What are Eating Disorders?
Eating disorders involve serious disturbances
in eating behavior, such
as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe overeating,
as well as feelings of distress or extreme concern about body shape or
weight.
Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior; rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on a life of their own.
The main types of
eating
disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
A third type,
binge-eating disorder, has been suggested but has not
yet been approved as a formal
psychiatric diagnosis.
Eating disorders frequently develop during
adolescence or early adulthood, but some reports indicate their
onset can occur during
childhood or later in adulthood.
What are the symptoms of Eating Disorders?
An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms 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
Disturbance in the way
in which one's body weight or
shape is
experienced, undue influence of body weight
or shape
on self-evaluation, or denial
of the seriousness
of the
current low body weight
Infrequent
or absent menstrual periods (in females who
have reached
puberty)
An estimated 1.1 percent to 4.2 percent of females have bulimia nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms include:
Recurrent
episodes of binge eating, characterized by
eating an
excessive amount of food within a discrete
period of
time and by a sense of
lack of control over
eating during
the episode
Recurrent inappropriate
compensatory behavior in
order to
prevent weight gain, such as self-induced
vomiting
or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas,
or other
medications (purging); fasting; or
excessive
exercise
The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory
behaviors
both occur, on average, at least twice a
week for
3 months
Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape
and
weight
"Hope is necessary in every condition."
Samuel Johnson
1709-1784
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