Eating disorders

Eating Disorders are pathologies characterized by a profound disorder, or discomfort, due to an altered relationship with food and the body. Eating disorders typically begin in adolescence, but more and more frequently there are both early and late childhood forms.

The alteration of eating behaviour is often associated with an altered perception of the body and its forms, accompanied by the feeling of being fat and “ugly” and therefore socially unacceptable. Such condition can significantly affect one’s self-esteem and compromise the quality of life and of social relationships.

Multifactorial causes contribute to generating a disorder of eating behavior, that is to say complex interactions between biological, psychological, individual and family factors (psychological family set-ups, presence of traumatic events, etc.), cultural (myths of beauty/thinness, culture of competition and success). It is usually an unexpected event and causes numerous sufferings even for family members. There are often other psychological problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive thoughts, etc. and traits of clinical perfectionism, low self-esteem, interpersonal difficulties and intolerance to emotions.

Città Azzurra offers different types of intervention thanks to its facilities, a residential and/or semi-residential approach at the Villa Eèa community and an outpatient approach at the Psychotherapy Center and individualized treatment of eating disorders.

Patients are accompanied to reflect on the connection between e.g. rigid and binge eating patterns, deficiencies or excesses, common errors in the attribution of nutritional values. The reflection expands by contemplating the close relationship between emotions and their management through food, to encourage a progressive conscious abandonment of behavioral disorder at the dietary level.

Among the many topics addressed are:

Recognition of the feeling of hunger/satiety
Obsessive thoughts towards the body and/or food
Physical hunger vs “emotional hunger”
Concept of natural weight and weight fluctuations

Patients are guided and instructed to pay attention to the signals of their body, in order to acquire the ability to eat while being able to follow more and more the feelings of hunger and satiety. An eating behavior with many rigid rules and many prohibitions should be able to be transformed step by step into a more flexible behavior. This can have greater attribution of confidence in body sensations, and in the possibility to taste the food in the absence of fears and consequent guilt.
The diet should be sufficient and balanced and promote a healthy weight.

Info & Contact : 0471 919473

E-mail: info@cittazzurra.it