Eating Disorders: Physical and Psychological Damages Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Disordered Eating

According to the Mayo Clinic (2016), eating disorders are “conditions related to persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact your health, your emotions, and your ability to function in important areas of life.” One such eating disorder is anorexia nervosa. Not to be confused with anorexia, which is simply a general loss of appetite that can be attributed to many medical ailments, anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder and mental illness (Nordqvist, 2015). Anorexia nervosa is estimated to affect about .9% of women and .3% of men in their lifetime (“Eating Disorder Statistics & Research,” n.d.). In general, the disorder is commonly characterized by a distorted body image or self-concept, critically low weight (with respect to the patient’s height and age), and an irrational fear of becoming fat or an intense desire to be thin. There are two subtypes to this eating disorder: restrictive and binge/purge. In the restrictive type, the individual limits caloric intake and may compulsively over-exercise. In the binge/purge type, the individual consumes a considerable amount of food in a short period of time (binging) and then deliberately vomits (purging), takes laxatives, or fasts intensely in order to compensate for the food eaten (“General Information: Anorexia Nervosa,” n.d.). In either case, anorexia nervosa is undoubtedly a dangerous and alarming illness.

There are many psychological effects of bulimia on the people who are suffering from it. They tend to feel unwanted, having difficulty in maintaining relationships, irritability, can’t eat with others, withdrawal from daily life activities, stress, depression etc. (Your Bulimia Recovery, 2011). One of the major drawbacks of being a bulimic is the loneliness you feel. Therefore, communities play a major role in positive or negative health outcomes. Disorganized communities, poor health services, no family support and poverty are related to poor health outcomes (Clark, 2001). It can also damage a person’s mental, physical and emotional health and can also affects his/her self-esteem and confidence (Neda Feeding Hope, 2015). The patients suffering

“Up to 30 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder” (Wade, Keski- Rahkonen, & Hudson, 1995). There are many factors which contribute to the development of eating disorders including “biology, emotional health, and societal expectation, and other issues” (“Diseases and Conditions Bulimia nervosa”). One of the most prominent eating disorders in America and around the globe has been around since the Middle Ages: “Bulimia is first reliably described among the some of the wealthy in the Middle Ages who would vomit during meals so they could consume more” (“A History of Eating Disorders”). Today bulimia is more prevalent and is predicted to affect around “4% of women in the United States” (“Eating Disorder Statistics and Research”). In 1979, Gerald Russell published a description of bulimia nervosa. It was the first description of bulimia ever published. Only a year later in 1980 bulimia appeared for the first time in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III.

An eating disorder is an obsessive collection of interrelated behaviors directed towards persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact one’s health, emotions, and ability to function in important areas of life. These compulsive practices and attitudes about food, weight and body shape, manifest into deep psychological fears and an incessant need for control. Some common features of eating disorders include an irrational fear of fat, dissatisfaction with one 's body often coupled with a distorted perception of body shape, unhealthy weight management and extreme food intake. This disordered eating behavior is usually an effort to solve a variety of emotional difficulties about which the individual feels out of control. Males and females of all social and economic classes, races and intelligence levels can develop an eating disorder (Perfect). There are currently three main types of eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Each one as dangerous as the next, but yet heavily overlooked and/or misunderstood in society today (Perfect); A review of nearly fifty years of research confirms that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder (Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales, & Nielsen, 2011).

Eating disorders are classified as mental disorders and can lead to life threatening damage. It is important to manage eating disorders to prevent health effects. There are many different possibilities for patients with disorders. Common treatments for eating disorders can consists of counselor or therapists. Early detection is important to limit future oral health effects. A dental hygienist has an advantage to see the inside of the mouth for possible trauma, erosion, and malnutrition. It is common for patients to be in denial of the situation. A dental hygienist is trained to communication to the patient about the eating disorder without the patient feeling attacked. It is important to tell the difference in eating disorders. Most eating disorders all appear to be anorexia until further signs and symptoms are observed. The two types of eating disorders being discussed in this paper are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Like anorexia nervosa people with bulimia nervosa fear gaining weight, desperately want to lose weight and are unhappy with their body. People with bulimia nervosa tend to be a normal weight or even under weight, which makes bulimia nervosa hard to detect. There are, however, warning signs of bulimia nervosa that include weights fluctuations, over-exercise, sneaking of food, unhealthy skin hair and nails (Self Image media Influences). If left untreated, bulimia nervosa can lead to serious and even life-threatening problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders, heart damage, kidney damage, injury to all parts of the digestive system, and severe dental damage (About Eating Disorders). People with bulimia nervosa can develop dangerous behaviors such as alcohol and/or drug abuse, sexual longing, cutting or self-mutilation, and kleptomania, which is the urge to steal even if you have no need for it.

