EATING DISORDERS: BULIMIA AND ANOREXIA
Eating disorders are most common in young girls and women, but it is not impossible to find a man with an eating disorder. About 5%-10% of bulimics or anorexics are men.(http://www.beaconschool.org/~lyangarb/eatingdisorder/sld005.htm) Longing to be as thin as or as pretty as a favorite actress/actor can drive a young mind to an eating disorder as their only hope.
There is really no set cause of an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia, but certain backgrounds and paersonality characteristics are common among sufferers. Many victims come from unhappy families or broken homes. They usually show signs of low self-esteem and helplessness. "About 60% of eating disorder sufferers reside within a collegiate setting". (James) Professor Kelly Klump from Michigan State University even recently found that genes account for 74% of the variance in anorexia, and 58% of the variance in bulimia. (Starving for Information)
Some scary statistics:
50% of females between the ages of eleven and thirteen see themselves as overweight.
Twenty-five percent of college-aged women are engaging in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique.
Roughly one million males in the United States suffer from eating disorders.(Costin)
The popularity of being thin can trigger bulimia. Because of the competition among celebrities, many stars, both woman and men have develeoped eating disorders in order to keep the incredibly thin figures we see on television. For example:
Paula Abdul struggled with bulimia during her singing career, but now is fully recovered.(www.divastation.com)
Other stars who have also suffered from an eating disorder are Sarah-Michele Gellar (actress), Jamie Lynn Singler, Bryan Wilson (the beach boy), Posh Spice ( a Spice girl), and Elton John (musician)
Click here for more information on eating disorders and techniques to help your self and the ones you love fight these diseases.
BULIMIA:
Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by cycles of binging and purging. Binging is eating large amounts of food in a short period of time. Then to aviod weight gain the person will purge, which usually includes vomiting, laxative abuse, or excessive exercising. These cycles of binging and purging may be repeated 4 to 5 times daily.(Rowan)
There are three types of bulimia, each that share the same main features of binging and purging. These three types of bulimia include Simple Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexic Bulimia Nervosa, and Multi-impulsive Nervosa.
Suffering from bulimia for an extended period of time can cause deterioration of tooth enamel and stomach lining. In woman, irregular menstraul cycles can cause ovarian systs that may lead to infertility in extreme cases. The greatest risk of bulimia as well as with most other eating disorders is the risk of self-harm or suicide caused by the increasing feelings of depression and low self-esteem. (Rowan)
This picture illustrates the horrible appearance of a victim of bulimia nervosa. This is a very extreme case.
Click here to learn more about bulimia and treatment options for this disease.
Click here to view a list of treatment center options and their requirements.
ANOREXIA:
Anorexia is different from bulimia in that the sufferer starves themself. They have an intense fear of becoming fat even though they are already underweight. "weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected."(Donley and Vachon) This desease is also identified by not experiencing three or more menstral cycles.The incidence of anorexia is about 4 out of every 100,000 people. (A.D.A.M.) Symptoms include cold intolerance, constipation, low bloodpressure, dental cavities, skeletal muscle atrophy, blotchy or yellow skin, and dry hair or loss of hair.
Pauline Powers , a psychiatrist at eh University of South Florida at Tampa beleives"anorexics are suffering from genuine hallucinations . Their body image is genuinely distorted, and some female patients will hear male voices telling them to fast, which suggests a delusion rather than just an internal dialogue.(The Report) This image is a good example of how psychological this disease can be.
No matter how skinny a person with anorexia gets, they always see a distorted body image of themselves in which they are always overweight. This is how the disease ends up claiming lives if not treated. There are both inpatient and outpatient treatment programs for people with eating disorders depending on the severity of the disease.
Click herefor detailed information on all types of eating disorders, the people they effect, and the effects they have on people.
E-mail me with any questions, comments, or ideas to improve my website. I hope you found it informationsl!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anorexia nervosa. Yahoo! Health. 6 December 2002. http://heatlh.yahoo.com/health/dc/000362/0.html
Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: COmprehensive Guide to the causes, Treatments, and Prevention of Eating Disorders. Border Health Publishing Company. 1999. Pages 10-12.
Donely, J. Rita. and Vachon, O. Dominic. "Defining eating disorders." Observer Newspaper Vol. 34. 6 December 2002. http://www.nd.edu/~observer/02142000/Scene/0.html.
"Eating disorders"(Slideshow). http://www.beaconschool.org/~lyangarb/eatingdisorder/sld005.htm
Hoffman, Lee. "Eating Disorders: Causes of Eating Disorders." Selfhelp Magazine 28 May 1998. http://www.shpm.com/articles/eating/nih/cause.html.
James, P. Ellen. "Eating Disorders on campus." News Outreach: Making Life Better 3.1 6 December 2002 http://www.outreach.psu.edu/News/magazine/Vol_3.1/eating.html.
Rowan, Peter Dr. "Introducing Bulimia Nervosa." 8 December 2002. http://www.priory-hospital.co.uk/htm/bulimi.htm.
"Starving for Information." The Report 18 November 2002.