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Anorexia and Bulimia: A Concise Overview


As many as 20% of females in their teenage and young adult years suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa (Alexander-Mott, 4). Males are also afflicted by these eating disorders, but at a much lower rate, with a female to male ratio of six to one. Those with anorexia nervosa refuse to maintain a normal body weight by not eating and have an intense fear of gaining weight. People with bulimia nervosa go through periods of binge eating and then purging (vomiting), or sometimes not purging but instead refraining from eating at all for days. Both of these disorders wreak havoc on a person\'s body and mental state, forcing them to become emaciated and often depressed.


There is no known exact cause of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, but many factors play a role in the initial onset, such as: personality traits, low self-esteem, and social and cultural influences (Costin, 21). Many anorexics have specific personality traits that urge them to refrain from eating. Many are perfectionists that will diet and exercise and not eat until their bodies are perfect. Unfortunately, however, he or she never thinks their body is perfect, and continues their destructive cycle. Anorexics that are perfectionists also tend to want to be in control at all times. Often , they feel as though others are trying to force them to do
Breaux 2 things, and so, take complete control of their bodies. Marcia, an anorexic, wrote in her diary \"I am in control; people are just jealous because I have will power\" (D., 6).


Another factor is low self-esteem. One anorexic said of her low self-esteem, \"My goal in life was to please; like a chameleon, I\'d change to suit whomever I was with. I always felt I was in the way…\" (D., 1). Anorexics with low self-esteem often feel they are worthless and do not deserve to eat. Not only do they not eat, but they constantly berate themselves with insults. They hate their bodies, and cannot realize their true appearance, instead seeing a distorted image. When she weighed a mere 98 pounds, Marcia told herself, \"You are a pig. You are disgusting. You must suffer\" (D., 5). Bulimics also suffer from low self-esteem and feel ashamed of their behavior. Feeling guilty after eating is a common characteristic of bulimics. K.D.K., a 22-year-old with bulimia, wrote \"Sometimes I would go to different snack machines in different places so people wouldn\'t notice. And then I would find an isolated bathroom and atone for my sins\" (K.D.K., 1).


Another factor contributing to anorexia and bulimia is social influence. \"Historically, men are judged more for what they do and women for how they look\" (Costin, 46). Most ads and diet products have been aimed at females in the past, but now are directed towards all people. Ads for clothing and swimsuits portray incredibly thin models showing off their perfect bodies, and many people are lead to believe that beauty is measured in pounds. Amazingly, most female fashion models are 23% below what is considered a healthy, normal body weight (Costin, 45). Anorexics and bulimics wish to look like these models, and starve, binge, and purge in an attempt to achieve their goal.. \"Thinness has come to symbolize not only control, but wealth, independence, and freedom\" (Costin, 48). Anorexia and bulimia are a means for losing weight, which means fitting in, which leads to acceptance - exactly what an anorexic or bulimic is looking for.


Anorexia and bulimia do not distinguish between sex, skin color, or religious background. Women living in the western hemisphere in their teens and early adult years, however, are afflicted with eating disorders more than women anywhere else in the world (Costin, 47). Males can also be anorexic or bulimic, but it occurs far less often.


There is no cure for anorexia or bulimia, but there is treatment available. Before treatment can begin, an anorexic or bulimic must admit they have a problem and need help. Becky, an anorexic and bulimic, said of this first, crucial step, \"Realizing something was wrong, that I needed a change in my ways, was the hardest part for me. Before I admitted to needing help, I thought everything was fine and never worried about it (Thayne, 99).
Once someone is ready to accept help, they are put on not only a healthy eating program but also a healthy thinking program (Alexander-
Breaux 4
Mott, 105). In addition to sometimes taking drugs to increase appetite, an anorexic or bulimic in treatment is encouraged to eat healthy, regular meals. They are allowed to exercise, but not in excess. The most important part of the treatment is the psychological part. A therapist helps the patient to understand why they feel they have to be so dangerously thin. The patient must be determined to try to change their thinking about food, to gain a positive attitude. The patient must separate their \"Healthy Self\" from their \"Anorexic/Bulimic Self\" and take control of the situation (Costin, 112).
A person in treatment will almost certainly lapse back into anorexia or bulimia for short periods of time. On average, most survive their eating disorder, while only 2-10% die from it (Costin, 114). The time it takes for a person to fully overcome anorexia or bulimia varies greatly from person to person. For a few, triumphing over their eating disorder can take as little as a year. For many, they spend five to twelve years battling it, and for very few, they battle it for the rest of their lives (Alexander-Mott, 111).
Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are devastating to a person\'s body, causing them to be dangerously underweight. Many factors can contribute to the onset of these disorders, but they are attributed mainly to a person\'s distorted self-image, low self-esteem, and a need for control. \"Eating disorders are not about food or weight but about a disordered \'sense of self\' looking for approval and finding it, however

Breaux 5
temporarily, in the pursuit of thinness or the comfort of food\" (Costin, 48). Treatment is an option for anorexics and bulimics, though it can take years, and sometimes it never succeeds. Hopefully, though, friends and loved ones of anorexics and bulimics will see the warning signs and seek help for them.


Bibliography
Alexander-Mott, LeeAnn. Understanding Eating Disorders. Washington,
D.C.: Taylor & Francis Ltd., 1994.
Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook. Los Angeles, CA: Lowell
House, 1996.
K.D.K. \"My Story.\" Online. March 3, 2000 ~kdk2/mystory.html>
D., Marcia. \"My Story.\" Online. March 3, 2000 Tripod.com/~MarciaD/index.html>
Thayne, Becky. Hope and Recovery. New York, New York: Emma Lou
Thayne, 1992.

