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welcome to night eating!
Please read the following as it contains important information for optimal site
navigation!
  If you haven't visited the homepage, you're missing out on some important info, so I'll just give you a "heads up" here!
You've reached "night eating," part of the emotional feelings network of sites. If you scroll
down to the footer on this page, you'll see the complete listing of all the sites in the network!
All of the sites
in the emotional feelings network of sites are linked together thru a very complete network of underlined link words. Anytime you see an underlined link word, if you should be
interested in more information concerning that word, simply click on it & a new browser window will appear. The page that
opens up will give you an entire page filled with information concerning the word of
your interest.
the emotional feelings network
of sites was designed like this because as an ex-night eater, I was also faced with many other life dysfunctions,
mental illness I was unaware of, domestic violence, a lack of any positive self esteem & so much more....
As I began my recovery,
I began to slowly discover how all of the subjects contained within the emotional feelings network
of sites are connected to each other. Soon I also discovered that there's power in educating yourself about it
all.
As you gain power thru your newly acquired knowledge, you begin to regain a
sense of control. As you begin to feel better, you become stronger & you're more able to begin your own journey
thru recovery & personal growth. Once you begin, you will see how the subjects contained within this network of sites
really is... all pertinent information for you - as a night eater!
visit the homepage for a better understanding of what's contained within the emotional feelings network of
sites!
thanks for stopping by.... i hope that something
within the network will be of use to you today....
kathleen
generalized anxiety disorder: overview
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
is a disorder that little is understood about. It's unknown what the precipitating factors are, or what the predisposing factors
are.
Many believe that it's a state that is a chronic, residual effect
of other anxiety disorders. People are usually given this diagnosis when they have some of the diagnostic criteria of other
anxiety disorders, but do not meet the full criteria for them.
More than 50% of those w/ generalized anxiety disorder are also
diagnosed w/ having a mood disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder.
Essentially, the persons w/ this diagnosis are chronically worried.
They spend much of their days in a state that is:
- on edge
- irritable
- distractible
- fatigued due to the anxiety
There is no specific focus for the anxiety. They usually have
impaired social & work functioning.
Psychotherapy is as effective as medication in the treatment
of those w/ generalized anxiety disorder in most patients. The goal of psychotherapy is to attempt to find the stressors that
produce the anxiety & to find better ways to cope w/ stress.
When medication is needed, often Wellbutrin is utilized,
as it has no risk of dependence & limited side effects. Benzodiazepines may be used for acute attacks on a limited basis.
Two of the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder are changes
in sleeping & eating habits, either sleeping / eating less or more than usual.
Panic Disorder (Episodic Paroxysmal Anxiety)
The essential features are recurrent
attacks of severe anxiety (panic) which are not restricted to any particular situation or set of circumstances &
which are therefore unpredictable.
As in other anxiety disorders, the dominant symptoms vary from person to person, but sudden onset of:
are common. There is also, almost invariably, a secondary fear of dying, losing control, or going mad.
Individual attacks usually last for minutes only,
though sometimes longer; their frequency & the course of the disorder are both rather variable.
An individual in a panic attack often experiences
a crescendo of fear & autonomic symptoms which results
in an exit, usually hurried, from wherever he or she may be. If this occurs in a specific situation, such as on a bus or in
a crowd, the patient may subsequently avoid that situation.
Similarly, frequent & unpredictable panic attacks
produce fear of being alone or going into public places. A panic attack is often followed
by a persistent fear of having another attack.
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an overwhelming sense of fear
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an unresolved emotion - could be a contributing factor in night eating.
having experienced panic disorder or panic attacks personally, i can tell you that panic attacks were a definite factor
in interrupting my sleep habits.
after having a panic attack, i would become exhausted & have to sleep.
this would disrupt my sleep for the night because i had already slept in the daytime.
some days when i would experience more than one attack, it would be impossible
to sleep at night because of the fear of having another attack in my sleep & waking up in excruciating pain
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
The essential feature of this disorder is recurrent
obsessional thoughts or compulsive acts. (For brevity, "obsessional" will be used subsequently in place of "obsessive-compulsive"
when referring to symptoms.) Obsessional thoughts are ideas, images or impulses that enter the individual's mind again and
again in a stereotyped form.
