Individuals Bulimia Nervosa As An Oedipal Condition

Eating disorders effecting American women have been on the rise in recent year. The alarming trend of increasing cases of these psychological disorders has sparked intellectual inquiry into their shared features. The rising amount of societal pressures that many women around the country feel have caused a lot of women to turn to food as a coping mechanism. Whether it is control exhorted over food or eating as a means to feel numb, women look to food to make themselves feel a certain way. Food, in modern culture, represents much more than just as a means of nourishing ones body. How individuals use food as a copping mechanism has in part lead to the exploitation of food. Three major eating disorders; Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating

Girls especially are told that they are supposed to look how famous people look, but are not told how vastly edited and corrected the models in the pictures are. Today, women as young as 11 and 12 have began developing eating disorders due to the constant media bombardment telling them to look a certain way—incredibly skinny—which forces them into starvation. Psychologists have coined the new disorder ‘”body image disturbance syndrome” or BIDS. BIDS is characterized by the incessant feeling of being ‘fat’ when someone is perfectly healthy usually turning to one of two options: anorexia or bulimia. Anorexia is the act of not eating to achieve a body image, but this often results in gross malnourishment. On the other hand, bulimia is characterized by binge eating large meals followed by self-induced vomiting. The motivation behind bulimia is that if they keep the food in their body just long enough to absorb the nutrients, they can vomit the actual bulk of the food that makes them look overweight. The sad reality of the fact is that not only are the nutrients not completely absorbed until they reach the intestines, but the stomach acid brought forth with their vomit virtually rots away their

The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a

In Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (1999), Marya Hombacher's testimonial delves into the dark underbelly of her illness; her battle is regurgitated within the text with the same fervor as the disease besieging her body and mind. Marya, divulges her fourteen year long struggle with Anorexia and Bulimia with often macabre honesty. Her story is terrifyingly painful and provides a glimpse into the devastating progression of her illness.

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating as well as by self-induced vomiting and/or laxative abuse (Mitchell, 1986). Episodes of overeating typically alternate with attempts to diet, although the eating habits of bulimics and their methods of weight control vary (Fairburn et al., 1986). The majority of bulimics have a body weight within the normal range for their height, build, and age, and yet possess intense and prominent concerns about their shape and weight (Fairburn et al., 1986). Individuals with bulimia nervosa are aware that they have an eating problem, and therefore are often eager to receive help. The most common approach to

Bulimia nervosa is a specific type of eating disorder that affects 4.7 million female and 1.5 million males in the United States on a daily basis. The typical occurrence for such a disorder happens more commonly in young adults and onto fully-grown men and women, however there are in fact some cases that have patients diagnosed at only six years old (Mirror Mirror Eating Disorders). Symptoms of bulimia nervosa include secret binge eating episodes of excessively large amounts of food followed by purging, in the form of self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, fasting, or even excessive exercising. The life of a bulimic person is a masochistic one that is hidden away from the world and full of secrecy and

According to the DSM-5, eating disorders are characterized by a persistent disturbance of eating–related behavior that results in non-normative eating patterns which leads to impaired physical and psychosocial functioning, (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating with inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain. Binge eating is described as eating an amount of food definitely larger than normal with a sense of lack of control. Compensatory behaviors include misuse of laxatives, self-induced vomiting, diuretics, fasting and excessive exercise, (Comer, 2014) . Another key feature is

The latest manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) includes various changes in the Feeding and Eating Disorders chapter as a significant number of professionals diagnosing patients realized individuals were not fitting into certain criteria and therefore being labelled with EDNOS “Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified”. Some of the substantial changes to the Diagnostic Manual include changes to the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. With this is mind my essay with focus on one of these specific subtypes. With evidence showing there has been an increase in Anorexia in the high risk-group of 15-19 year olds in the past decade, and Bulimia on the decrease since the early nineteenth century (Smink, Hoeken, Hoek 2012) my chosen subtype will be Anorexia Nervosa. As statistics are increasing further than those of other subtypes it merits singular discourse. AN remains the most deadly of all mental health disorders, with a 5-10% death rate within 10 years of developing the symptoms, and an 18-20% death rate within 20 years.

Eating disorders are complex, challenging, and sometimes life-threatening psychiatric illnesses. There are specific diagnostic criteria and symptoms a person must exhibit in order to be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or bulimia. These symptoms primarily relate to a disturbance in eating pattern, weight loss, an intense fear of being fat, and a disturbed body image. The etiology of eating disorders is not clearly understood, but psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors need to be considered. The treatment approach for anorexia nervosa and bulimia is also challenging and can present with serious medical complications and potentially death if not properly addressed. Recovery is possible, and the case study of Jenni Schaefer, who suffered from anorexia nervosa, binge-purge subtype since her childhood is presented to share this message of hope. More research is needed to help further understand the characteristics, cause, and treatment of eating disorders.

Eating disorders have been found through centuries of doctors records. Some as far back as the seventeenth century through Morton (1694) descriptions of the symptoms of eating disorders during this period in time. Despite this eating disorders were only formally known as a disorder until 1980 when it was published in the DSM and more recent editions have shown that there are two different forms of eating disorders which are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This assignment will discuss how social, cultural and family environment can contribute to the development of these eating disorders and why

The focus of this essay will be to examine the challenges a psychotherapist faces when working with eating disorders. Whilst acknowledging eating disorders can include overeating I will base the essay around anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. I will look at the various theories around the subject as well as provide examples of my own experience working within this field.

For bulimic patients whose central conflicts are preoedipal in nature, the same intimacy concerns one felt towards his or her mother as a young child become transposed on adult situations, in which needy and dismissive feelings are displaced onto the food.

Therefore, bulimia nervosa (BN) can appropriately be conceptualized as reflecting both oedipal and preoedipal pathology, depending on the individual’s central conflicts. For individuals whose central conflict reflects an inability to control or inhibit aggressive and libidinal impulses, bulimic symptoms symbolize one’s ambivalence about aggression and sexuality. Food becomes a medium through which these individuals express and manage threatening feelings associated

Furthermore Keel et al. in 2006, discovered that forty percent of women in college demonstrated manifestations of bulimia and an investigation of visitors to a family planning hospital revealed that one point nine percent of the patients had the eating disorder. However, it is essential that we differentiate between age groups, social standing, and gender when observing at the frequency of bulimia because there is a noteworthy dissimilarity. Freud stated that the female: male ratio of bulimia sufferer lies at around 10:1 and in addition case studies have shown that around ninety nine percent of the cases were women. Additionally, a greater number of people with bulimia appear to come from upper social classes, which may be because of the tremendous

The Psychologist and author Mary Elizabeth Pipher said “In all the years I’ve been a therapist, I’ve yet to meet one girl who likes her body”. The need of control in our life and the needed to feel successful can bring a lot of emotional problems and sometimes people look for comfort in the wrong places, for example food, this can cause eating disorder such as bulimia, but to fully understand this term we need to analyze the definition, consequences and key theories.