The United States and many Western countries report obesity to be of epidemic proportions. Being overweight is not a rarity as anyone who is overweight can attest. About two thirds of all Americans are overweight, and this statistic is sure to rise in the coming years.

Obesity describes a condition that falls several standard deviations from the norm, that is people who carry more than 40lbs of weight that would be normal for their body type.

Is obesity dangerous to your health? ABSOLUTELY! It is the leading cause of type II Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiac malfunctioning, premature wearing out of the skeletal parts such as hip bones and knee joints. Obesity has also been linked to certain types of cancers and strokes.

The causes of obesity are well known: We eat more calories than we burn off. The calories that are not burned away are stored as body fat. In the 1960's the average person in America consumed approximately 3100 calories per day. By the 1990's this caloric intake has risen to 3700 per day.

It would be simple to blame the caloric intake increase to easily available fast, fattening and not very healthy foods. This would not account for all the increase. There are also a number of behavioral and emotional factors that contribute greatly to the obesity problem. I want to make sure that I mention that there are some people who unfortunately suffer from diseases and genetic conditions who are not a part of what we are discussing here.

First of all, physical exercise is not part of most peoples daily routine. Very little walking and moving about is done when one spends most of the day in front of a computer. We drive to almost everywhere, even if a store is within walking distance, the car is the preferred is used instead. If not in front of the computer many people are on the couch watching television shows. No physical labor = no burning of calories!!!

Emotional problems, if not managed and treated effectively can be a huge factor in the development of obesity.

The causes may be experiencing a sense of loss or failure. Financial problems, loss of self esteem, the break up of a relationship. A depressed person may utilize food as a defense of feeling emptiness. Fact is that food or the intake of food is the first experience every human being has that signals being taken care off. Newborns automatically turn towards their mothers breast to obtain food and the associated nurturing feelings. This is why depressed people often overeat and gain too much weight which in turn exacerbates the depression and leads to even more food intake.

When one ingests food, the nurturing, fulfilling effects are immediate. For example one might take a bite of chocolate with the intention of taking only one bite. The sweet rich flavor is desirable and all is good so why not take just another little bite. Before long the whole chocolate bar is consumed. The person starts to feel a bit bloated and chastises her or himself for having done this to themselves. The power of that nurturing feeling, no matter how short in duration, is to die for when one feels really bad or depressed.

It is clear that food can serve as a numbing agent against what he or she is experiencing as painful or traumatic. When food is emotionally soothing the more is better syndrome often kicks in and overeating is the result. It becomes a cycle that is difficult to stop.

Anxiety

Anxiety can best be described as the time between first knowing about an unpleasant or pleasant event and the time that this event actually takes place. For example, a meeting with the boss is scheduled to review performance on the job over the last quarter. You know that you have done well and should get a good review yet, one never really knows and some anxiety is experienced about the upcoming meeting. This is a fairly benign type of anxiety, and some anxiety is actually useful if it motivates a person to do a competent job.

The anxiety that we are concerned about is the type of anxiety that tends to paralyze a person. The feeling is uneasy, the person becomes worried, fearful. The threat that causes it needs not to be real, it can also be imagined. These types of anxiety can lead to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Post Traumatic Distress Disorder.

As in depression, people suffering from these disorders tend to utilize food to suppress the symptoms of anxiety. Eating serves as a distraction. Furthermore, when stress builds up over the course of a day the tense feelings can be broken by overeating or binge eating at the end of the day.

Anger

Anger is in most cases produced by feelings of helplessness. This creates an anger response which is seldom a pleasant experience. Often the anger response involves reacting with hurtful comments, hostility, and in some cases physical violence. In order to diffuse anger some people turn to eating as a soothing dynamic as is the case with people suffering from anxiety.

When people have little or no interests that focus their attention towards doing things or experiencing events they can slip into unchallenging lifestyles that becomes repetitive and boring. These feelings are often accompanied with feelings of loneliness caused by being isolated from the mainstream activities in their society. Commonly, many of these people suffer from shyness, lack of social skills and have little self-confidence.

Eating behaviors come to the rescue of that because it will obscure loneliness and boredom. It will provide that momentary feeling of being nurtured that I discussed earlier.

All of these causes of emotionally driven overeating behaviors can be successfully treated in therapy. In therapy the person will be exploring different ways of coping, learn how to change entrenched belief systems, develop new friends and interests. Anger management, meditation, guided imagery, deep breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation are a few of the methods that can be taught in the therapeutic setting which will aid in reduction of overeating behaviors.

Gaining control over excessive eating behaviors will reduce obesity and that is a good thing. Comparing slender people with those who are overweight, slender people have less problems with alcohol dependence, experience less emotional, physical or sexual abuse, suffer less from chronic depression, less rage, less sleep disturbances and, have better relationships.

Dr. René Hollander is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with a practice in the West Los Angeles area in California. He can be contacted at: drreneh@aol.com