Nowadays, the issue of addiction to bodybuilding is often discussed. This includes steroid use and exercise. Find out if there is a bodybuilding addiction. Today the conversation will focus on the most common mental and behavioral disorders, one of the manifestations of which is work with weights and the use of steroids. These disorders have one thing in common - the absence of a causal relationship with sports, as well as the manifestation of symptomatic features that are not self-induced. They can seriously affect the course of the disease itself.
When the disease becomes obvious to everyone around, most specialists relate the emerging disorders in the patient's psychological state only with the use of AAS. But this approach does not make it possible to determine the true causes of the onset of the disease and, as a consequence, it interferes with choosing the correct treatment tactics.
Types of psychological addiction
In this regard, it should be noted that it has not yet been possible to establish the possibility of mental disorders when using steroids. There are many opinions on this issue, and it has not yet been possible to reach an agreement. This situation is the main source of a large number of misunderstandings on the essence of this issue.
We will not now deny all the possibilities, but at the same time we will completely move away from the consequences of the use of anabolic drugs described in the medical literature. All attention in this article will focus on the four most common pathologies.
Such pathologies are: orthorexia, dysmorphomania (body dysmorphic disorder), training mania and muscle dysmorphia. All these pathologies have different origins, dynamics and outcomes. For example, dysmorphomania is already a fairly well-studied condition, and training mania is a relatively new, but still well-known term that applies only to athleticism. At the same time, muscle dysmorphia and orthorexia are practically unknown for domestic specialists.
Although there are publications concerning these two pathologies, in most cases they are of a popular scientific nature, without pretending to be academic. Dysmorphomania is a clinical symptom, the essence of which consists in the presence of serious worries about a significant physical disability or in the incorrect administration of physiological functions. This is a purely psychological symptom, in the structure of which 3 components are clearly distinguished:
- The idea of having a handicap;
- The idea of a relationship;
- Depressive background.
This condition occurs mainly during adolescence and can last until adolescence. Most often, the cause of this disorder is the "defects" of the face and much less often - the figure. Patients make every effort to eliminate imaginary shortcomings, while very often the conversation comes to surgical intervention. If during this period the patient begins to think about bodybuilding and steroids, then the dosages of anabolic drugs, as well as their combinations, are absolutely fantastic. The situation is almost the same with exercises when drawing up a training program.
Trainingomania is a type of additive disorder, which consists in the formation of dependence on strength sports and the use of steroids.
Orthorexia is one of the types of eating disorders, the essence of which is an excessive obsession with dietary nutrition. Orthorexia is often caused by a strong desire to maintain or restore mental or physical health while living in the “wrong” world. The patient begins to develop or strictly follow certain dietary nutrition programs.
It is also possible to choose a certain kind of sport (most often power), as a tool to achieve your goal. At the same time, it is not so important for the patient, since it is only an auxiliary tool. Patients with a similar diagnosis are sure that their previous lifestyle was wrong. With long-term illness, orthorexia can transform into other types of behavioral disorders.
Muscle dysmorphia is a severe fear of losing muscle mass or strength metrics (this happens much less frequently). Mostly men are susceptible to muscle dysmorphia. Experts suggest that the basis for the development of muscle dysmorphia is most often a complex of physical inferiority.
In everyday life, patients are timid, very shy people who never take the initiative in anything. Their outlook on life is very conformist and they consider themselves to be eternal failures. In this regard, it should be noted that almost all frolicking complexes have their roots in childhood and adolescence.
This is due to the peculiarities of the subculture of these periods, when it is necessary to dictate your leadership and authority. At this point, teenagers can draw an analogy of success and authority with a powerful physique and brutality. In many ways, this is facilitated by the heroes of action films, comics and even cartoons.
In the specialized literature, you can find symptoms that bring together dysmorphia and dysmorphomania. For example, some dysmorphics are so shy about their figure and body that they begin to train exclusively at home. They also begin to wear clothes that can hide, in their opinion, physique deficiencies, limit communication and try to leave the house less often.
Of course, playing sports is a good hobby. However, the recently emerging fashion for an athletic figure and a healthy lifestyle can turn into a psychological disorder for some people. The mindless passion for bodybuilding and the desire to be like their idols leads to the development of addictions that have nothing to do with this great sport.
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