They are almost invariably distressing (because they are violent or obscene, or simply because they are perceived as senseless) & the sufferer
often tries, unsuccessfully, to resist them. They are, however, recognized as the individual's own thoughts, even though they
are involuntary & often repugnant. Compulsive acts or rituals are stereotyped behaviours that are repeated again and again.
They are not inherently enjoyable, nor do they result in the completion of inherently useful tasks.
The individual often views them as preventing some
objectively unlikely event, often involving harm to or caused by himself or herself. Usually, though not invariably, this
behaviour is recognized by the individual as pointless or ineffectual and repeated attempts are made to resist it; in very
long-standing cases, resistance may be minimal. Autonomic anxiety symptoms are often present,
but distressing feelings of internal or psychic tension without obvious autonomic arousal are also common. There is a close relationship between obsessional symptoms, particularly obsessional thoughts & depression. Individuals w/obsessive compulsive disorder often have depressive symptoms, & patients suffering from recurrent
depressive disorder may develop obsessional thoughts during their episodes of depression. In either situation, increases or
decreases in the severity of the depressive symptoms are generally accompanied by parallel changes in the severity of the
obsessional symptoms.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is equally common
in men & women & there are often prominent anankastic features in the underlying personality. Onset is usually in
childhood or early adult life. The course is variable & more likely to be chronic in the absence of significant depressive
symptoms.
in obsessive compulsive disorder there is an overwhelming sense of tension
over the obsessions & compulsions that are being experienced. sleep disturbances such as sleepling less or more than normal
are also experienced. both tension & interruption of normal sleep habits can escalate into a sleep disorder.
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acute stress disorder
Acute Stress Disorder
is a variation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that lasts for a minimum of 2 days,
but lasts a maximum of 4 weeks, occuring within 4 weeks of the initial stressor.
The initial traumatic event must have involved actual
or threatned death or serious injury or a threat to the physical integrity of self or another person & the person must
have felt fear, helplessness or horror.
During the event or immediately after, they must
have experienced some of the following:
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numbing
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detachment
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derealization
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depersonalization
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dissociative amnesia
They must continue to
re-experience the event through such methods as:
During this time, they must have symptoms of anxiety
& significant impairment in at least one essential area of functioning.
Nightmares experienced in acute stress disorder can disrupt sleep cycles.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
This arises as a delayed
and/or protracted response to a stressful event or situation (either short- or long-lasting) of an exceptionally threatening
or catastrophic nature, which is likely to cause pervasive distress in almost anyone; e.g.
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natural or man-made disaster
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combat
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serious accident
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witnessing the violent death of another(s)
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being the victim of torture, terrorism, rape, or
other crime
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domestic violence
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abuse
Predisposing factors such
as personality traits (e.g. compulsive, asthenic) or previous history of neurotic illness may lower the threshold for
the development of the syndrome or aggravate its course, but they are neither necessary nor sufficient to explain its occurrence.
Typical symptoms include:
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episodes of repeated reliving of the trauma in
intrusive memories ("flashbacks")
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dreams, occurring against the persisting background
of a sense of "numbness" & emotional blunting
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detachment from other people
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unresponsiveness to surroundings
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anhedonia
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avoidance of activities & situations reminiscent
of the trauma
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depersonalization
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derealization
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fear & avoidance of cues that remind the sufferer
of the original trauma
Rarely, there may be dramatic, acute bursts of fear,
panic or aggression, triggered by stimuli arousing a sudden recollection and/or re-enactment of the trauma or of the original
reaction to it.
There is usually a state
of autonomic hyperarousal w/hypervigilance, an enhanced startle reaction & insomnia.
Anxiety & depression
are commonly associated w/the above symptoms & signs & suicidal ideation is not infrequent.
Excessive use of alcohol or drugs may be a complicating factor as a negative coping mechanism.
