Obesity is a complex disease involving the accumulation of excessive amount of body fat. It’s a health condition that increases the risk of other diseases and health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers.
The patients suffering from obesity are body shamed and they face biases in society that create a negative impact on people and label them as individuals with low willpower and self-restraint. They are being judged on the basis of their physical appearance and not on the basis of capabilities where they receive negative comments on weight and body shape.
This may lead to low self-esteem and depression in many individuals and women are more prone to obesity-related depression than men. It has been seen that obesity was one of the risk factors that led to increased severity of Covid 19 infection. This causes immense stress, and anxiety in the lives of people suffering from obesity. Increased anxiety make them more vulnerable to over-eating and a sedentary lifestyle and leading them to gain more weight.
Social media create weight-based memes and highly stigmatized content about obesity reinforcing the bias that individuals suffering from obesity are lazy, less active and have less willpower. Internalization of these weight-biased attitudes in media portrayals has been shown to cause adverse effects on psychological health, leading to more depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, body image issues and disordered eating. Weight-based internalization is associated with greater emotional distress and has been linked with depression.
Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are associated with Schizophrenia. Many antipsychotic medications lead to weight gain and have an impact on insulin sensitivity. Many psychiatric disorders are associated with comfort eating, lack of interest in preparing healthy meals, impulsive eating and food addiction. Weight gain leads to increase in psychological problems forming vicious cycle.
Moreover, obesity have a serious impact on physical as well as on mental health. Educating people to practice self-compassion and mindfulness can help people to deal with mental health issues. Obesity and mental health issues are closely interrelated and need our attention in a holistic manner.