subject: Men and Eating Disorders - Life Coaching as a Treatment Methodology [print this page] Men and Eating Disorders - Life Coaching as a Treatment Methodology
In high school, I knew some guys who were addicted to the gym. They'd spend 4 hours a day lifting weights and drank muscle-enhancing milkshakes a couple times a day. In school, a male acquaintance of mine, ate a diet of only raw tuna fish and protein shakes to remain match and feel healthy. On March 13, 2007, the Washington Post did a commentary concerning men and their eating disorders. A lot of and a lot of men are starving themselves or below-eating (anorexia), binging and purging (bulimia) or binge eating. Actually classifying their eating habits as a disorder is progress. Historically, eating disorders have been thought of a problem for women. Properly diagnosing the matter allows male sufferers to search out the correct treatment. In keeping with the article, men suffer just as girls because they feel they have not achieved the "excellent" body they feel society pressuring them to have. They wish the six-pack abs, strong pecs, and well-defined muscles on their arms and legs. There seems to be a stigma about the "good body." To men, it represents masculinity, making them feel more attractive and valuable. To women, thinness represents beauty and being engaging is linked to self-worth. Self-value, for many women and men, is dictated based on how they understand others decide their bodies. Particularly for males and females with eating disorders, it's all about perception. Nobody else spends as much time obsessing over each curve or every muscle. Nobody else notices in such extreme detail the perceived bodily imperfections that male and females with eating disorders see and do not want others to see. Perception is more vivid than truth. As a life coach, I target the underlying thoughts that fuel the eating disorder habits, and obsessive compulsive behavior. What is the rationale that men and girls with eating disorders have obsessive compulsive behavior? It is as a result of they need obsessive compulsive thoughts. They spend thus a lot of time fixating on their image, bodies, food intake, and hunger or fullness they feel (perceived or real) that they're driven to obsessive compulsive behavior. In a very coaching session with my shoppers, we establish the specific thoughts that cause the particular actions. Identifying the thoughts is not difficult. Once spending a minute or 2 talking with a brand new consumer, he will share with me his beliefs or fears regarding himself and his life. We begin with the primary unhealthy thought and I begin asking him queries that invite the client to see exactly how his unhealthy thought has effects on his lives. For instance, the thought would possibly be, "I want to appear sensible to feel good." I can ask the consumer if that thought is absolutely true. Then, we tend to will discuss specific things they have done as a results of believing that thought. How has he treated himself as a result of believing that thought. For a flash, I can invite him to imagine how his life would be if they not believed that thought. How would his life be completely different? How may his relationship with himself be different? For the aim of being open-minded, I invite the consumer to administer me three reasons of why the thought "I want to appear smart to feel good" would possibly not be true. The rationale I ask this query is as a result of I need him to work out how his life would be completely different if he was no longer ruled by an inspiration therefore strong that it dictated his actions and led to life-threatening habits. As people, we tend to have the ability to believe our thoughts or not. When a thought not serves a healthy, supportive purpose, we have a tendency to have the right to throw it out and replace it with an idea that's uplifting and true. In thus doing, we have a tendency to conjointly can eliminate shame and self-hatred. Helping purchasers to throw out unhealthy thoughts is strictly how I facilitate them pass though an eating disorder. It is the same way I recovered from my eating disorder six years ago.
