Author: Małgorzata Krupińska

While binge eating disorder and anorexia has been known for a long time, the ortorexie reached its apogee in the XXI century. Ortorexia nervosa means unhealthy obsessive focus on eating healthy food. American physician Steve Bratman first coined the term “orthorexia”.

Ortorexie is mental believe, that a person who is obsessively fixed on healthy eating, eats better than other people. An ortorexic person resigns from social meetings, when there is any suspicion of inappropriate
dishes on the table. The ortorexic person feels guilty, each time they eat a piece of chocolate or meat, which are harmful products according to them.

The key behavior for ortorexie is elimination of certain products from the diet, which is needed to stay healthy. Those with the symptoms of ortrexia nervosa eliminate products contenting preservatives, pesticides, fat, sugar, salt, genetically modified food from their diets, which according to them is manifestation of health. Meals are prepared with the utmost care and attention and any variation from the norms leads to the feeling of fear, guilt, shame and further diet restrictions. Fat, carbohydrates, meat, diary products are excluded and also related areas of life.

Where in human life would the behavior that excludes successive products from the diet apply?

Denying oneself food, or prolonged fasting, was something greatly rewarded in Christian, Buddhist and Orthodox monasteries as a sign of self-sacrifice and a manifestation of self-discipline. The effects of exclusion successive products from the diet are: deficiency of micro-elements and vitamins as well as neurological changes in the brain. As result of elimination some nutrition products from the diet are: concentration disorder, dizziness, weakness, anemia, mood disorder. As a next effect of ortorexie are hormone disorder, mainly production of estrogen and testosterone and tendency to depression and its manifestation.

Ortorexie it is disorder, which occurs mainly in women, sportsmen, actors and actresses. The phenomenon occurs wherever the cult of a perfect body is developed. Hormones disorder causes depression. Similarly
to binge eating syndrome and anorexia nervosa, in ortorexie, eating only proper healthy food is subject to a system of punishments and rewards.

Each compatibility with food regime is supported/rewarded, each deviation from following food regime is being punished and cause feeling of guilty.
Maintaining diet, fasting in the monasteries was kind of lifestyle and philosophy but it could became a daily ritual and leads to disability. Ortorexic people have a feeling of eating healthier than others and that
they can control their life through amount of food eaten. In fact, such people are on the way to hormonal disorders, unbalanced health and mood disorders. In fact controlling food helps: regulates aggression,
guilt, remove difficult memories from the childhood.

There is a possibility to work on this topic in the addiction group “Find your own strength”

A person suspected to be addicted to power often holds a high office or uses professional position to advance his agenda and increase the scope of influence. If the person holds an important position in the company, his decisions may influence decisions of many others, in particular of co-workers. Decisions of such person may elevate or bring somebody into disfavour. Usually these employment and work-related decisions are not based on any transparent criteria. The professional success of an addict is closely tied to euphoria, social and material status. Around such a person gather “vultures” and “hyenas” feeding them gratuity, which the addict craves. It can be for example: articles in the press, wining a contest, interesting foreign workshop, an opportunity to buy property cheaply, sex, support from an authority, invitations to meetings.

Gradually the scope of the artificial gratuities becomes wider and the decisions become less aimed at the common good and less based on the principles of good management and common sense. At this time the addict has no time for the family, children and friends, neglects own health and feels compelled to exercise power, similarly to how an alcoholic cannot give up drinking.

The addict often makes glaring mistakes in terms of interests with which, until recently, he identified himself. The mistakes contradict the previous values. Wrong decisions are accompanied with an ideology, which serves as justification. While the scope of gratuity provided by “the vultures” and “the hyenas” widens the addict gradually convinces himself that he is above the human and universal law.

Addiction to power is portrait in the 2019 movie “The Assistant” or in the cult film “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”. In the latter movie a psychiatric patient tries weaken the power of omniscient Nurse Ratched. The nurse is an ambitious and addicted to wielding power. The distance between her and the patients only further enables the addiction. The compulsion to exercise power often occurs in politicians, civil servants but it can appear in any other profession. Addiction to power often occurs in families with a member in prison. In prison there exist two authoritarian power structures: the administration and the inmate structure. A father is often missing in such families.

