Women Health. She is a recognised athority in the eating disorders area. She is an author of many books and a public speaker. http://www.bulimia-cure.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irina_Webster

Anorexia, Bulimia, and Depression - Is There A Cure?

Many of those suffering from anorexia and bulimia are high-functioning adults coping with stress, anxiety, and depression. They may have tried many different solutions to their problem. This article explores the typical experiences of a few people suffering from such eating disorders. Most therapists today deal with these disorders by first treating the underlying causes of the body-image problems. These causes are assumed to be past experiences and how they may have affected us.

Women and men who suffer from these illnesses may have to overcome deeper issues ranging from poor self-esteem to childhood abuse. Effective therapy can help improve their professional and family lives as well.

Therapy for anorexia and bulimia

Anorexia, bulimia, and eating disorders are a way of coping when stress and anxiety seem unbearable.

With the encouragement of a therapist, an anorexic or bulimic client can learn to face the sources of her stress or anxiety, and find healthier means of reacting to stressful situations.

One woman who had overcome eating disorders several years earlier consulted a psychotherapist in Austin when her problems recurred. This woman had recently moved into Austin, and she was without the support of family and friends while working at a new job. She had reverted to her old methods of coping with stress, namely food. Food is a form of self-treatment for many people, as it was in this woman's case.

Her therapist helped her to see her need for developing new relationships, and she also participated in group therapy to meet people.

By the end of therapy, she made new friends and was excelling in her new job. Her eating disorder no longer affected her.

Eating disorders and treating depression

Depression can be another cause of eating disorders too. Of course, eating disorders can cause someone to be depressed, so determining cause from effect is difficult.

A depressed person may overeat, or not eat enough, and so either gain or lose a lot of weight. This will affect their physical health. A therapist will help her concentrate on her strengths and regain her sense of balance.

One woman in Houston was depressed because her husband had had an affair and left her. She blamed herself and her recent weight gain for this, but was not able to lose weight. She tried everything she could but the weight remained. Therapy helped her see several other contributors to her depression. She explored some of the events in her past that were causing her a great deal of distress.

She was able to take responsibility for her eating habits, and find a warm and supportive relationship.

Eating disorders, PTSD and victims of sexual abuse

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder may happen because of one-time traumas likes being the victim of an accident or a crime, and also because of long-term abuse like childhood sexual or physical abuse.

PTSD often goes hand in hand with eating disorders.

Victims of childhood abuse sometimes keep the abuse secret, and the therapist may be the first person they confide in. Sometimes when childhood abuse has been blocked out, a reaction may be triggered in adult life by seemingly unrelated events. And lots of times, bulemia or overeating is a symptom. One therapist in Denver helped her client work her way through traumatic memories by giving her art and journaling exercises. These gave the victim a sense of perspective and she was able to stop blaming herself. She also became better connected with others emotionally. Her eating disorder markedly improved.

Eating disorders and counseling for couples

Eating disorders may affect someone who is married or in a committed relationship.

Counseling can benefit married, engaged, or lesbian and gay couples, if one has an eating disorder. The partner with the eating disorder may feel guilty for what he thinks he is causing his partner to feel. And the partner may feel guilty for feelings of resentment towards the partner with the disorder.

That is why couples therapy helps so much.

The most common problems that bring partners into therapy are poor communication, or upheavals like illness, death of a family member, or an affair. Any of these can plunge partners into depression and conflict and often make the eating disorder worse.

Therapy can find the cause of the dissatisfaction, and a solution both partners are happy with while preserving the relationship. It helped one lesbian couple in Austin to come to terms with each other’s families of origin. They were able to work out ways to achieve both their goals without sabotaging their relationship. Even though one partner remained quite overweight, the couple achieved a peaceful resolution and enjoyed a much better relationship.

If you want more information on eating disorders, depression and anxiety, and how they go hand-in-hand, visit the Capitalcounselors.com website You can find a psychotherapist in your neighborhood and set up an appointment. Your first visit to any therapist on this site will not be charged.

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