Psychological Therapy for Obesity

Obesity results when there is excess adipose tissue resulting in increased body tissue. Generally considered that a person is obese when it exceeds 20% of their ideal weight, as a function of their size, complexion, gender and age.

A social problem

We live in a society in which there is a positive overvaluation of thinness and overweight which is rejected. Being obese is in our days a social stigma. The social pressure against obesity is so clear that we all know people who complain about being fat (real or fictional) or doing diet. We also know that Comment“these fatter” is one of the worst insults that we can hear.

There is also a widespread rejection in society towards obesity because this considered as the result of a defect and it is assumed that it is because he wants obese because uncontrolled eating and gluttony. It is believed that overweight people are weak and unable to care for themselves.

This pressure is even stronger in the case of women who from the media and their environment are required to be thin and to be attractive. This constant attention to body volume affects personal and emotional relationships and, of course, also has implications for self-esteem.

During childhood, many parents are unaware of how their comments affect on the body of their children, even if they are jokes. Usually, children who hear these comments worse self-esteem and, quite often, the humiliating memory of such comments can launch disorder anorexia.

Multidisciplinary treatment of obesity

Overweight people are more at risk than thin people suffer psychological disorders and to develop a negative self-concept and self-esteem is very low. Although highly regarded, and family psychological aspects play a decisive role in the production and maintenance of obesity, and therefore should be treated.

In both these cases, as in the people who are on a diet, it is more appropriate to use a psychological treatment. On one hand, The psychologist helps build skills to perform the diet ( self, habits adequate living, assertiveness, how to prevent relapses&hellip ;) and this is very important, not to recover the lost weight. Furthermore, the psychological treatment of those aspects in the life of the person affected by being overweight is very important, such as self-esteem, social relationships, negative mood, anxiety…

In short, our time embarks its citizens in a pursuit of thinness at any cost. The reasons are aesthetic. Being thin is a basic condition to feel accepted and therefore to be accepted. All this has a psychological impact on the person who needs to be treated as well as teach the skills needed to get lose weight and keep it.