Overview of Bulimia Essay

Bulimia Nervosa is the other eating disorder Kesha suffered from. The APA describes bulimia as eating in “..excessive quantities, then [purging] their bodies of the food and calories they fear by using laxatives, enemas, or diuretics; vomiting; or exercising.” Bulimia is more common in young women, but can also occur with young men. Because it involves purging the food after eating, the person with the disorder is usually aware of the problem and can feel guilty about it. The National Library of Medicine states that bulimia can be caused by a number of things, including “genetic, psychological, trauma, family, society, or cultural factors.” Symptoms include immediate trips to the restroom after eating, excessive exercise, eating large amounts of food in one sitting (binging), and using laxatives. Bulimia can cause dehydration, gingivitis, worn enamel on the teeth, pancreatitis, tears in the esophagus, and broken blood vessels in the eyes. A person with bulimia may only eat in secret, or eat large sums of food in one sitting. This can cause discomfort and purging can either cause relief or guilt. Support groups, therapy, and antidepressants may be used to treat a person with bulimia. Hospitalization or inpatient treatment is rarely necessary unless another disorder accompanies the bulimia.

Once upon a time, women were celebrated for their curves. Weight was a symbol of wealth and fertility in a woman. During this time, women were subjugated to being a housewife and nothing more. As time and society progressed, a woman’s prison became her body and no longer her home. Women had the freedom to vote, work, play, but could no longer be fat. This new beauty standard of thinness affects women in many ways. In “Add Cake, Subtract Self Esteem” written by Caroline Knapp, she describes her own personal experience on how this impossible standard affects women’s eating which leads to eating disorders and an unhealthy relationship with food. In “The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi Wolf, she describes the mental effects on women from a

This updated edition includes a section of answers to some of the common questions the author is asked about bulimia. Anyone suffering from an eating disorder (there are eight million bulimics in America alone), as well as parents, friends, counselors, and pastors will find hope and help through this engaging true life

Donna, who suffered from bulimia for 13 years, refuses to have social media in order to protect herself. She was in an online discussion forum in high school where people compared their weights, binged together and helped one another avoid eating which affected her so greatly that it drives her to stay away from social media because she doesn’t want to compare anymore. There is social media pages very much like that discussion forum that Donna was in that motivate those who suffer to get worse by saying things like “Pretty girls don’t eat” and “skip dinner, be thinner” on the pictures they post. There always has been “Pro-ana” (pro anorexia) and “Pro-mia” (pro bulimia) websites but social media has given those type of sites a global platform where they can share their ideas and photographs to support the self-destructive behaviors that they treat as a lifestyle choice, instead of as the serious mental illness it is. The constant stream of images of we are exposed to cause eating disorders to thrive. One study shows that the more time teenage girls spend on facebook heighten the likeliness of them developing an eating disorder. These websites and social media pages may cause triggers but they are never the sole cause of someone’s eating disorder. There is also very many testimonies of recovery on social media that could have a positive effect on someone’s eating disorder as well, but it's

Bulimia can also be hereditary or caused from a chemical imbalance. Dr. Walters Kaye at the University of Pittsburgh is a psychiatry professor who found data that bulimic woman have altered brain chemistry. In turn, this data proved that the altered brain chemistry puts a bulimic at higher risk for eating disorders, even after he/she recovered from bulimia (“Bulimia: Symptoms, Causes...”1-4). It can run in families because

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

In our Western society, we have several different types of eating dysfunction, all of which are unique and tragic in their own right. Despite their individuality, however, they all have several overlapping symptoms that are key to their classification and severity. For Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED), one of the core features is binge eating, which can be defined objectively by number of calories eaten in a given time or subjectively by the feelings of the binger. Binge eating has many different aspects that are of interest to scientists and clinicians alike. One of those interests has to do with the reduction of this symptom among populations being treated for their respective disorder. Because both

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

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

Thirty million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder (eatingdisordercenter.org). The two most common are bulimia and anorexia. These diseases are frequently confused due to their similarities. Although they are alike, they have a few significant differences. The similarities are both diseases are about control and strength, they cause serious health risk, affect the same group of people and have no known cause. Their differences are the way the individuals gain control and the physical characteristics of the people with these diseases.

Bulimics often like to hide food and is very good at it. They like to eat alone or away from people. Another symptom is “disappearing after meals” to go vomit or gag themselves, “bulimics patients will often wait around 1 or 2 hours after eating”. “using laxatives” is also another symptom for another symptom for bulimia. Bulimic patients use laxatives to have serious bowel movements, this is very dangerous to and for the body. Therefore bulimia patients will just do about anything to themselves for them to look a certain way or to be a certain size.

the perfect body image. The horrific things that females put themselves through to lose weight is heartbreaking. Not only are bulimia sufferers suffering from vomiting but they suffer from stomach cramps, bags under their eyes, and hair loss. It has also been confirmed that celebrities have also experienced bulimia. Females look up to these females just like they look up to females in the spotlight for beauty standards, however these celebrities brush off the disease. Sacker mentioned “that celebrities appearing on talk shows make it sound as if getting over an eating disorder is quick and easy, but the reality is very different” (167). Binge eating is like bulimia but without the vomiting. Binge eating is a disorder that comes into effect

Eating disorders are extremely harmful and rising in prevalence. . The two most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these two disorders. This essay will also assess the symptoms, causes, health affects and the most prevalent characteristics of people diagnosed with these two eating disorders.

Each year millions of people in the United States are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disorders. The vast majorities are adolescents and young adult women. Approximately one percent of adolescent girls develops anorexia nervosa, a dangerous condition in which they can literally starve themselves to death. Another two to three percent develop bulimia nervosa, a destructive pattern of excessive overeating followed by vomiting or other " purging " behaviors to control their weight. These eating disorders also occur in men and older women, but much less frequently. The consequences of eating disorders can be severe. For example, one in ten anorexia nervosa leads to death from starvation, cardiac arrest, or

In a society that discriminates against people, particularly women, who do not look slender, many people find they cannot - or think they cannot - meet society's standards through normal, healthy eating habits and often fall victim to eating disorders. Bulimia Nervosa, an example of an eating disorder that is characterized by a cycle of binge eating and purging, has become very common in our society. Although it generally affects women, men too are now coming to clinics with this kind of disease. This is not a new disorder. It can be brought on by a complex interplay of factors, which may include emotional, and personality disorders, family pressures, a possible genetic or biologic susceptibility, and a culture in which there is an