Women addicted to power

Women addicted to power have a very low level of trust, they essentially do not trust anyone. Because they are not able to open up to anybody, their intimate relationships are not satisfying. They may often change partners. Their first sexual experience is often under the influence of alcohol.
Nevertheless, intimate relationship are often the only place where the addicted woman may loosen her grasp on the world. Experience in working with women addicted to power shows that they were often victims of sexual abuse in childhood.

Example:

Woman, aged 50. Her first relationship ended with abandoning by her partner. The marriage with a man, with whom she had three children lasted short. After the divorce the woman took control over the upbringing of her children and simultaneously worked intensively. Alcohol helped her relax after the work. In her professional life she was a team leader for a long time, and with great success. The fact the she was alternating between drinking before sleep and sleeping pills was the price for her professional success. Both her children had behavioural disorders. A person addicted to power is not able to ask for help, to openly admit to not understanding something. It would mean that somebody has an advantage in the person’s territory. In the spiritual realm the addict has a distorted view of himself, often sees himself better than than reality would have it. It often involves projecting own weaknesses on the opponents and even enlarging them. Such a person often does not see own psychopathy, oppresses, sneers and laughs at others. The addict cannot be sidelined and constantly seeks people supporting own viewpoint and by doing that serving the person in various ways. The addict constantly build his own court. Power addicts rarely seek professional help, even though it is a disorder similarly to any other addictions. In the group addiction therapy “Find you own strength” we also work with this aspect of live.

Therapeutic Group “Find you own strength”

Obsessive cleaning (compulsive cleaning) may be an independent compulsion or a part of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). Although it is often seen as a female addiction, many men tries to improve their mood by scrubbing down the house, polishing the silver etc…

What are signs of compulsive cleaning?

• Increased urge to cleanIncreased time of cleaning
• Increased discomfort, discontent and irritation when confronted with a mess
• Mood and self-esteem depend on the tidiness
• Cleaning takes up the time otherwise spend with family or friends, attending to personal matters,
  solving conflicts or simply resting

Example 1:

woman, age 45.

She expressed her love for her mother by cleaning the house, she wanted to help the mother. In the beginning the mother and father noticed her effort. She was very pleased to change the image of the house to more clean, orderly, pleasant and resourceful. Time passed and mother’s praises diminished and cleaning of the house became only a duty. The mother was usually dissatisfied with her life, and her daughter’s effort to maintain the order in the house could not change it. As a teenager the woman felt better when she was cleaning the house. When she had her own children she was dissatisfied with herself when she did not manage to properly take care of the house. When her husband did not help with cleaning or was not as enthusiastic as her, she reacted with sadness. When she understood that she equals commitment to maintaining the order in house with emotional commitment to her family she stopped having mood swings. She stopped being angry when the husband and the children did not help her on their own initiative, she learned to ask for help.

Example 2:

woman, age 50.

In her childhood she was responsible for the house, because her mother spend evenings at work, drinking with co-workers. The house was in such a good state that even close family did not suspect mother’s drinking problem. When the young girl could not clean the house she felt deeply ashamed and became very unrest. She perfected her cleaning techniques and her good mood was achieved when the house was spotless and all of the chores were taken care of. Cleaning became a way to reduce sadness, loneliness, feeling of abandonment and later also grief and being angry with her parents. The woman build a false self around the act of cleaning, ironing, washing etc.

Example 3:

man, age 30.

As the youngest of three boys he earned the admiration of his family by meticulously cleaning the house. Nobody in his perfect family could equal him in terms of the quality and perfection of cleaning. For a brief moment he could live up to his parent’s unrealistic expectations. Compulsive cleaning is a behavioural addiction. In the group addiction therapy “Find you own strength” we also work with this aspect of live.

Therapeutic Group “Find you own strength”