The Viennese clinical psychologist and health psychologist Martin Felinger (52) works with the society against sect and cult dangers and advises the Barbara Karlich show on the ORF in matters of religion and esotericism.
OÖN: Healthy eating is important, but you can also overdo it, right?
Felinger: Absolutely. Eating disorders and their origins are a broad field. On the one hand there are things that are rooted in one’s own psyche, I’m thinking of anorexia, on the other hand there is this obsession with health, the urge to do everything perfectly, it tends towards orthorexia. Their causes lie more in the information and thought world in which I find myself. This can be strongly influenced by my environment or by my perfectionism setting too high goals. Of course you can strive for the positive and the good, but there are also limits. If I overdo it and do it in excess, it may become self-limiting because I’m making life very difficult for myself.
Is there an exact boundary between healthy eating and orthorexia?
It is always difficult to draw a precise line when it comes to psychological phenomena. One criterion is: How far do I align my life accordingly? If the majority of my thoughts only revolve around the topics of shopping and preparing meals, if other areas of life are pushed back as a result, the area is too large. For example, if I arrange social contacts differently, if I have problems in the partnership or if I get into financial difficulties because the products I want are so special and expensive.
In addition to personal attitudes that can promote orthorexia, are there also social reasons – such as the prevailing marathon or fitness ideology?
Yes absolutely. The striving for always better and always more has a lot of positives in a society, no question. But it can drive excesses. Information is being spread in our society that is medically and scientifically untenable and even scares: If you don’t eat in this way, then something will happen…
Can religious dietary laws be the gateway to orthorexia?
I would not have observed that. Religious dietary laws have been around for a long time. Orthorexia is a recent phenomenon.
Are orthoretics denying themselves the pleasure and enjoyment of eating?
What I have observed is that these people are under a lot of pressure to do everything right. Pleasure, on the other hand, usually has to do with relaxation. If you want to enjoy something, you should take some time off. It’s hard for me to enjoy something when I’m under a lot of tension.
Zero diets, extreme fasting are probably also questionable, right?
Medicine has clear evidence that zero fasting over a longer period of time can be dangerous. The more problematic these behaviors become, the more cult-like they become. There are people who only eat three or four products.
How does the psyche reward orthorectics? Can this be explained by addiction mechanisms?
These are similar events. I probably actually feel happy, also in the sense that I belong to a supposed elite, that I do something that other people don’t even begin to understand. I’m several levels higher and have insights that others don’t have. That makes me special and that can lead to feelings of satisfaction or happiness.
How do you get out?
The biggest problem is self-awareness. Most people don’t come to therapy because they slowly got into the disorder and say to themselves: I don’t have a problem, everything is wonderful.
What would therapy aim for?
A first step would be to rebuild critical self-questioning and break up the illusory world a little – a process that we know from sects.
What is your advice for outsiders in contact with those affected?
Expressing criticism or discussing is the wrong way, because it only poisons the relationship level and soon the contact is broken off. It would be better to ask simple questions during the conversation that the person can later think about in private. Reflecting on one’s own is rather the way to a process that leads to the insight: I have to do something differently.
Source: Nachrichten
