Bigorexia – definition, causes, symptoms, treatment

In today’s world it is very easy to fall into the trap of being obsessed with appearance. Beautiful people are everywhere: on billboards, on TV, in advertisements, in magazines, in photos on the Internet, on social networks and even on product packaging. We compare ourselves with colleagues from work, people on the street, at the gym. The sizes and cuts of clothes in stores are also often ruthless for our self-esteem.

Striving for a perfect figure can be paid for by hard work on your own weaknesses, fighting the lack of time, eating up stress, and pressure from the environment. It is easy to get lost in this race, lose a healthy view of your own body and lose yourself in the pursuit of an unattainable ideal. Eating disorders affect a large percentage of the population, regardless of age and gender. In addition, anorexia and bulimia – diseases consisting in obsessive weight control, body shape and the number of meals do not have to concern only emaciated people. Often times, people with a fuller figure have eating problems and symptoms of anorexia. People with obsessed with healthy eating, suffering from orthorexia, are often not healthy at all, because obsessive care about the composition of meals disturbs his common sense and listening to the body’s signals about the needs and deficiencies of ingredients.

In the same way, it happens that a strong, muscular figure it is not always a sign of health. Often exaggerated striving for the ideal, training every muscle, diet control and the use of supplements turn into unhealthy for the body, and even life-threatening obsessed.

It may seem that a man with developed muscles consciously cares about his health and condition. Sport is associated with perseverance, regularity and fortitude, and the trained muscles and a strong posture appeal to the opposite sex.

Bigorexia is a disturbance in the perception of one’s own body, causing muscle dysmorphia, i.e. a constant feeling of dissatisfaction with the results achieved and the need to increase muscle mass, without the satisfaction and feeling at what point to stop. The greatest predisposition to collapse on bigorexia have young men, at the end of puberty, that is, around 20 years of age. Developed muscles viewed on the Internet profiles of famous athletes and strongmen, comparing yourself to them and colleagues may cause unhealthy striving for the fastest and most spectacular development of your own musculature.

Often victims bigorexia there are young people who previously struggled with overweight or a slender figure and felt because of this lack of acceptance of the group and complexes. Muscle dysmorphia it is also a way of jamming problems at work, relationships with family, partners or in sexual life. The development of muscle mass becomes the overriding goal, to drown out frustration and keep your mind occupied. Losing yourself in the development of the figure can also be a reaction to stress and running away from it. Feeling “big and strong” helps you gain self-confidence.

Famous psychiatrist, Harrison G. Popehe described bigorexia as a group of obsessive thoughts revolving around the figure and focusing the lifestyle on increasingly longer trainings and adjusting work, family and private life to the diet and exercise plan. Bigorect constantly, obsessively measures his muscles, controls weight, takes body pictures. He is constantly subjecting his body to the most severe evaluation and is never finally satisfied with the way things are. For this reason, he avoids presenting his body in public, feeling that he is still underdeveloped “work”.

In pursuit of the most extensive musculature The conditions of the body, its endurance and predisposition may hinder, which stops the development of muscles or slows it down. It is a kind of self-preservation instinct of the body, protection against exercise, loss of health and exceeding the limits of efficiency. Eternally dissatisfied bigotry it will look for solutions to overcome these limitations. In such cases, preparations containing steroids come into play most often. These measures, used without the supervision of a specialist, can cause great harm to the body: stroke, cardiac and circulatory disturbances, potency disorders, and even infertility.

Submitting life to development muscle mass usually has dire consequences in the form of emotional deficiencies, loss of emotions caused by taking steroids, outbursts of aggression, conflicts with the law, depressive states, and even suicide due to the pressure caused by eternal frustration.

Treatment of biogrexia it consists of consulting a psychiatrist, often including behavioral therapy and pharmacological agents.

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