As stated in the article “What are Eating Disorders?” by the NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association), “About 20 million women and 10 million men in America will experience some type of eating disorder at some point in their lives.” This means that eating disorders affect women more, but it affects men as well. Anorexia and Bulimia have been affecting women for generations, but recently it has blown up. The main reason for this is social media and magazines. Social media shows people models that are supposedly “perfect,” and then the women that see this then want to look just like them. This causes women to starve themselves, purge, etc. Women and teens still do this even though they know it hurts them. They may be addicted to doing it, and may not be able to stop themselves. People get seriously hurt and it’s not worth all the

Anorexia Nervosa is currently viewed by society as an extremely complicated disorder, misunderstood, over looked, and misjudged based on the stigmas of society. People who suffer from eating disorders like Anorexia do not always report the fact they are in living with the disorder because they are ashamed or scared of what might happen to them or what people will say. An individual may also feel that they do not met the exact criteria of Anorexia Nervosa in the DSM 5. An example of the DSM 5 criteria for Anorexia Nervosa is an individual purposely takes too little nourishment, has below average body weight, fearful of gaining weight, refusal to keep a normal weight, distorted body perception

Eating disorders have always been looked upon as a teenage girl disease. Teen girls are surrounded by the idea of what a perfect body looks like that they would do anything to achieve it, or kids participating in sporting events over work themselves in order to be the best. However, this disease is also found in males and women over in their late 20s to early 40s. Men are feeling just as much pressure in today’s world to look a certain way. Everywhere you look you see males with chiseled abs and big muscles. They are on the cover of magazines, on TV, billboards and even can be found in grocery stores. For girls the idea is to look thin, but for boys it’s to look as muscular as possible. Older women have had more of a struggle with keeping up with a family and losing focus of their own lives. Always some women

In order to explore the eating disorder that is facing much adolescences during their lives, specifically anorexia nervosa, a search was conducted and various scholarly articles were assessed and integrated into the final paper of this class. The assignment today will review the articles selected.

According to Webster the definition of an “Eating Disorder” is “Any of several psychological disorders (as anorexia nervosa or bulimia) characterized by serious disturbances of eating behavior.” Anorexia Nervosa is one of the three main eating disorders. It has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses(ANAD). Anorexia Nervosa is defined as a loss of appetite for food or refusing food in order to lose weight. Out of all of the psychiatric disorders Anorexia Nervosa is the only one that has a physical symptom as one of the diagnostic criteria(Schellenberg). Bulimia Nervosa is the second of the three main eating disorders. 1% of women develop bulimia(Eating). Bulimia is known as an individual consuming a vast amount of food and then disposing of it through self-induced vomiting, the use of diuretics, or excessive exercising. The third main eating disorder is Binge Eating Disorder. Individuals who develop this disorder feel out of control while they are eating and tend to eat very large amounts. Binge eating is known

An eating disorder is a disorder that specifically focuses on the person’s weight and these behaviors are so detrimental not only to their performance in their everyday life but to their physical health. According to Hoeksema (2014) eating disorders can be characterized in three ways which include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa can be further broken down into two types which are anorexia nervosa restricting type, and anorexia nervosa binge/purge type. Eating disorders if approached early enough can be reversed with no damage or very minimal damage to the person.

Are Single-Parent Families Different from Two-Parent Families in the Treatment of Adolescent Bulimia Nervosa Using Family-Based Treatment?

Anyone can have an eating disorder. Eating disorders can affect all walks of lives, women, men and even children, no longer is it the stereotypical girl that is affected. The person next to you that seems to have everything together, may be fighting for perfection and may be living with an eating disorder. The more knowledge society has, the more we can help those who battle this disease.

Anorexia Nervosa is one of several subtypes descending from feeding and eating disorders. It is a crippling life-threatening condition marked by a patient placing restriction on energy intake relative to needed energy requirements, resulting in a relentless pursuit of low body weight in the context of age, sex, development and physical health. According to American Psychiatric Publishing of diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) “Anorexia Nervosa, often times have an early-onset which primarily affects adolescent girls and young women, is characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat” (APA). Anorexia is a condition more common amongst younger patients that causes a disruption in the normal growth process, because they fail to achieve ideal weight and height expectancy. Psychologist are able to determine if an individual meets anorexia weight cutoff requirement by measuring how thin their patients are by calculating body mass index (BMI)