MHAM: Kids: Issues: Eating Disorders


		issues
		add/adhd
		depression
		eating disorders
		self-esteem
		schizophrenia
		sexual abuse
		substance abuse
		suicide
		medication
		caring for every child's mental health
		resource links

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

"We must hasten the day when no child or adolescent need be too hard to handle, too sad to survive, too strange and angry to live among us, too ill to laugh, play and love."

National Advisory Mental Health Council, 1999