Consequences and Therapy of Sports Addiction

For some people, working out can turn into a constant struggle to achieve the ideal body. These include bodybuilders and people with eating disorders. Experts even speak of sports bulimia (bulimia athletica) and sports anorexia (anorexia athletica). Those affected do not vomit or starve themselves, but simply train off the troublesome calories. Gugutzer knows, “Young women in particular transfer their high expectations of themselves to training and want to achieve recognition through their performance.”

While the desire for the ideal weight and the dream figure is often the driving force for women, men are primarily concerned with packing on muscle. What both have in common is that their body perception is disturbed. Anorexic women still feel too fat even when they are dangerously underweight. Men feel lanky and untrained despite thick biceps. Among bodybuilders, this phenomenon is known as “muscle dysmorphia.” Without training, they fear, the body immediately breaks down muscle.

Consequences of sports addiction

Excessive exercise can have serious consequences for the body. Those who ignore signs of fatigue in the body accept premature wear and tear of bones, ligaments and tendons. Women who also suffer from anorexia or bulimia lose vital body fat. Possible consequences are hormonal disorders with the absence of menstruation or osteoporosis with a decrease in bone density.

Once a certain amount of calories is consumed without sufficient food intake, the desired effect no longer sets in, but the opposite: the body does not build up muscles, but instead loses them – and this leads to a significant drop in physical performance. Social contacts, concentration at work and career also suffer.

Those who go through a fitness program lasting several hours in addition to their work gradually become lonely. While the muscles become stronger, contact with friends and relatives slackens. Even love relationships can break up if the partner loses understanding for the continuous sport because he or she feels insufficiently respected. Some people literally run away from a relationship.

Sports addiction: Treatment by psychotherapists

The danger is great with sports addicts that they do not perceive the addictive behavior as such, but dismiss it only as a passionately pursued hobby. Those who notice the first signs of a sports addiction in themselves will usually realize that they cannot reduce the amount of sports on their own. “Then he should turn to a psychotherapist,” advises Gugutzer.

The causes and the manifestation of fitness addiction vary greatly from individual to individual, “you have to decide each time anew which therapy is suitable for the person affected.” The focus is on cognitive therapy approaches. Through discussions, the therapist and the affected person try to decipher the causes of the addictive behavior and ultimately solve the addiction.

Patients can visit a psychological counseling center or consult a practicing sports psychologist. If serious physical sequelae already exist, an inpatient stay in a psychosomatic clinic is sometimes necessary.