Psychology of self-punishment with food that leads to obesity - Essay Example

People sometimes are unforgiving even if the case involves them. These kinds of thinking and regard are oftentimes triggered and driven by failures, hurt, frustrations, and several related incidents which sometimes lead to punishing one's self. However, one cannot deny the fact that these instances do have negative implications on their lives and sometimes trigger a lot unusual practices which endangers their lives if are not looked upon properly. This punishment includes inflicting pain on oneself through castigating himself, taking drugs which is dangerous in nature or clinging into practices that would deform or would degrade their self worth physically or mentally. There are individuals who punish themselves in a manner that would deform their physical structures and their personal outlook tend to eat more than usual which in turn would enable them to become obese. There are those who claim that this kind of practice would lessen their guilt to one self and would later bring relief to an individual whenever they have seen themselves punished or being neglected by the people who have seen them because they are obese. Unknowingly, these people who are practicing such are in need of psychological attention and they enter a situation where they become independent to such a punishment. In this case, the question remains the same, why would these people tend to punish themselves And why does obesity becomes an effect in this kind of disorder These are some of the things that are in need to be answered in dealing with this kind of punishment and why obesity is oftentimes associated with this disorder. Masochism is the psychological term when a certain individual crave for punishment which would later become a part of his/her satisfaction in life. Furthermore, Webster (2006) dictionary defined masochism as "1: a sexual perversion characterized by pleasure in being subjected to pain or humiliation especially by a love object" and "2 : pleasure in being abused or dominated : a taste for suffering." In relation to this, there are people who find pleasure in punishing themselves by deforming themselves in a way of eating more than they can and their bodies could consume in order to become obese. In these regard, they will enable themselves to become extremely fat and become a part of the disregarded part of the society because of his/her condition which in turn would enable the person to feel the deprivation and would later feel the humiliation and in turn would give pleasure into this person. If we are to analyze, masochism has something to do with sexual affairs of a certain person. In this case, the question arises as this kind of premise prevails. "How can obesity be attributed to self punishment along with masochism" The answer is still the same; masochism is an act of self punishment and being obese has something to do with self punishment as people would tend discriminate them (obese people) due to their physical appearance and these people should this kind of situation arise, would have the sense of pleasure and would lessen their guilt because they believe that they are punishing themselves would relieve them in their guilt. To further understand these things and how masochism, self-punishment and obesity are inter-related with each other, a Psychologist (2007) who asked not to be identified stated that "Masochism has something to do with self punishment. Some People tend to punish themselves on belief that such a practice would tend to re-pay shortcomings that they have done to themselves and to others." Also, becoming obese is an option that is not painful in nature and the only negative effect of it is that it would only invite internal diseases. Also, it would deform the physical structure of the individual which in turn be a humiliating factor towards one's self. "If they would eat more than they could consume, then the tendency is for them to become obese" and "bear in mind that most of these people does this thing not for them to satisfy their cravings for food but to obtain the negative effects of this kind of practice. At first, they are in a state of fasting wherein they let themselves feel extreme hunger. But later will they realize that the time when they engaged themselves quitting into fast, which is when they crave for foods." Furthermore, the website caseof.org (2006) supported this claim that people who are deprived in eating would tend to eat more should they posses a chance to be given a chance to eat. Oftentimes, these people are unaware that they are developing desire for more foods than they are before (especially sweet foods) and in this case, they would be more likely to develop obesity. "Time and again you've experienced the intense effects that food can have on your moods. Cakes, cookies, and fudge are known as pleasure foods not only because they delight your taste buds but because they can make you feel calm and happy - at least temporarily. This sugar induced sense of euphoria comes from several chemical mechanisms in your brain. First of all, the sheer pleasure of tasting a chocolate treat or powdery donut stimulates your brain's pleasure pathways and the release of dopamine and endorphins, the chemicals that makes you feel exhilarated. You also get a quick surge of energy as the sugar hits your bloodstream. Unfortunately, that energized feeling lasts only as long as the sugars rush. Once your blood-sugar levels drop (about an hour or two later), you're left feeling drained and out of sorts. You become an addict looking for another hit." The person who engages in this kind of practice is unaware that he/she develops a certain kind of addiction while "punishing" himself. This is a clear case that sometimes, punishment would lead to indulgence and would later become addiction. In this particular incident, the person would no longer feel that they are punishing themselves but their prime concern now is to give into their cravings and indulge themselves on foods that they wanted to eat. This time they have a little concern for the punishment but rather they have developed addiction in terms of consumption of foods. However in some cases, they call this situation as "win-win" for they would tend to eat what they want and at the same time, they deform themselves. There are cases or in most cases, these people are aware of the negative implication of these kind of practices and these facts are sometimes the driving force for them to further indulge in this kind of practice. In this situation, this kind of attempt suggests that some of these people tend to go on suicidal but on a long term basis with the diseases it would acquire in this kind of practice. The website psychiatrix.com (2006) stated that "Obesity and overweight substantially increase the risk of morbidity from hypertension; dyslipidemia; type 2 diabetes; coronary heart disease; stroke; gallbladder disease; osteoarthritis; sleep apnea and respiratory problems; and endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers. Higher body weights are also associated with increases in all-cause mortality." In this case, these people would tend to think of these implications which they would regard as gain in the pursuit of punishing themselves and which they regard would bring to them a sort of relief. To add to that, there are things that are associated with obesity that deprives these people to live normally and in this regard, another sort of punishment to one's self. "health risk dangers the lifestyle impediments introduced by excess weight. Some of these include: Decreased mobility, decreased ability to participate in many recreational activities, discomfort caused by ill-fitting clothes, difficulty accommodating to the environment such as sitting in narrow airplane seats, and impaired social effectiveness as a result of the social bias against obesity. This latter problem can be subtle and may take the form of failure to make a good impression in a job interview, lack of effectiveness while on the job, as well as the more obvious decreased odds of meeting someone for a romantic involvement. Finally, people who are obese are often "food-centric" planning their activities with the focus on eating. This can limit the inclination to pursue other means of gratification, since food becomes a very strong self-reward mechanism. Of course, this pattern only leads to further obesity psychiatrix.com (2006)." To sum it up, self punishment leading to obesity is a rare disorder if we are to base situations in psychological make-up. There are things that would derive people why they tend to indulge in this kind of activity. Furthermore, though negative in its implications, this kind of practice is an avenue for these people to release their tensions, lessen their guilt or simply deriving their attention to reality. However, this kind of disorder should be properly addressed and looked upon for such practice is dangerous to the health of those who practice it. Tracking the root causes of this and understanding the feelings of the people who are experiencing this kind of circumstance is vital in determining and formulating the kind of treatment process for these people. Reference: 1) Webester online dictionary (2006).definition of masochism.Available from http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionarybook=Dictionary&va=masochist&x=0&y=0 (Accessed March 6, 2007) 2)Anonymous (2007). Self Punishment and its causes (interview). London: UK March 4 3)caseof.org (2006).Sugar Rush(online). Available from http://mysite.verizon.net/unohu/endorphins.htm accessed March 4,2006 4) psychiatrix.com (2007). Dangers of excess of weight. Available fromhttp://www.psychiatrix.com/weight_article_by_author.htm accessed March 6, 2007 Read More