Eating Disorders

Eating disorders, namely anorexia nervosa (voluntary starvation) and bulimia nervosa (binge and purge syndrome) are a major malaise of affluent cultures. In USA, one in ten persons is afflicted with the eating disorders.

The people suffering from eating disorders are mainly young women in teens and 20s age groups although the disorders are also on the rise among young men.

In both types of eating disorders, the affected person is impelled by an intense fear of fat and desire for control. Moreover, the disorders disrupt the daily life of the person as eating or not eating, becomes the pivotal point of his/her existence. However, the persons suffering from binge-eating disorder gorge on food in large amounts and mostly end up gaining weight which makes them feel guilty since eating is totally out of their control during binge bouts.

The eating disorders are caused by:
1. Cultural factors – These pre-mediate various body-image concerns where being fat is not appealing and there is fad to follow the waif – like models in order to look attractive and gain attention of the opposite sex.
2. Personality traits – A person’s traits such as obsession with body image and perfectionism also play a great role in causing eating disorders.

Unfortunately, the eating disorders are often accompanied by anxiety and depression in the sufferers.

Symptoms of Eating Disorders
All eating disorders are marked by a disturbed relationship to food as also the person is extremely fragile emotionally. Eating is a normal activity but some times it is marked by extremes. The eating disorder may begin unnoticed as the person eats a little less or more than usual, which becomes compelling with time until becoming the sole focus of the sufferer’s everyday existence.

Types of Eating Disorders:
1. Anorexia nervosa: This eating disorder is especially prevalent among young women, also increasingly, in young men. It is a deadly psychiatric disorder as it is closely associated with obsession for perfectionism and leads to anxiety and depression in the sufferer. It is characterized extreme voluntary starvation and a distorted sense of body image. As a result, the anorexics dramatically restrict their food intake and are highly underweight.

The symptoms of Anorexia include:
• intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
• refusal to maintain body weight according to the normal weight index according to height and age
• indulging in excessive exercise or resorting to extreme food intake to limit body weight
• extreme obsession with body shape or weight in self-evaluation
• hair growth all over body
• severe constipation
• irregular or even absent menstrual periods in sufferers who have reached puberty
• dry flaky yellow skin
• feeling of lethargy or cold as body temperature drops due to rapid and continuous weight loss
• dry hair and brittle nails; prone to breakage

Anorexia nervosa is highly resistant to treatment, but when starvation reaches extreme levels and becomes life-threatening, one has to get the patient admitted in the hospital and resort to methods of forced feeding.

Bulimia – It is also known as binge-purge disorder. In it, the periods of severe food restriction are punctuated by the bouts of binge-eating and followed by compensatory behavior in the form of purging with the help of laxatives or diuretics or fasting or excessive exercise. These practices help the person maintain normal weight.

The bulimia nervosa disorder starts during adolescence, and can be treated with the cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.

The Symptoms of Bulimia include:
• characterized by extreme influence of body shape or weight on self-evaluation
• recurring bouts of binge-eating where the person ends up consuming greater amount of food in a short time than majority of people would be able to eat
• characterized by feeling of helplessness as the person can neither stop eating nor control the quantity of food one eats
• indulging in compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain; such as purging with the help of laxatives or diuretics, intensive and excessive exercising
• eating alone because of shame or embarrassment over eating behavior
• swollen glands in jaw and neck
• sore throat which is also chronically inflamed sore throat
• tooth decay and wearing off of tooth enamel due to greater exposure to stomach acids
• kidney problems due to indulging in diuretics
• dehydration as a result of purging which depletes the body of essential fluids

Causes of Eating Disorders
It is believed that the eating disorders are mainly a disease of the affluent societies which have abundance of food. There is no single causal factor for these disorders and it is surprising how v voluntary behaviors, such as eating larger or smaller amounts of food than normal can morph and aggravate into an eating disorder.

Biological factor: The regulation of food intake and control of appetite are very complex matters with various hormones in the brain as well as body factors contribute to signals of hunger and satiety.

Cultural factors: It plays a significant role, especially in women, who feel under pressure to fit into the stereotyped ideal of beauty which is defined by the physical criteria focusing on the body weight. Even families play a role in further highlighting this criterion by emphasizing on looks and following dieting fads. They may even resort to criticism of their own children’s bodies if they don’t fit into stereotypes and even pressurize them to follow dieting which may ultimately balloon into an eating disorder.

There are other circumstances that may lead a person to develop eating disorders, such as stress, loneliness, difficulty in social relationships, depression, low self-esteem, feeling of inadequacy, even dieting itself.

Treatment of Eating Disorders
It is essential to impart proper medical care to the sufferer, especially in anorexia nervosa, where the patient maybe hospitalized and fed forcefully to overcome malnutrition and help in gaining weight. Psychotherapy is an important part of the treatment plan to treat any of the eating disorders since the patient may be suffering from various emotional problems or low self-esteem and poor body image.

It is essential to address the different aspects of the complex circumstances and conditions related to eating disorders by combining the individual, group, and family therapies. Moreover, the patient may be given antidepressants to alleviate mood and also to overcome obsessive feelings in relation to body weight and body image.

In nutshell, it may be said that there is no miracle treatment and cure for the eating disorders since they are often resistant to therapy and treatment. Further, anorexia nervosa can be sometimes acutely life-threatening, even needing hospitalization and forced feeding and nourishment.