Eating Disorders - Introduction

Introduction

Eating disorders are psychological problems marked by an obsession with food and weight. There are four general categories of eating disorders:

• Bulimia nervosa
• Anorexia nervosa
• Binge eating
• Eating disorders not otherwise specified

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is more common than anorexia, and it usually begins early in adolescence. It is characterized by cycles of bingeing and purging, and typically takes the following pattern:

• Bulimia is often triggered when young women attempt restrictive diets, fail, and react by binge eating. Binge eating involves consuming larger than normal amounts of food within a 2-hour period.
• In response to the binges, patients compensate, usually by purging, vomiting, using enemas, or taking laxatives, diet pills, or drugs to reduce fluids.
• Patients then revert to severe dieting, excessive exercise, or both. Some patients with bulimia follow bingeing only with fasting and exercise. They are then considered to have non-purging bulimia.
• The cycle then swings back to bingeing and then to purging again.
• To be diagnosed with bulimia, a patient must binge and purge at least twice a week for 3 months.
• In some cases, the condition progresses to anorexia. Most people with bulimia, however, have a normal to high-normal body weight, although it may fluctuate by more than 10 pounds because of the binge-purge cycle.

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Anorexia Nervosa

The term "anorexia" literally means absence of appetite. Anorexia can be associated with medical conditions or medications that cause a loss of appetite. Anorexia nervosa involves a psychological aversion to food that leads to a state of starvation and emaciation. In anorexia nervosa:

• At least 15% to as much as 60% of normal body weight is lost.
• The patient with anorexia nervosa has an intense fear of gaining weight, even when severely underweight.
• Individuals with anorexia nervosa have a distorted image of their own weight or shape and deny the serious health consequences of their low weight.
• Women with anorexia nervosa miss at least three consecutive menstrual periods. (Women can also be anorexic without this occurrence.)