Stress, Anxiety, Body Image, and Eating Disorders

Mental Health

A state of wellbeing in which an individual realizes their own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to their community.

Coping strategies are important and not always learned naturally

Mental Illness

Collectively all diagnosable mental disorders or health conditions

Characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distressed and/or impared functioning

Stigma

What happens when others socially disapprove of someone often due to social, mental, or physical deficiency

Can make a person with mental illness feel badly about themselves and may prevent individuals from talking bout, learning about, or getting help for mental illness

Stressors

Pressure from the outside, such as fighting parents, homework, exams, siblings, etc.

Anything that threatens, challenges, scares, worries, and/or thrills you.

Your response to those situations is stress.

Stress

A physiological reaction to challenges, expectations, and pressures.

Stress can be positive when it helps you get things done and you feel good. It motivates us to act, study, practice, do our best, etc.

Stress can be negative when you have too much stress or experience many stressors all at once or you may not know to cope with it, and it can make you feel overwhelmed.

Impacts of chronic stress

Too much stress or stress for prolonged periods of time can affect your learning and social development.

Excessive stress interferes with executive functions of the brain, such as attention, memory, organization, and integration

Can cause health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, digestive problems, etc. Or it can lead to development of unhealthy coping behaviors (smoking, drinking, poor eating habits) that increase these health risks

Chronic stress

Stress that lasts a long time

Anxiety

Persistent feelings of apprehension or dread as a reaction to internal stress. Anxiety continues even after the concern has passed.

Characterized by: increased heart rate, stomach pain, lump in throat, feeling panicked, worry about about everyday events/activities, constantly checking if you did something correctly, inability to function in certain specific situations.

Treatments of anxiety

Medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques

Body Image

How you see yourself when you look in the mirror or when you picture yourself in your mind

Heaving a healthy body image is an important part of mental wellbing and eating disorder prevention

Body dissatisfaction is the most immediate warning sign for the development of an eating disorder

Signs and Symptoms of Eating Disorders

Preoccupation with weight, food calories, carbohydrates, fat grams, and dieting

Foot rituals (only eating a particular food or food group, excessive chewing, doesn’t allow foods to touch)

Extreme concern with body size and shape

Frequent checking in the mirror for perceived flaws in appearance

Dresses in layers to hide weight loss or to stay warm

Frequent trips to the bathrooms after meals

Signs and/or smells of vomiting

Healthy coping strategies

Exercise/yoga

Meditation

Positive self-talk

Stress diary

Guided imagery

Listening to music

Muscle relaxation

Discussing it with someone

Mindfulness

Managing emotional reactions