What Is Obesophobia

You might have met the word “obesophobia” before and already know what it means. But if not, here is the answer: obesophobia (or pocrescophobia) is a fear that a person has when they are afraid of gaining some weight and becoming chubby.

Although obesophobia is more common among young ladies, some guys have it as well. Unfortunately, this fear can lead to numerous problems and harsh diseases if the one who has it does not start talking to a professional therapist who specializes in the topic.

How to Detect Obesophobia

If you feel like you might be the one who has obesophobia, here is a list of symptoms for you to check yourself and see if there is a reason to visit a doctor.

When people have such fear, they may experience the following points.

• Anxiety from food and related things

An overwhelming feeling of anxiety is something that you have when you think about food, and it leads to the imagination of you being fat in your head. Another thing that triggers is thinking of situations tied to weight gaining (for one, the imagination of a scale or you standing on it). This whole complex might lead to panic attacks and nervous breakdowns.

• Refusal to Eat

If you refuse to eat or significantly limit the number of meals, it might be a worrying factor and a sign that you should talk to a specialist. Practicing fasting is no good, too: you have to eat something, so your inner organs feel fine.

• Intense Exercising and Calories Counting

Being crazy about exercising and obsessive counting of everything that goes in your mouth is not healthy, too. There is nothing bad in healthy food but only if eating something extra is not a problem for you.

• Vomiting on purpose

This is a very unpleasant symptom; however, if you detect it, it is an alarm that tells you to visit a doctor right away. So, if you or some of your friends get a habit of vomiting immediately after having lunch or dinner, do not hesitate to make an appointment with a trustworthy specialist.

What if I ignore the phobia?

Awful consequences will follow if you decide that you can live with obesophobia and do nothing about it.

Unfortunately, unlike some other phobias, obesophobia leads to various diseases. The most common are:

• Anorexia nervosa
• Bulimia nervosa
• Purging disorder.

All these are rather tough to cure and sometimes can even be lethal. So, if you notice any obesophobia signs, we strongly recommend you see a doctor as soon as you can.

How to Fight Obesophobia

There are various methods to fight this fear. Normally, your specialist can either prescribe you medication like antidepressants or mood stabilizers or recommend you a therapy that will help you with sessions where you will talk, define the problem, and find a solution together with a licensed specialist.