Women's Stress, Body Dissatisfaction, and Binge Eating. Femininity, Feminine Gender Role Stress, Body Dissatisfaction and their Relationships to Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder

The effect on the body is similar to what someone would feel if suddenly confronted with a maniac jumping out of an alley, swinging an ax. In the latter case, the rapid heartbeat and heaving chest are appropriate spontaneous defensive reactions that the mind uses to urge the body to defend itself or race out of harmБЂ™s way. But with anxiety/panic disorders, the chemicals that trigger a fight-or-flight response are in undue proportion to the minor incident that caused the stress. Or else theyБЂ™re released when there isnБЂ™t any apparent stress at all. IБЂ™ve had panic attacks walking down a street, going up an escalator, eating a hamburger, watching TV-in just about any benign situation I can imagine. Sometimes it was because the defective БЂњvalveБЂ«in my brain dumped stress chemicals into me for no other reason than that it was faulty. Other times it was because an unconscious association stimulated a massive stressful flashback to MatthewБЂ™s death. My treatment was a combination of visits to a psychiatrist and a drug called Xanax ...»