Eating Disorders Explained

Approximately 15% of people in the western culture have an eating disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia or Binge eating disorder. These disorders can be lethal to those suffering from them. Major organs such as the heart or the liver can be severely injured. The common stereotype is that only teenage girls suffer eating disorders. This is not necessarily the case. 10% of those with an eating disorder are male. Children as young as 6 and as old as 76 have developed this disorder. Though the teenage and twenties age categories are the main categories to suffer from this more middle aged women are reporting an eating disorder. This may be because of the image consciousness that is found in the baby boomer generation.
One out of every hundred adolescents has Anorexia Nervosa.

A person suffering from this illness refuses to maintain the normal body weight for someone of their height and age group, typically weighing up to 85% less than what they should. One of the most common effects of this disorder in teenagers is that puberty is delayed in both sexes. For women who have already begun their puberty their menstruation stops. For men, their sex hormone levels fall. Also for adults the desire to have sex either severely diminishes or disappears all together. There is a fear of gaining weight, even a few pounds. Those that are Anorexic will deny the dangers of their low weight and will still consider themselves to be overweight even though they may look like a starving child from a third world country. Common emotions that are associated with this are depression, irritability, withdraw, compulsive rituals and strange eating habits.
Bulimia is also a well-known eating disorder. Four out of every hundred college age girls suffer from this disorder. Anorexia and Bulimia can go hand in hand. 50% of all those who have been Anorexic develop Bulimia.

Bulimia occurs in a cycle. It starts out with a person dieting, then binging in a response to the hunger from the diet and then they seek a way to erase their binge. This will lead them to do such things as misuse laxatives, fasting and vomiting. They then feel guilty and ashamed of what they have done. They will then promise themselves that they will never do it again. However they will go back to their diet and then ultimately start the cycle all over again leaving themselves more guilty and upset for breaking their promise. They may feel out of control while they are eating all the while they have fears of gaining weight even though their weight may be normal (unless they also have Anorexia). To someone suffering from Bulimia their self worth is being thin. They have a hard time discussing their inner feelings that may include unworthiness, anxiety, depression, self doubt and anger.

The field of study for eating disorders is fairly new. There is still a lot of research that is going on. There is help for those that suffer from these illnesses. Counseling paired with medical observation can do wonders to help someone.