EATING DISORDERS

Eating disorders involve self-critical, negative thoughts and feelings about body weight and food, and eating habits that disrupts normal body function, and daily life activities. While eating disorders result from a serious mental and behavioral health condition, they can also lead to other serious physical health problems.

Overview

The way we choose to eat is affected by many things other than a healthy appetite. Things like the types of food available to people, family life, peer pressure, and even cultural practices.

Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior– rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in which certain bad eating habits take on a life of their own.

The main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is also an un-official third type called binge-eating disorder. People who suffer from an eating disorder also often struggle with other psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse and anxiety disorders.

A wide range of physical health problems can be caused by eating disorders. These include serious heart conditions and kidney failure, which may lead to death. Therefore, recognition of eating disorders as real and treatable diseases is critically important.

Anorexia Nervosa

Symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:

Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height
Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight
Denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight
Infrequent or absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached puberty)

People with anorexia often seem thin and underweight to others around them. However their own body image looks different to them. When they look at someone at a healthy body weight, they may like the way the other person looks, even though that person weighs more than they do. The anorexia sufferer will still feel as though they need to reduce their own weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

Symptoms of bulimia nervosa include:

Recurrent episodes of binge eating: eating an excessive amount of food within a short period of time and feeling a lack of control over eating during those times
Purging: self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas or other medications; fasting; or excessive exercise
These and other behaviors occur, on average, at least twice a week for 3 months

People with bulimia are usually within the normal weight range for their age and height. However, like people with anorexia, they may desire to lose weight, fear gaining weight and feel intensely dissatisfied with their bodies.

People with bulimia often binge and purge in secrecy, feeling disgusted and ashamed when they binge, yet relieved once they purge.

Binge Eating

Symptoms of Binge Eating are similar to those of bulimia. However the binge eater may not feel the need to purge. In fact, binge eaters may be overweight. Like other disorders, binge eating might be an emotional response or a response to physiological issues. Many binge eaters use food to compensate for feelings of dissatisfaction in other areas.

Treatment

Eating disorders can be treated and a healthy weight restored. The sooner these disorders are diagnosed and treated, the better the outcomes are likely to be. Because eating disorders are serious they require a long-term treatment plan, involving medical care and monitoring, psychosocial therapy, nutritional counseling and, sometimes, medication.

Treatment usually involves three goals.

Restoring weight loss caused by severe dieting and purging
Treating the psychological conditions that effect body image, low self-esteem, and personal relationships
Achieving long-term remission and rehabilitation, or full recovery