Anonymous asked:

I have a character who was neglected and emotionally abused by her father, and there is a point in my story where after having not seen him in three years her sister informs her that he's back and will inevitably find her soon. Would it be realistic for her to throw up, almost as part of a panic attack? I imagine he eating the news, throwing up and then having a full blown panic attack, but I want to make sure that's realistic.

CW: vomit, child neglect, emotional abuse mentions

Yes, having nausea / an upset stomach is actually one of the symptoms listed in the criteria for panic attacks in the DSM-5 (see here). It’s totally realistic for that to escalate into actual vomiting.

You’re good to go, Anon!

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Anonymous asked:

Would it be realistic for depression to cause someone to not feel hungry? And could social anxiety worry a person so much that they would vomit?

Yes, and yes.

Decrease in appetite is even one of the possible symptoms of depression listed in the DSM-5.

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Bulimia Nervosa - Demystifying the DSM-5

The character needs to have had repeated episodes of binge eating.

Binge eating is defined as both:

In a certain amount of time (ex. 2 hours), eating an amount of food that is considerably more than most other people would eat in that time frame
The character feels like they don’t have control over what or how much they’re eating.

The character also needs to do something drastic to prevent themselves from gaining weight. This can include:

Making themselves vomit what they’ve just eaten (purging)
Abusing laxatives or diuretics
Fasting or starving themselves
Excessive exercise

The binges and the drastic things the character does to compensate have to happen on average at least once a week for 3 months.

The character’s self esteem needs to be heavily influenced by their weight and shape.

The character’s symptoms don’t only happen during episodes of anorexia.

You also need to specify the severity:

Mild: 1-3 episodes per week Moderate: 4-7 episodes per week Severe: 8-13 episodes per week (more than one a day) Extreme: 14 or more episodes per week (at least two a day)

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Anorexia Nervosa - Demystifying the DSM-5

The character needs to have restricted how much they eat or drink to the point that it leads to a noticeably and abnormally low weight in comparison to other people who are the same age, gender, etc., as the character.

The character needs to have at least one of the following:

Have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
Consistently do things that prevent themselves from gaining weight

The character also needs at least one of the following:

The character’s experience of their own weight or shape is distorted
The character’s self-esteem pretty much depends on their weight or shape
The character doesn’t recognize how serious and dangerous their low body weight is

There are two subtypes:

Restricting type: For the last 3 months, the character has only lost weight through dieting, fasting, and / or excessive exercising.

Binge-eating / purging type: For the last 3 months, the character has had multiple binges or purging behaviors (which will be covered in a future post).

You also need to specify the severity.

Mild: BMI ≥ 17 Moderate: BMI 16-16.99 Severe: BMI 15-15.99 Extreme: BMI < 15

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