The onset follows the trauma w/a latency period
which may range from a few weeks to months (but rarely exceeds 6 months). The course is fluctuating but recovery can be expected
in the majority of cases.
In a small proportion of patients the
condition may show a chronic course over many years & a transition to an enduring personality change.
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once you realize how emotions, chemicals and physical aspects
of your self interact with each other, you can begin to see the big picture. you can begin to look at your diet to see what
foods contain certain chemicals, such as serotonin, that can affect the way your brain works. serotonin affects your sleep
quality. sleep affects your body physically and mentally. you can begin to take control of your actions because you understand
more clearly about how you have been "stuck" in a cycle of negative thoughts, actions and behaviors.
empowering yourself with information and support from
those who understand as well is a gift that you can give to yourself. you deserve it. learning to be good to yourself replacing
bad or negative forces that you have been sending to yourself is a miracle in the works. positive thinking can lead to positive
posssibilities. positive possibilities can lead to positive actions. it's amazing how it all works, and it does work. i am
an example of it. i no longer eat at night. i have other demons to overcome, but i don't eat at night anymore!
by Sherrie Mcgregor, Ph.D.
February
8, 2006
For many depressed people, exercise is excruciating. But
it may be what they need to recover.
As many depression sufferers can attest, feeling down is likely
to lead to slowing down. It’s not uncommon for once-active people to become couch potatoes when their mood turns blue.
The fatigue and low energy so often associated with depression
are two of the biggest obstacles to exercising. And the idea of letting people see their out-of-shape body at the gym can
be overwhelming for people who are struggling with feelings of worthlessness.
Because of these concerns and more, depression can significantly
alter a person’s health and activity level—for the worse. But the mood disorder and poor physical fitness don’t
have to go hand in hand; recent studies conducted at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., indicate that for some
people, exercise may ease depression as well as medication does.
Working Exercise Into Your Life
- Set tiny fitness goals.
- Focus on success.
- Take steps to avoid isolating yourself.
- Do one new, nondiet-related activity each week.
- Draw up a contract for fitness goals each month.
Exercise versus antidepressants
An initial study conducted in late 1999 found that 30 minutes
of vigorous exercise three times a week was as effective in relieving short-term major depression as antidepressants. The
study, which compared an exercise group with a group that took only medication and another group that combined both therapies,
showed that the positive impact of exercise alone was comparable to the other two treatments.
A follow-up study that tracked the original participants for
six months after the initial 16-week trial showed even better results. This study, which concluded in September 2000, found
that the people who continued their exercise program were less prone to experiencing a relapse of depression. Findings showed
that the more an individual exercised, the less likely she or he was to see symptoms of depression return.
Interestingly, patients who combined medication and exercise
did not respond as well as those who simply worked out. Researchers say the result might be attributed to the more active
role those in the exercise group were taking in their treatment. When participants began feeling better, they were more motivated
to be active, making them feel even better and engaging them in a positive cycle.
While these preliminary findings are welcome news for depression
sufferers, further research needs to take place to determine exactly why vigorous activity is effective and which types of
depression can best be relieved by it.
Focused steps most effective
It’s tough to fight the initial urge to climb back into
bed rather than get out and get moving, but taking that first step makes progress possible.
Teri Jo Oetting, a community dietitian at the University of
Missouri Health and Sciences Center, helps her depressed patients make strides toward physical fitness by taking small, singularly
focused steps.
Oetting recommends that her patients concentrate on one health
and nutrition area at a time to keep themselves from becoming overwhelmed and frustrated. “Like getting at least five
servings of vegetables and educating yourself on the benefits,” she says, “and keeping meal preparation as simple
as possible.”
Since depression sufferers often isolate themselves, spending
free time at home rather than out mixing with others, Oetting suggests easy but significant actions that point her patients
in the direction of better habits.
“I might tell one person to walk outside at night, find
the moon, and take three deep breaths,” she says.
