Eating disorders are one of the unspoken secrets that permeate 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.
These eating disorders carry serious health risks and can sometimes result in death. Medical and Dental complications can occur as a result of starvation, vomiting and abuse of exercise.
A small but significant number of eating disorder patients die from their disorder, convinced that it is better to starve to death than to be fat. It is vital that eating disordered people receive treatment for their disorders. Appropriate treatment includes medical attention and psychotherapy, both from professionals specializing in eating disorders treatment.
Preventing Eating Disorders
Cognitive-behavioral strategies may help prevent the development of eating disorders in adolescent women, particularly those who are overweight. A 2006 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported success with an Internet-based cognitive-behavioral program that targeted at-risk college-age women. The women were taught how to become more comfortable with their body weight and image. The program also provided education on healthy eating and weight management.
Eating Disorder Types
In Anorexia Nervosa, the sufferer shows a desperate fear of weight gain and a desire to be abnormally thin, and severely restricts her diet in an attempt to achieve this. Some sufferers also use excessive exercise and sometimes self-induced vomiting as a means of weight control. This behaviour leads to a wide variety of harmful physical and psychological consequences and can be life-threatening; in fact anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychological illness.
Bulimia is characterized by eating excessive amounts of food in short periods of time,
Usually in secret, and is followed by some form of purging behavior. Most individuals suffering with bulimia realize that their behavior is abnormal and try to keep it a secret. Individuals are either slightly over, or at average body weight.
While bulimia is not as physically harmful as anorexia, the psychological effects can be devastating, leading to depression and even more serious outcomes including suicide in the worst of cases. The physical signs of bulimia which can be observed tend to be related to the purging methods used, and include regularly bloodshot eyes, swollen glands, and dental erosion. In the long term, the dangers include digestive system problems such as ulcers, weakness and exhaustion, and even heart problems.
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of eating disorder not otherwise specified and is
characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.
Binge Eating Disorder is characterized by:
1. Frequent episodes of eating large quantities of food in short periods of time.
2. Feeling out of control over eating behavior