What Is Permarexia And What Are Its Causes?

What is permarexia? Permarexia is a recently identified eating disorder that is a precursor to more serious problems, such as anorexia or bulimia. Patients with this disease believe that any food they eat will make them fat.

For this reason, people with permarexia tend to adhere to various miraculous diets in order to reduce their body weight. In fact, this is one of the criteria used to diagnose the disease: trying more than 3 diets in a year in order to lose fat.

What is permarexia and what are its characteristics?

Because it is a recently classified pathology, there is not much literature on permarexia. However, it is known that this problem is typical of those people with certain compulsive behaviors that cause them, for example, to count calories. While checking nutrition labels is a good practice, doing so obsessively can become a problem.

However, many people suffer from permarexia and have not been diagnosed. These people fluctuate in weight regularly and are subject to changing eating habits, but do not appear to be in a pathological physical condition. For this reason, I cannot receive an accurate diagnosis of the disease.

If a person frequently changes dietary protocols and the goal is always to experience weight loss, the pathology may exist. In addition, patients with this disorder are particularly sensitive to comments about their physique. They tend to constantly compare themselves with others.

Although evidence has been obtained for the relationship between depression and anorexia, it has not yet been possible to expand this association between psychological problems and permarexia.

How to identify a person suffering from permarexia?

Diagnosing the disease is not an easy task. There are no screening tools to identify the problem. The best thing is to observe the patterns of behavior, in addition to performing tests that determine the degree of mental health.

If there are certain obsessive behaviors related to eating, but which do not allow the inclusion in the clinical picture of anorexia or bulimia, permarexia can be diagnosed.

It is important to pay attention to your eating habits and your relationship with food. If you are severely affected by the opinions of others, the risk of suffering or developing the disease increases.

As I mentioned, if in the last year you have tried more than 3 different diets with the same weight loss goal, you are a serious candidate. In this case, the best thing to do is to go to a professional as soon as possible. Early prevention and treatment are the best solutions to food problems. This reduces the risk of sequelae.

Causes of permarexia

What is permarexia? An eating disorder that is difficult to diagnose

As I mentioned, permarexia is a recent pathology about which there is not much scientific information yet. We know that this is a prelude to major problems and that prompt diagnosis facilitates their management and healing.

In any case, the criteria for identifying the disorder are not entirely clear, so it is necessary to go to a specialist and undergo various screening tools.

Remember that diseases associated with eating behavior are complex and require multidisciplinary treatment. The problem must be approached from different angles in order to provide a reliable solution that reduces the risk of medium-term sequelae.

If in doubt, the best option is to consult a specialist to get more information about it. Early detection of the problem and prevention of complications are vital!