In the beginning, patients may balk and find her suggestions
silly, Oetting admits. But beyond those first steps, the door opens to a world of positive feelings that lead to bigger, brighter
options. “Once outside, they end up doing more,” she explains. “Maybe 10 deep breaths in and out, telling
themselves things like, ‘I walked outside. I’m getting better.’ Once they take that first step, they really
feel good.” The bigger the steps, the more positive the feelings—leading to more activity and more success.
“Depressed patients who combined medication and exercise
did not respond as well as those who simply worked out.”
Exercise as a gift to oneself
Several years ago, busy mother Julia Rosien was diagnosed with
depression. Also dissatisfied with her body, she knew she needed to get back in shape. How did Rosien do it? “One step
at a time.”
Now, with a healthy body and a happy outlook, she looks back
and realizes, “It was about giving to myself. I didn’t have time to pee, never mind time to exercise,” she
says. But by fitting a moment here or there into her already-too-full life, she found her way back to health.
She sat on the floor and did leg lifts while bouncing her toddler
or playing patty-cake. “As my tummy went down, my self-esteem started to return,” says Rosien, who just a short
time earlier couldn’t make it through a meal without crying. “I took charge of my life one stride at a time.”
A sense of control and participation in new activities can do
wonders. That’s why Oetting’s recommendations don’t always involve diet and exercise. She gives her patients
assignments that get them away from the dinner table and off the sofa, like potting plants during the week or going to a beautiful
place and writing in a journal. She suggests her patients use the journal to record successes, so they have something they
can refer to when they eat too much or don’t exercise.
Is weight gain inevitable?
Oetting sometimes sees weight gain as a side effect of antidepressants,
usually three to four months into treatment. For that reason, she recommends seeing a dietician early and making lifestyle
and diet changes before the effects occur.
Jeremy Kisch, PhD, senior director of Clinical Education for
the National Mental Health Association, says patients shouldn’t accept weight gain as inevitable. “The older antidepressants
are more associated with weight gain than the new ones,” he says. “But effects are individual. If you experience
a problem, you need to let your doctor know, then work together to find an alternative.”
Façade
by Personal Story
May 25, 2006
I cannot speak on behalf of every depressed or troubled teenager
and even if I could, I would not want to. Depression is an illness, not a personality defect or a lifestyle choice, as people
who have never experienced it often seem to think. I refuse to generalize by saying “ this is what it’s like,”
because it varies so greatly – in its causes, symptoms and most of all the story of each and every individual who is
weighed down by its chains – or sees someone they love and care about having to walk with shackles attached to their
feet.
I am well aware that there are people out there who had much
worse childhoods than I did. No, I was not raped and beaten by my father, my mother was not a drug-addicted prostitute, and
I did not grow up hungry because they gambled all their money away. Yes, I know that there are people out there who are dying
of AIDS, who are living in the midst of a civil war. But as much sympathy as I have for these people, this is not about them.
For once in my life, this is about me. This is my story, as I remember it…
I was born into a wealthy family in a wealthy neighbourhood
in a wealthy country. I had two loving parents and a set of toys to rival any preschool in the country. I lived in a beautiful
house right by the beach. I was born with everything I ever could have wanted and more. Happiness back then didn’t seem
like a façade, it seemed like a reality. It should have been perfect. I should have floated through life, grateful for everything
that I had. But somewhere along the line, somehow, something went terribly, terribly wrong. The happiness became more and
more of an effort and eventually the façade began to crack.
I’m not really sure where it all started, it just gradually
snuck up on me and then one day I woke up and found myself smack-bang in the middle of my own personal horror movie titled
“My Life.” Or at least that’s what it seemed like.
If you don’t quite understand what I mean by that, consider
for a moment if you can remember where winter began. I’m from New Zealand, so we’ll go by the Southern Hemisphere’s
seasons. Maybe it started to get a little bit cooler around April, but it was only the frost in the mornings that annoyed
you, and there were a few sunny days here and there so you weren’t too worried. You started wearing a hat and gloves
by May, but you denied that you needed the thermals just yet. But then one morning in the middle of June you woke up and looked
out your bedroom window to find that there was a blizzard, at which point it was pretty obvious.
