Eating Disorders

Eating disorders now affect 1 in 10 people in America, which include Anorexia Nervousa (Voluntary Starvation) and Bulimia Nervousa (Binge-Eating followed by Purging). Mostly affected by such disorders are young women in their teens and early 20's, but it seems to be increasing in young men as well. It has been found that these eating disorders are driven by a desire for control; although sufferers of Binge-Eating (when people large amounts of food and gain weight) feel that their eating is out of their control. So what causes this? Culturally Meditated Body-Image concerns and Personality Traits like Perfectionism and Obsessiveness play a large role in the creation of an eating disorder. Eating Disorders are usually accompanied by Anxiety and/or Depression. Unfortunately, there is no immediate cure for such disorders, sufferers often refuse treatment and Anorexia can be life-threatening, requiring hospitalization and forced nourishment.

Symptoms: 

Anorexia:

• Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
• Extreme influence if body weight or shape on self evaluation 
• Infrequent of absent menstrual periods in those who have reached puberty
• Use of either food restriction or excessive exercising to limit body weight
• Feeling cold or lethargic, due to drop in body temperature as weight loss progresses
• Growth of hair all over body 
• Dry yellowish skin
• Brittle hair and nails
• Severe constipation 

Bulimia:

• Recurrent episodes of binge-eating, characterized by consuming in a short amount of time and amount of. Food larger than most people would eat 
• During those binge-eating bouts, a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control how much one eats 
• Some compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain; purging is most common, but laxative use and excessive exercising are also widely used 
• Extreme influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation
• Chronically inflamed sore throat
• Swollen glands in neck or jaw
• Wearing of tooth enamel and frank decay as a result of exposure to stomach acids 
• Dehydration due to purging fluids
• Kidney problems from diuretic abuse

Binge-Eating Disorder:

• Eating much more rapidly than normal
• Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
• Eating large amounts of food even when not hungry 
• Eating alone because of shame or embarrassment over eating disorder
• Binge-Eating occurs at least two days a week for six months or more

While treatments vary for each disorder, Psychotherapy is an essential part of any treatment for eating disorders. Individual, group, and/or family therapy all help with different aspects of these conditions. Antidepressants are often prescribed for those with eating disorders to both improve mood and reduce obsessiveness; although the fact of whether or not they are effective is still unknown.

    As today's modern society has constructed us to believe, girls in particular, should look a certain way in order to be accepted or liked by others. Now lets go back to 1950's, Marilyn Monroe was a famous model and actress; she was considered "beautiful" by many at 5'5 1/2" and 118 lbs, which is almost the complete opposite of what today's society says women should look like. Yes, being healthy is important, but "skinny" is not always healthy. Society has driven women and young ladies to eating disorders as their only choice at being "beautiful" or "skinny". Demi Lovato suffered from an eating disorder and depression for many years before getting help; “It was always there, but then I just acted on it at around 8 or 9 years old. I started overeating, compulsively overeating. I would bake cookies and then eat the whole pan. I went from doing that to being unhappy with my body. I went to just completely starving myself and that turned into throwing up and starving myself and it was just this crazy battle going on inside of me. It got really difficult [and] I would throw up and it would just be blood and it was something that I realized if I don’t stop this, I am going to die.” It is not just society and the media that controls the drive for these ladies to end up starving or filling themselves over the brim with food, it also comes from school and work; Children and Adolescents are the worst about bullying. If anyone goes against the "Status Quo" they jump on that one person till that person can't take it anymore and that is what happened to Demi: "I started compulsively overeating at a very young age. And then I almost stopped eating altogether at the age of 12, after being harassed by kids at school, for being "fat". Demi states, "Eating disorders often stem from feelings of low self esteem, depression, anxiety, or in my case, being teased and ridiculed for my weight. I also believe that a big contributing factor to these feelings is the pressure that’s out there to meet impossible standards." Demi says that she is also proud to be in a partnership with the "Jed Foundation" for their "Love Is Louder Than The Pressure To Be Perfect" Campaign. As I see girls at school who either don't eat or if they do, it's not much, I sit and think to myself what their reason is; sure some may say things such as, "I ate a couple hours ago", "I ate a HUGE breakfast this morning" or "I'm just not hungry" and while sometimes they are telling the truth, not all the time and not everyone will tell the truth. Some may not know they have a problem, while others may be trying to avoid it. The easiest

thing to do is to get help, whether the first step be professional help or help from the school nurse, a teacher or even your closest friend who you've told your deepest-darkest secrets to since kindergarten! TELL SOMEONE!

 

( http://perezhilton.com/2013-12-11-demi-lovato-eating-disorder-mom-dianna-hart-food-issues-mental-health#ixzz30JoCpJMF ) (http://www.seventeen.com/health/tips/demi-lovato-eating-disorder ) (http://www.jedfoundation.org/ )

Help can be found here: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/