Eating Disorders
(Including Anorexia and Bulimia)
Eating Disorders Information & Treatment Introduction
By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
Eating disorders are one of the unspoken secrets that affect many families. Millions of Americans are afflicted with this disorder every year, and most of them -- up to 90 percent -- are adolescent and young women. Rarely talked about, an eating disorder can affect up to 5 percent of the population of teenage girls.
Why are adolescent and young women so susceptible to getting an eating disorder? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is because during this period of time, women are more likely to diet to try and keep a slim figure and/or try stringent dieting. Certain sports (such as gymnastics) and careers (such as modeling) are especially prone to reinforcing the need to keep a fit figure, even if it means purging food or not eating at all.
There are three main types of eating disorders:
Anorexia
Bulimia
Binge Eating Disorder
Anorexia (also known as anorexia nervosa) is the name for simply starving yourself because you are convinced you are overweight. If you are at least 15 percent under your normal body weight and you are losing weight through not eating, you may be suffering from this disorder.
Bulimia (also known as bulimia nervosa) is characterized by excessive eating, and then ridding yourself of the food by vomiting, abusing laxatives or diuretics, taking enemas, or exercising obsessively. This behavior of ridding yourself of the calories from consumed food is often called "purging."
A person who suffers from this disorder can have it go undetected for years, because the person's body weight will often remain normal. "Binging" and "purging"