 

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Anorexia or other wise know as Anorexia Nervosa, is a condition characterized by fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body image or in other words, someone who thinks that
2. Anorexia And Bulimia
Anorexia or other wise know as Anorexia Nervosa, is a condition characterized by fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body image or in other words, someone who thinks that
3. A Certain Hunger
In the essay "", by Maggie Helwig it shows how people can develop a negative body image about themselves because of the way society praise and glorifies models and "thin" celebrities. People woul
4. Bulemia
Christmas is a time of joy, but the Christmas of 1988 was one of revelation for me. My best friend of 15 years unveiled her deepest, darkest, most private secret; she was bulimic. I was unfamiliar wit
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is defined as two or more episodes of binge eating (rapid consumption of a large amount of food, up to 5,000 calories) every week for at least three months. The binges are sometimes followed by vomiti
6. Bulimia Nervosa
June Engel (1993), found that today’s society’s idealization of thinness is producing an alarming increase in eating disorders especially among young women. The never-ending efforts to lose weight and
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In the 7th grade me and my friend Ashley, discovered the magazines called Seventeen, and YM. These are the Cosmopolitan and Vogue of teenage girls. On the cover of each monthly issue are featured beau
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Anorexia Nervosa: a condition characterized by intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body image, leading to an excessive weight loss from restricting food intake and
10. Eating Disorders
are devastating and harmful behavioral patterns that occur with in people for numerous reasons. The three types of I will be discussing include the three most common of the disorders: anorexia, bulimi
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Each year a million of women in America are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening . The most common are bulimia and anorexia. occur in men and older women, but more than 90 percent of tho
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Models are pretty and thin and are often taken as role models of success. However they must be underweight to look "perfect" on television and magazines. In order to be thin, they develop a disease ca
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18. Body Image Standards
Perhaps no time in history have had such an enormous impact on society. With today’s mass media people can be subjected to thousands of images and messages daily, portraying the “ideal” body image. Th
19. Eating Disorders: Anorexia
Each year millions of people in the United States are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disorders. The vast majority are adolescents and young adult women. Approximately one pe
20. Anorexia And Bulima
Anorexia nervosa is a disorder of self-starvation which manifests itself in an extreme aversion to food and can cause psychological, endocrine and gynecological problems. It almost exclusively affects
 

The Truth About Anorexia
By Jeff Dedrick

Being fit and sexy is one of the priorities of women nowadays. Women are very careful especially about the food they eat but sometimes they get too intense in their desire to be thin thus resulting to eating disorders. One of this eating disorder is called Anorexia or Anorexia nervosa.

Statistics show that in the US alone, 1% of teenage girls may develop anorexia nervosa and up to 10% of them might die as a result of the development of Anorexia. This statistics is disturbing because teenagers and young women are the ones usually affected by Anorexia. Their desire to be thin and sexy leads to the downfall of their self-esteem and being anorexic that could also be the path towards the end of their young lives. Yes, death, this disease could result to this morbid phenomenon.

Anorexia or Anorexia Nervosa is a type of eating disorder wherein the victim starves himself and refuses to maintain a minimal body weight of at least 15% of the normal body weight. Anorexia, like other eating disorder begins in the puberty stage of a person’s life. Most people who are suffering from anorexia are thin but they do not really see themselves that way. In fact, it is the total opposite; they view themselves as individuals who are very fat and overweight even though they are already stick-thin.

People who have anorexia have an intense fear to gain weight which leaves them doing activities that they think would help them lose weight, which is effective but harmful to one’s health. These activities include restrictive eating in which a person with anorexia limits himself with the food they eat. People with anorexia still feel hunger but they choose to ignore it which in turn makes them control excessively their desire to eat. They could also engage themselves in activities that would involve food preparation like cooking for others or storing large amount of food in their house. Individuals with anorexia do these activities because they believe that just by the sight and smell of food, they would already be satisfied. Another activity that people with anorexia does is to involve themselves in very strenuous activities like excessive exercise and work-out. Though they are really tired, they would still do the strenuous work-out because of their desire to lose weight or to keep off the weight.

Symptoms of people with anorexia are not really consistent with all the victims of anorexia because every victim has different symptoms. Though that is the case, there are some symptoms that would be helpful in identifying if a person is suffering from anorexia. The first is having a body weight that is not consistent with the person’s sex, age, and height. Another symptom of having anorexia is called amenorrhea which is described as the loss of menstrual period for a span of three consecutive months. People with anorexia are often declining to eat in public or with other people. These people who have anorexia also have psychological problems like anxiety, weakness, dry skin, shortness of breath, and obsessiveness about calorie count intake.

Aside from the obvious physical characteristics of people with anorexia, people who have this disorder also have other medical risks associated with anorexia. These include shrunken bones, mineral loss, low body temperature, irregular heartbeat, permanent failure of normal growth, development of osteoporosis, and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia is also common for people belonging to higher social economic class and also with professions wherein being thin is really a requirement like dancing, theater, and the like.

Though anorexia seems to be a very non-sense disease, it is in fact, a very serious case. The good news about this? Anorexia could be overcome with proper guidance and care. If you know someone with anorexia, call them up and show that you care.

 

Visit Bulimia and Anorexia Information for more information. This site http://www.aboutanorexia.org also has a lot of good info. on eating disorders.

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