I started dieting when I was eight. We were learning about healthy
eating at school, and following this chocolate and candy were immediately cut out of my diet. Pretty soon that had extended
to anything containing more than a couple of grams of fat. I began to read labels, both the ingredients and the nutritional
contents. I’m the type of person with a metabolism that makes the point of eating almost moot, so in hindsight this
made about as much sense as wearing a woollen hat and gloves to the beach on a hot summer’s day. But that didn’t
stop me from doing it. I started having screaming arguments with my mother when I was in middle school. This was how my parents
communicated so I guess I took their lead. So maybe it started when I was eight, maybe it started when I was twelve. But what
is definite is by the age of fifteen I got my first diagnosis of clinical depression.
Obviously there had been something not quite right about me
for quite some time. But things really came to a head that year. I wanted to make myself throw up. I could never actually
bring myself to do so but I found myself staring into toilet bowls and imagining myself shoving my fingers down my throat
and making everything come out. I became obsessed with the idea and even though I really didn’t want to do that to myself,
the thought continued to haunt me constantly. This disappeared after a series of traumatic events. Within the space of a month,
a childhood friend committed suicide, my friend’s mother died of cancer, one of my best friends was seriously injured
in a car crash to the point where she almost died and could not walk for months, and to top it all off a family friend was
hospitalized.
Instead of thinking about making myself throw up, I could no
longer think about anything. I started to have the weirdest feeling – I just felt numb, like I wasn’t real. I
was just an actor in a play and the world was nothing more than carefully constructed scenery. Everybody else was completely
oblivious to this and that really frustrated me. I wanted to shake them, scream at them, ‘don’t you realize this
isn’t real? Don’t you realize that we’re just actors reading from a script putting on a show for the audience?!’
After all, that was the way it felt for me.
Nobody would have guessed that I suffered from depression because
I did such a good job of hiding it. I did not openly display any of the symptoms of depression outside of my home. I was top
of my class, I excelled at sports, I had plenty of friends and teachers wrote glowing remarks on my report cards about what
a pleasure to teach I was. I had forged this perfect life for myself where depression did not seem to fit into the picture.
The worse I felt, the better I became at faking it. If anyone asked me how I was I would smile and chirp back, “ Fine,
thank you”. But I wasn’t. I was tired – not just physically, as a result of my lack of sleep and type-A
over-achiever schedule. No, this was a different type of tiredness. My soul was being broken down, my identity peeled away
layer by layer, like an onion. I wanted to cut myself because I felt that if I opened myself up I could let all the bad stuff
flow out of me and eventually all my pain would be gone.
Perhaps you are wondering why I couldn’t see the signs,
why I couldn’t have gotten help before it got to this point? Problem is, it takes getting to this point to realize that
this is not how most people live their lives and there probably is a serious problem after all. So along I went to the school
counselor. I explained to her that I had been feeling really down lately and also really numb and anxious and I had all these
thoughts rushing through my head and they just wouldn’t slow down…and…and…
And she said it sounded like clinical depression. She thought
that I should be referred to a Youth Mental Health Service for medication and more comprehensive counseling. I was relieved
and thought it sounded like a brilliant idea. I just had a medical condition, that was all. If I took some pills and talked
about how I felt, then surely it would all be OK. It’s a pity my parents didn’t see it that way. My mother did
not understand that depression was due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, not a lack of material possessions. My father
told me that his father had suffered from severe depression and I was nothing like him, so I did not have it. The counselor
mentioned Prozac and Paxil and he said he did not like “those things” because they were addictive and would make
me gain weight. Consequently I continued to hone my acting skills by suffering in silence.
