【Case】 The haggard-looking Xiao Mei came to me for consultation and told me this painful experience: I had a weird problem of craving for food that I couldn’t control since six months ago. At that time, I had just started my third year of high school. Because I was always worried about gaining weight, I didn’t dare to eat more, and as a result, I slowly developed anorexia symptoms. But soon after, the situation was the opposite, often irresistible to eat a large amount of food, each time I had to eat until my stomach was bursting. If I didn’t eat what I wanted to eat, I didn’t feel like going to class or studying, and I couldn’t even sleep well at night. As a result of the constant overeating, I gained weight and became more and more bloated. I often resorted to induced vomiting, induced diarrhea, and increased exercise to eliminate the fear of gaining weight due to overeating. I was really distressed and vowed not to eat indiscriminately anymore, but I couldn’t control myself, especially when I was in a bad mood, I ate more, I was lethargic in class, my academic performance plummeted, and I often quietly shed tears. My anxious parents had taken me to the local hospital for various tests, but no physical problems were found. What is this strange disease? Analysis] In fact, the young girl was suffering from a disease called bulimia nervosa. It is not difficult to see such a phenomenon in our daily lives: many beautiful girls often feel that they are not slim enough, not enough bone and deliberately eat less or do not eat. This approach sometimes leads to another situation, that is, after a period of dieting to lose weight, because they can not resist the torture of hunger, they have to start eating more aggressively, and out of control. People may find this very strange, why would the dieter become a “glutton” it? That is because, unknowingly, they have been suffering from bulimia nervosa physical and mental illness. Psychologists believe that bulimia is a way to deal with stress and unpleasant feelings, and that patients do not need to eat physically, but feel chronically hungry psychologically. It is important to note that it does not really serve the function of relieving psychological stress, but instead makes “eating” an inappropriate way to deal with anxiety, loneliness and anger. Often, bulimics suffer from bulimia in order to deal with more serious psychological problems than overeating and excessive weight concern, such as severe anxiety. For many seniors, there are many reasons that trigger anxiety, most directly from the stress of studying and taking the college entrance exams. Stress comes, how to cope? Many people often involuntarily choose to “eat” as a way to vent to remove tension and unpleasant mood, although Xiao Mei did not realize it was venting emotions when eating. If a person’s emotions are often associated with a certain behavior, such as eating when frustrated, it is easy to form a habit after a certain amount of reinforcement, and later as long as a frustrated, regardless of hunger, will be very natural to eat. This “natural” appearance will make people feel cathartic and relaxed, and it will be very difficult and uncomfortable to change this habit. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by a recurrent and irresistible desire to eat and binge eating behavior. Patients have a fear of gaining weight and often take extreme measures such as inducing vomiting, inducing diarrhea, and fasting to eliminate binge eating that causes fat. It may alternate with anorexia nervosa, and both have similar pathological and psychological mechanisms and gender and age distribution. Most patients are continuers of anorexia nervosa, with a later age of onset than anorexia nervosa. So, how to treat this disease? First of all, early detection of the disease. Instead of thinking that it is just a craving or a bad eating habit, the best way is to cooperate closely with the doctor in order to get a more satisfactory treatment effect. If parents find signs of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa in their children, they should go to a professional institution to see a psychiatrist or psychologist for a psychotherapy-based treatment, supplemented by medication. In addition to supportive psychotherapy, the treatment mainly uses cognitive-behavioral therapy, not to put too much pressure on themselves, to rebuild their confidence and to correct their abnormal behaviors and perceptions. Of course, the most important thing is also to find the internal causes of anxiety, tension, depression and other mood disorders, and prescribe the right medicine to achieve satisfactory treatment results.