Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing psychological, interpersonal, and social conditions. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food. People with eating disorders often use food, and the control of food, in an attempt to compensate for feelings and emotions that may otherwise seem over-whelming.

Eating disorders are a collection of symptoms with varying degrees of severity. It includes obsessive thoughts about food, weight and body size, self-starvation, binging, purging, use of laxatives and diuretics, compulsive exercise. People with eating disorders can go undetected for years because of the veil of secrecy that surrounds the person’s relationship with food and their body. They are unlikely to speak to anyone about it for fear of judgement or intervention.

The causes of eating disorders are complex. Patterns established in early development, particularly around nurturing, identity and adaptation, are suspected as the root source of most eating disorders. Other factors, including genetics and defects in key chemical messengers in the brain, are also suspected.

Untreated, the disorders can become chronic and lead to severe health problems, even death. For example, about 1,000 women die of anorexia each year - from starvation, cardiac arrest, other medical complications, or suicide.

The following are the different ways that the symptoms of an eating disorder present:

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder characterized by severe weight loss. Individuals with anorexia nervosa have an intense fear of becoming obese, even as weight loss progresses, and a distorted view of their body size. Significant weight loss due to self-starvation characterizes anorexia, often with serious medical complications.

People with anorexia nervosa are in immediate need of help. They are in great danger of doing irreparable damage to their body through self-starvation and excessive exercise. They are unlikely to seek help without intervention from family and friends because they truly believe that there is nothing wrong with their approach to self-nurturance.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating and then purging in an attempt to prevent weight gain. The binge eating that occurs with this disorder is characterized by excessive and rapid consumption of food when not feeling hungry. There is a feeling of loss of control over their eating during a binge, followed or preceded by feelings of guilt, shame, disgust and depression.

Purging is most commonly self-induced vomiting, but can take the form of laxative abuse, diuretics, enemas, fasting or excessive exercise. Over time, the behaviours create serious health problems of the gastrointestinal system.

Bulimics will binge and purge on a regular basis, in a ritual fashion or will binge eat as a response to emotions. Excessive stress, change over which they have no control, moving, leaving home – all are triggers for Bulimics to begin their ritual behaviours.

Compulsive or Emotional Eating

Compulsive or emotional eating is an eating disorder similar to bulimia except for regular purging. Compulsive eaters either binge on large amounts of food or nibble snacks continuously throughout the day. They usually feel emotionally 'empty' or unhappy and use food as a way of self-soothing or relieving depression. Constant overeating leads to feelings of self-loathing, shame and guilt, yet feeling unable to do anything about it.

Compulsive eaters tend to feel as though they are failures. They remain overweight even though they have been dieting for most of their life. Although self-educated experts with diets and nutrition, they have great difficulty maintaining any real weight loss over time. They do not often consider the emotional triggers into their eating behaviours.

Orthorexia Nervosa

Orthorexia nervosa refers to a fixation on eating healthy food. It is characterized by a narrow selection of food choices and\or increasing numbers of nutritional supplements. Social outings are limited due to their inability to cater to the severe restrictions of the diet. Deviation from the diet is followed by feelings of guilt and depression. Where people with other eating disorders focus on the quantity of food, people with orthorexia focus obsessively on the quality of food.