Are veganism and vegetarianism symptomatic of eating disorders?

Are veganism and vegetarianism symptomatic of eating disorders?

Over the past year, a large number of clients have said that medical professionals advise them that their lifestyle and eating habits are tantamount to mental illness and should be classified as eating disorders. Their decision not to eat animal products or to limit their consumption to non-meat-based content is seen as extreme and a response to disturbances in their psychological well-being. As a psychologist, I would like to raise these concerns with both clients and healthcare professionals.

Firstly, it is important to understand what vegetarianism and veganism are. Vegetarianism is the practice of not eating meat-based products from animals, i.e. meat, fish or chicken, although some people still call themselves vegetarians but eat fish. Decisions are often made based on beliefs about health or cruelty in agricultural practices or meat production. The former belief is based on the understanding that a person is healthier if they do not eat meat, fish or chicken, although they choose to eat animal by-products such as milk or eggs. The latter belief relates to cruelty issues related to the treatment of animals in livestock farming. For vegetarians, these two beliefs do not necessarily go together. A person may limit consumption of animal products to improve health without particularly caring for the welfare of the animals involved.

Veganism, on the other hand, is a philosophy that it is not acceptable to use or exploit animals in any way. Decisions to adopt a vegan diet may not be philosophically motivated, but rather are made on the basis of improved health. Strictly speaking, this is not vegan, but like the philosophy that is led vegan, the person does not consume animal products. The true definition of vegan is based on ethics; that it is inherently wrong to use or exploit animals, i.e. to eat, wear, entertain, or use pharmaceutical products tested on animals, etc. The ethical vegan is someone who is so affected by veganism that they are intellectually outraged or have severe pain at the realization of how animals are treated in industrial production. It is these individuals who are more likely to seek psychological support as they often present symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, panic attacks, suicide or paranoia.

When a person seeks the help of a qualified professional, he or she often reports symptoms that are referred to as a mental disorder or, as I prefer to say, psychological distress. When asked, they invariably say they have adopted a vegan lifestyle that might be considered extreme to the non-vegan medical professional. Upon closer inspection, I believe that the experiences reported by vegans are so traumatic and have more to do with the knowledge and awareness that has come into their lives, rather than their lifestyle choices being defense mechanisms or strategies to avoid experiencing repressed psychological pain.

What do vegans know?

A person who adopts an ethical vegan lifestyle has become aware of the enormous and inherent cruelty and social injustice of the industrial use of animals in our society, whether in food production, the entertainment industry, or testing products for human use. The industrial exploitation of animals is based on viewing animals as property. To maximize profits, costs are reduced, meaning pain reduction is not part of the equation. This means that animals raised specifically for food do not receive the same legal protection as pets. The vegan is traumatized by this awareness and often feels powerless when his beliefs are taken seriously or change quickly or at all. However, her trauma runs deeper. They have become aware of a gross injustice and speciesism inherent in this industrial system. When they try to share this with others, they are often denounced as being too sensitive or encouraged to accept that “eating animals is normal” or “if things were that bad they would never be allowed.” This increases their pain and sense of isolation, as other people often feel uncomfortable with the information they share and the challenge to their own values. These repeated experiences cause the person to alienate their friends or family and further increase their distress.

To achieve some degree of stability and pain relief, they seek the services of a psychologist or psychiatrist. When people are told that their eating habits are extreme and constitute eating disorders, paranoia or depression, I think the medical profession is missing something very important about the determinants of their psychological distress. Many clients report minimizing or trivializing their distress as a form of violence or additional abuse. This leads to a complicated grief response in which unresolved previous grief is re-experienced. In an attempt to alleviate their further sense of psychological pain, anger, and resentment, they often hold tighter to their ethical vegan behavior. It is these reported behaviors that lead professionals to regularly assume that their chosen strategies, defined by their eating and lifestyle choices, are a function of mental illness. I believe that they are not symptoms of mental disorders, but a function of mental clarity, psychological well-being, increased levels of empathy and compassion. How do these welcome psychological traits suddenly become classified as mental disorders?

Challenging the status quo

I believe that if we only have a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. It is all too easy for a professional to view a person's behavior through the narrow lens of medical labeling, and when confronted with symptoms of non-typical eating behavior, label them as abnormal. We have seen this with other non-typical lifestyle choices such as homosexuality, which have only relatively recently been removed from the list of mental disorders. Furthermore, veganism challenges everyone (including the professional) to examine their own speciesism and human superiority. Speciesism is the term used to explain why different animals are treated differently, e.g. E.g. why we are appalled at cruelty to dogs and cats but accept or do not question the slaughter of other animals for food or as recipients of tests. It may be the unpleasant feelings that the observer feels that leads to rejection or rejection of the injustice. However, this is at least unhelpful and at worst abusive when the professional classifies an individual's attitudes and behavior as abnormal in order to unconsciously avoid experiencing his own discomfort inherent in his own speciesism or a legitimate superiority granted simply because he is human.

I encourage vegan clients to enlist the help of other vegans to support them on their journey. If your symptoms are acute, look for a vegan psychologist or counselor Anyone who can empathize with the inherent challenges of this lifestyle would most likely be helpful. Although the psychologist may be vegan, remember that you can only manage your pain if you trust and have a relationship with the professional. If this is not present, no common philosophical standpoint will help you overcome your challenges.

I encourage doctors, psychologists and counselors to recognize that vegan eating and lifestyle habits are not symptoms of eating disorders. This is a values-based judgment based on norms in society, and such inappropriate labeling can exacerbate the client's suffering and represent a form of superiority over animals - this time over other humans.

Inspired by Clare Mann