Before I go any further, I should explain. My parents have been
together for almost 30 years but I cannot understand why because they do not get along. I remember them having big screaming
arguments when I was growing up and me or my younger brother yelling back at them to stop. My mother has serious mental health
problems but has refused to get help for them. I believe that she suffers from bipolar disorder. She would go through periods
where she was up at 5am doing the housework and seemed to have a lot of energy, but it wasn’t positive energy. She was
anxious and irritable, almost like she was on a cliff edge and the slightest gust of wind could push her over. At other times
she would break down crying for no reason and say that life wasn’t worth living, she wished she was dead. When I was
a pre-teen I would get really angry at her for saying those things. But somewhere along the line I got sick of being angry
and instead turned on myself.
When I was seventeen these issues began to manifest themselves
in a different way – this time through anorexia. Once again, the onset was so gradual I didn’t even realize what
was happening until I was right in the thick of it. I play competitive sports and at the time I was determined to do well
in the national championships. So I began to train harder and eat less – a lot less. I managed to lose around ten kilograms
(22 pounds) in three months. At my lowest, I had a BMI of fifteen.
The only advantage to having anorexia compared with depression
is that everyone can see your pain. A bad mood does not strike fear into people like self-imposed starvation does. There is
always hope that someone with depression can wake up the next day feeling better; however, someone with anorexia is not going
to wake up having regained the weight that they lost overnight. It got so bad that my immune system began to shut down. I
was threatened with hospitalization, and even worse for me, not being allowed to continue to play sports. I could either live
or die.
Despite the severity of my condition I never received therapy
during the course of my anorexia. No one suggested I go and I was too ashamed to tell anyone that I thought I needed to. My
sport became my incentive to get well again. I’ve heard that most anorexics would rather die than be fat but I saw it
the other way around. What use is it being so thin that you’re not alive to enjoy it?
But once I recovered from anorexia, the depression just came
back again. It got stronger with each episode and consequently I reached a similar sink-or-swim scenario with it eight months
ago. Up until them I had been able to soldier on through my depression. I am in law school and no matter how unmotivated I
felt I would still be able to force myself to write an A-grade essay. If I had insomnia I could just take a sleeping pill.
But gradually I found myself spacing out in class, unable to catch what the professor was saying. It would take me forever
to write two sentences. I began to self-harm on a daily basis because it was too much effort to continue to try to fight the
urge. Part of me just wanted to curl up and let the darkness engulf me.
But another part of me fought back. As with anorexia, this part
of me decided that I was too good for this illness. Depression had outstayed its welcome – it was time for it to be
evicted. I went on Prozac, as I should have when I was fifteen – one of the doctors at university faithfully wrote out
prescriptions for me, gradually upping my dose as I complained about my mother’s mood swings and how tempted I was to
cut myself. She listened and she cared, as did the counselor I was seeing. For once I felt like I wasn’t just a hypochondriac,
that my problems were real and deserved to be taken seriously. I also decided that my home environment was doing me no good
and so I transferred universities and moved to a new city. I have now been there for four months and am seeing a psychologist
to help me sort though my family issues and keep me well. I know feel a lot better than I have in a very long time. Now when
people ask how I am I smile and chirp, “ Fine, thank you.” Except this time I really am. I am fine. In fact, I
am better than fine, I am happy.
Sometimes it seems so hard to believe that I finally have something
that is second nature to so many people. Happiness is not always easy, as it requires living in reality. Depression became
a security blanket for me because it was so damn familiar. I had built a whole identity around this screwed-up persona, which
I was so used to that I began to think it was just the way that I was . When I first went on medication I was scared when
I started to feel better because the layers of darkness had been there for so long that I no longer recognized the good that
lay beneath them. But once I got to know that good a little better, I grew to love it. My advice to others facing mental illness
is never to give up hope. When you get to the end of your rope tie a knot and hold on as tight as you can.
If you don’t think you can keep on holding consider this:
My grandfather was a severe depressive to the point where he could not get out of bed for prolonged periods. My aunt has had
bouts of depression. My mother has bipolar disorder. I am the third generation and I have decided that enough is enough. I
am now 21 years old and have my whole life ahead of me. I do not want to pass all this onto my children, for them in turn
to pass onto theirs. This is something nobody should inherit. The cycle stops here with me. This is my story, as I will remember
it…
–zombiette
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