What are Eating Disorders?
Eating disorders are a mental health condition that is characterized by a disturbance of eating or eating related behavior. This disturbance causes an altered consumption or absorption of food that can cause a significantly impaired psychosocial functioning and/or physical health. Teenage girls and young women are typically affected by eating disorders but it's important to note that all ages and genders are affected by this mental health condition. Although I only discuss anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating, there are many more eating disorders, such as pica, rumination disorder and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Additionally, there are many individuals who don't fully classify into one of these disorders which causes distress in people’s lives and deserve to be acknowledged.
What are some specific eating disorders?
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by an abnormally low body weight, a distorted perception of weight and an intense fear of gaining weight. There are two subtypes of anorexia nervosa, restricting type as well as binge eating and purging type. Someone with the restricting subtype of anorexia nervosa will restrict the amount of calories they consume and will typically be accompanied by excessive exercise. Someone with the binge eating and purging subtype of anorexia nervosa will severely restrict their calorie intake while also experiencing recurrent episodes of binge eating (eating an amount of food that’s larger than what most people would consume in the same period of time under similar circumstances) or purging behavior (misuse of laxatives, self-induced vomiting, etc.).
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by recurrent episodes of, sometimes secretly, binge eating a large amount of food that the individual loses control over and is, then, followed by purging to get rid of the extra calories. While binge eating, the individual loses control and consumes a large amount of food that is larger than what most individuals would eat in the same amount of time under similar circumstances. This is followed by purging to prevent weight gain by using self-induced vomiting, diuretics, laxatives, and more. Someone with this mental health condition is typically influenced by their body shape and weight, which leads to a negative self-evaluation.
Binge eating is an eating disorder characterized by frequently consuming unusually large amounts of food and feeling as if they are unable to stop eating. People who struggle with binge eating might experience the feeling of eating until they are uncomfortably full, eating much more rapidly than normal, eating large amounts of food when they aren't feeling physically hungry, eating alone because of being embarrassed by the amount of food they are consuming or feeling depressed, guilty or disgusted with oneself after binge eating. An individual with this mental health condition has a large amount of distress that affects their normal life.
Myths
Eating disorders aren’t a serious illnesses
Eating disorders are very serious mental illness conditions that can be deadly. In fact, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric illnesses. The mortality rate of anorexia nervosa is 12x than the death rate of all causes of death for females ages 15 to 24 and, without treatment, up to 20% of people with serious eating disorders die.
Eating disorders are a women's illness
Eating disorders are found to significantly affect more females than males. But this does not mean that men don’t suffer from eating disorders. A recent study conducted though Harvard found that about 25% of individuals seeking treatment for eating disorders are males.
Eating disorders only affect teenagers
People typically associate eating disorders with teenagers and young adults, but it's important to know that all ages are affected by this disorder. A research study found that about 60% of girls between ages 6 and 12 have shown concerns about weight and body image. Also, it is not uncommon for people to struggle with disordered eating through middle age and beyond.
Only people who are very thin have an eating disorder
While having an extremely low weight is characterized in individuals with anorexia nervosa, people with other eating disorders, such as bulimia or binge eating disorder, may have a normal or above average weight. This is why it is difficult to determine if someone is struggling with an eating disorder because it's not a physical characteristic for most cases, and most habits are done out of secrecy.
Recovery from eating disorders is rare
Recovery can be a long process but, with treatment and support, recovery is absolutely possible!