Taking a Look at Eating Disorders

Topic: What is causing young adults and teens to develop eating disorders and how can we help them?

Nowadays, when people emphasis more and more on healthy lifestyles, both exercise and food intake have become a big part of the consideration. With the goals of being fit and losing weight, some people eat irregularly or do not eat at all. As a result, eating disorders seem more often on news and reports. However, some people still view it as a joke. With the increasing number of people diagnosed with eating disorders, people should raise awareness on the effects of eating disorders and treat them seriously.

It is important to distinguish between normal eating and the behaviors that typify eating disorders or disordered eating. Even among those attempting to lose weight or maintain a lower percentage of body fat, normal eating is “flexible and not obsessive.” (Dunford and Doyle 455). Although athletes have a stricter nutrition plan versus the general population, their eating should actively support training through moderate levels of restraint yet should still allow for healthy eating patterns such as eating when hungry, not feeling the need to punish oneself after an indulgence through excessive caloric restriction or exercise, and the ability to participate in social events. Dunford and Doyle term this as “discipline, not…obsession” (456). While the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating all have clear-cut clinical definitions, disordered eating is a more nebulous term that can define a wider array of

1,445 student athletes from multiple different Division 1 schools participated in order to see the prevalence of eating disorders in a variety of different sports. The student athletes were asked questions about their athletic involvement, eating behaviors, drug and alcohol behavior and attitudes about their body image. The first set of results showed that 16.19% of females and 12.57% of males binge ate monthly (Powers, 1996). 81% of females reported feeling out of control of eating while only 45% of males reported feeling out of control. 23.9% of females reported vomiting as a form of purging but only 5.93% of males reported vomiting. When it came to diet pills, 14.30% of women reported usage while 2.16% of males reported usage. Although males’ results were always smaller than women, they are still at rise and suffering from eating disorders. With this study it is obvious that all athletes experience demands that push them to turn to abnormal and dangerous eating patterns.

Numerous studies have shown that athletes are more prone to developing eating disorders than nonathletes, as well as female athletes being more at risk than their male counterparts. Disordered eating is seen in athletes of all sports. (Johnson, 1994). The prevalence of eating disorders in the female athletic population ranges from anywhere between one and forty percent, depending on the athletes questioned, and the methodology used (Sundgot-Borgen, 1994). Rosen and Hough (1988) found that 32 percent of athletes practiced at least one pathogenic weight-control technique(141). A study done by Sundgot-Borgen, in 1994, controlled for the possibility that self-report data could be unreliable in numerous ways, including not informing coaches of their intentions, and assuring 100 percent confidentiality to the athletes who participated. It found that the risk for eating disorders is increased if an athlete's dieting is unsupervised, if there is an early start to sport-specific training, and/or extreme exercise (Sundgot-Borgen, 418).

According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) website, eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses causing serve disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors. People with eating disorders often have obsessions with food, their body weight, and their shape. There is, however, a difference between an eating disorder and a diet. It is important to know the difference. Eating disorders are a daily struggle for 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States (Eating Disorder Hope). An eating disorder is a compulsion to avoid eating in order to lose weight while a diet is cutting down eating or healthier eating in order to lose weight. The three types of an eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. All three disorders are important and they all deserve immediate treatment. No matter what eating disorder someone has, it can resort in organ damage and sometimes even death.

Although disordered eating has historically been considered a female concern, it is on the rise among males. Estimates of disordered eating behaviors in athletes are growing, and are as high as 62% among female athletes and 33% among male athletes. Some athletes may also have eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, related to clinical mental conditions. Characteristics of a possible eating

Over the past twenty years, there has been a great increase of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa which have come out as major psychological and health problems. This increase in eating disorders has resulted from the intense societal pressure to diet and conform to an unrealistic weight and body size. For the general population of women, the lifetime number of anorexia nervosa is approximately 0.7%, and that of bulimia nervosa is as high as 10.3% ( Taub & Blinde, 1992). Since many athletes contain almost the same behaviors to those with eating disorders, there has also been an increase in interest in whether athletes are at a risk for eating disorders.

The Article, from the Journal of Sport Behavior, “An Examination of Eating Disorder Profiles in Student Obligatory and Non-Obligatory Exercisers” written by Hilary Matheson, Anne Crawford-Wright (2000). The purpose of this study was “to highlight risk behaviors indicated in a student obligatory and non-obligatory exercise population comparing the result to other previous research” (Matheson & Crawford-Wright 2000). According to the authors there has been extensive research that focuses on the “relationships between

Once the symptoms of exercise addiction are clearly identified in a patient, medical and health professionals should seek appropriate treatments tailored to find the source or route of their addiction (Lane, 2008). Additionally, these professionals must differentiate if the addiction occurs in the absence of an eating disorder. In some cases, an addiction to exercise is typically a dissatisfaction with the individual’s physical appearance. Under stress from this displeasure, exercise is rationalized as a positive solution to combat this instead of turning to other potentially addictive behaviors (Landolfi, 2012).

Brewerton, Timothy D. "Eating disorders, trauma, and comorbidity: Focus on PTSD." Eating disorders 15.4 (2007): 285-304.

This documentary, like the others, were eye opening and very sad. The video gave a lot of insight into the experiences of individuals struggling with eating disorders and I gained a lot information that will help me as a social worker as well. The signs and symptoms described in the DSM were clearly depicted in the documentary.

Most people have tried various diets to lose weight or wished for our body shape to change. For most people, diets will only work for the short term and as we age we tend to put on more weight. For individuals who are fixated on losing weight or changing their body shape; can lead to an eating disorder. Eating disorders (ED) have been defined as “syndromes characterised by significant disturbances in eating behaviour and by distress or excessive concern about body shape or weight.” Eating disorders that are most common are anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

The altered eating and exercise patterns of those with eating disorders can seriously damage physical and emotional health. The ANAB (n.d.) contends activities associated with eating disorders place one in medical danger. Strenuous over-exercising is often seen in those with eating disorders even though they may be quite ill. The body of an eating disorder sufferer frequently has electrolyte imbalances and gastrointestinal problems. The

The main cause for over exercise is, a psychological reason, like eating disorders, such anorexic, a psychiatric illness, were people tend to feel fat and see the image of their body fat in from of a mirror, when is totally the opposite, because of it, they start to restrict their food, less and less, for not get calories, and constantly experiences loss of weight. People that suffer the problem of eating disorder, go for over exercise, as a secondary source of burn calories, so they can lose weight faster and do not getter back. Bulimia is another eating disorder where a person eats a large portion of food in a short among of time and them, they feel guilty a vomit and use other resources as laxatives for do not gain weight. Anorexic and people with bulimia, set a goal that according to them, they never reach it. An article contributed by Heather Hutchinson, representing Eating Disorder Center of Denver, cited the new research “… The May 2002 Nutrition Research Newsletter, [Indicated next result] approximately 80 percent of patients with anorexia nervosa and 55 percent of patients with bulimia nervosa compulsively exercise” (Hutchinson, p. 1). Anorexic used over exercise for lose weight and people with bulimia for do not gain weigh after eating wildly. Another psychological problem that may induce people to over exercise is a result of depression, the people with depression use exercise with the purpose of forgetting the