Eating disorders are a unique group of mental health conditions that severely impact an individual’s health due to eating behaviors.It can lead to severe and sometimes life-threatening consequences. This article will teach you more about the different types of eating disorders, why they happen, and how people can get help for them.
DEFINING EATING DISORDERS
According to the American Psychiatric Association, an eating disorder can be defined as “illnesses in which the people experience severe disturbances in their eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions.” [1]
When people develop an eating disorder, they often have a tendency to be preoccupied with how their body looks. That leads to them developing dangerous eating habits such as binging, purging, and starvation.
There are many reasons why eating disorders can occur in people of all ages and backgrounds. Eating disorders in children and adolescents are very common, especially in girls, due to their peers, media, and pop culture. However, contrary to popular belief, eating disorders in men are also quite common, even though women are more likely to develop them.
Eating disorders is an umbrella term for a small group of conditions. You may have heard of serval different eating disorders before.
All of them can cause serious harm to the body, and sometimes it can be fatal due to interference with how a person receives their nutrition.
In the next section, you will learn about the various eating disorders currently recognized in the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association. You will also learn what makes them different from one another.
WHAT KINDS OF EATING DISORDERS ARE THERE?
There are three main eating disorders people can struggle with – binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa. Below you will learn about their differences and the signs and symptoms of each of these eating disorders. [1] [2]
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder is the most recent inclusion in the DSM. It is also the most common eating disorder that people struggle with despite being recognized relatively recently.
The primary characteristics of Binge Eating Disorders are eating too much food and not controlling eating. Because of this, it’s the one eating disorder that is associated with obesity.
In addition to these main signs, many other symptoms can vary from person to person, such as:
- Eating very quickly
- Eating when full or not hungry.
- Eating until being uncomfortably full
- Having feelings of guilt, embarrassment, distress, or depression towards the eating behaviors
Because of the symptoms, it’s common for individuals to avoid eating with other people or hoarding food to themselves so that others don’t witness their binging and other eating behaviors that they display.
One thing that separates Binge Eating Disorder from the others is that those who binge eat will not try to compensate for their overeating with other behaviors to counteract it. However, it is common for people who binge eat to diet frequently, often to no avail.
Bulimia Nervosa
It also has several other characteristics that define this dangerous condition.
People with Bulimia do binge eat, but after consuming large amounts of food (or small amounts of unhealthy food), they will purge the food, either through forced vomiting or consuming laxatives and diuretics. They may also go on extreme diets or fast to restrict their eating. They may also exercise excessively to burn off the excess calories.
This is known as the binge-purge cycle, and it’s purpose is to quickly get rid of or limit their calories, and this can cause several different health issues like
- Dehydration
- An inflamed and sore throat
- A swollen jaw and salivary glands
- Weakened tooth enamel (from stomach acids from vomiting)
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Kidney problems
In worst-case scenarios, these types of health concerns can become life-threatening; cardiac arrhythmia, gastrointestinal ruptures, or tears in the esophagus are just a few examples of some issues that can be fatal. [1]
Sometimes, Bulimia signs aren’t easy to detect, as many people who are bulimic aren’t always severely underweight. However, this is a sign of the next eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa.
Anorexia Nervosa
Despite binge eating being the most common eating disorder, when people think of eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa, or just Anorexia for short, is often the one that immediately comes to mind.
The defining feature of Anorexia is very low body weight, and it’s formally diagnosed when an individual is 15 percent below the normal, healthy body-weight for their height. [1]
People who have Anorexia refuse to eat food because of distorted beliefs about their body-image and are afraid to gain weight. Still, they may also exhibit some behaviors seen in Bulimia, such as consuming laxatives and exercise excessively. [3]
Unlike Bulimia, where people will binge eat, but try to counteract it, people with Anorexia won’t get the calories they need at all, and this causes them to lose an unhealthy amount of weight and have symptoms such as:
- Lethargy
- Anemia
- Muscular atrophy
- Osteoporosis
- Reduced breathing rate
- Low blood pressure
- Reduced body temperature
- Constipation
- Brittle hair and nails
- Dry skin
- Depression
Out of the three main eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa is the most dangerous because it can lead to complete organ failure, including brain damage. It can even be fatal if the person reaches the point of starvation.
WHAT CAUSES EATING DISORDERS?
Eating disorders can affect individuals from any background and of all ages, but it’s most commonly seen during adolescence or early adulthood.
Like other mental health issues, many complex factors can contribute to the development of eating disorders, like genetic and biological causes. It’salso undeniable that sociocultural and psychological factors are to blame for most cases.
Those who have low self-esteem because of their body-image or suffer from other emotional problems are more likely to develop or have a history of eating disorders. This can include limiting food or using food as a way to cope.
For example, those who have Anorexia Nervosa may fear becoming fat and will do what they can to prevent that. This results in becoming severely underweight, and many are in denial about their low body-weight.
These ideas about the “ideal” body image are influenced by society and the culture that they live in, and unfortunately, this can have severe health consequences. This is why eating disorders and the media are often associated with each other. Girls and young women are most likely affected because of the unrealistic body types highlighted in the media.
On the other hand, someone with Binge Eating Disorder will overeat and lack control over it, which can lead to becoming overweight and obese. Not all obese individuals have Binge Eating Disorder, and therefore the other signs of it must be assessed to determine if they have Binge Eating Disorder.
Therefore, addressing these emotional issues will be crucial to helping people overcome eating disorders of all types.
TREATING EATING DISORDERS
Addressing eating disorders requires treating the psychological issues that compel an individual to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors. It also involves helping people reach and maintain a healthy body-weight.
This means that those with Anorexia must learn about proper nutrition and regular patterns of eating.In Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia, individuals will have to interrupt the cycles of binging and purging (or just binging in the case of BED).
Psychotherapy methods like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy can help people address the thoughts and feelings that lead to poor eating behaviors.This can also help improve their mood by identifying these negative and unhelpful thinking patterns and dealing with them.
Other techniques, such as the Maudsley Method, can also help in recovery by using others’ support. Family members first help establish healthier eating behaviors. Over time, the individual can regain control of their eating and make decisions for themselves, which allows them to focus on the other issues related to the eating disorder.
Medical treatment may also be necessary, as well. Prescription medication from a doctor or psychiatrist can help address some of the symptoms seen in eating disorders, especially ones related to depression.
In many cases, hospitalization may be necessary to restore a person’s health if the eating disorder goes untreated and becomes life-threatening.
FINDING OUT IF YOU HAVE AN EATING DISORDER
Getting help with an eating disorder generally requires the proper diagnosis from a mental health professional. It’s still important to know what you’re potentially up against before making an appointment to speak to one.
Reading the signs and symptoms can certainly be helpful, but you can also take an assessment from home to find out if you might have an eating disorder.
This “do I have an eating disorder?” quiz is quick and free, and it may be able to give you or someone else the push they need to seek out help and improve their health.
CONCLUSION
While they are treatable, eating disorders are also preventable by having an understanding of why they occur. Hopefully, this article has given you the information you need to get the help you need or give someone else a hand. Eating disorder recovery requires the support of other people and with the resources available, we can all eat and live healthier.
References
- American Psychiatric Association. (2017, January). What Are Eating Disorders? Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/eating-disorders/what-are-eating-disorders
- National Institute of Mental Health. (, 2020). Eating Disorders. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml
- Mayo Clinic Staff. (2018, February 22). Eating disorders. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eating-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20353603
