Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is a condition in which an individual eats, or avoids eating, in a manner which negatively affects both one’s physical and mental health. Eating disorders can range from mild mental anguish to life-threatening conditions, and can affect every aspect of an individuals’ daily life. Anorexia nervosa, binge eating and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes. Research shows that 3.7 percent women suffer from anorexia nervosa and up to 4.2 percent from bulimia nervosa, while 5 percent practice binge-eating.
Anorexia Nervosa
The key features of anorexia nervosa are refusal to sustain a minimally normal body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, despite being underweight and distorted view of one’s body or weight, or denial of the dangers of one’s low weight. There are two types of anorexia, the restricting type and the purging type…
Binge Eating Disorder
The key features of binge eating disorder are frequent episodes of uncontrollable binge eating, feeling extremely distressed or upset during or after bingeing and no regular attempts to “make up” for the binges through vomiting, fasting, or over-exercising. People with binge eating disorder struggle with feelings of guilt…
Bulimia Nervosa
The key features of bulimia nervosa are regular episodes of out-of-control binge eating, inappropriate behavior to prevent weight gain and self-worth is excessively influenced by weight and physical appearance. There are two types of bulimia, distinguished by the methods the bulimic uses to compensate for the binge eating.