These patterns can be caused by distress or concern about the shape or weight of the body, and damage the normal composition and function of the body. A person with an eating disorder may have started simply by eating smaller or larger amounts than usual. At some point, the urge to eat less or more gets out of control.
Eating disorders often develop during early adulthood. Some reports indicate that onset can also occur during childhood or later in adulthood. Many teens can hide these behaviors from their family for months or years.
It is estimated that between 0.5% and 3.7% of women struggle with anorexia during their lifetime, while between 1.1% and 4.2% of women suffer from bulimia during their lifetime. Community surveys have estimated that between 2% and 5% of Americans experience binge eating disorder in a six-month period.
Eating disorders are not due to a lack of will or behavior. They are real, treatable medical diseases in which abnormal eating patterns take on a life of their own.
What is Anorexia?
Anorexia nervosa, a form of self-starvation, is characterized by a distorted body image that leads to restricted eating and other behaviors that prevent a person from gaining weight.
Initially identified in middle- and upper-class families, anorexia treatment is now known to be found in all socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial groups. Most of those affected are women (90-95%), although these statistics are changing, as men are affected more often.
What is Bulimia?
Bulimia is characterized by uncontrolled bouts of binge eating, called binge eating, followed by purges through various methods. Binge eating is eating much larger amounts than you would normally eat in a short period of time, usually less than 2 hours. Binge and purge cycles can occur from many times a day to several times a week. Other illnesses, such as addiction, anxiety, and mood disorders, are common in people with bulimia.
Bulimia most often affects women and begins during adolescence, but it can affect men as well. Other illnesses, such as substance abuse, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders, are common in people with bulimia.
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
Binge eating disorder is a disease that involves overeating for a specific and defined period of time. You eat more food than others in the same amount of time, under the same circumstances. It differs from bulimia in that people do not purge their bodies of excess food through vomiting, misuse of laxatives, or misuse of diuretics.
Binge eating disorder is found in about 1% to 2% of the general population and is seen more often in women than in men.
Eating disorders and coexisting diagnoses
When patients are treated for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, the eating disorder is often the tip of the iceberg, and a thorough evaluation often reveals co-occurring psychiatric disorders.
A recent national survey found that patients with anorexia nervosa had high rates of coexisting mood disorders (42.1%), anxiety disorders (47.9%), substance use disorders (27%), and substance use disorders. impulse control (30.8%). This same survey found that patients with bulimia nervosa had even higher rates of co-occurring psychiatric disorders: mood (70.7%), anxiety (80.6%), substance use (36.8%), and control of pulses (63.8%).
At first, the diagnosis of co-occurring conditions may seem daunting, as this could make an already severe eating disorder diagnosis suddenly seem more complicated. However, hope begins when patients understand what they are dealing with, how each disorder worsens the other, and are treated for all of their conditions together, recovery can move forward.
Fight depression
Eating disorders, for example, make depression worse and vice versa. Malnutrition from anorexia and erratic eating from bulimia have a negative effect on the brain, worsening mood and impairing sleep, concentration, and energy. Eating disorder-related behaviors cause social isolation and are time-consuming.
Patients also struggle with distressing negative body image, food and body musings, and shame and stigma that lower their self-esteem and lower their mood even further. Depression undermines motivation for recovery, makes patients feel hopeless, and keeps them stuck. In the case of anorexia recovery, weight loss can be slow suicide.
Despite the combined clinical picture of these coexisting disorders, treatment of both the eating disorder and the depression improves both conditions significantly. With treatment, patients can stabilize their eating disorders: regain weight, establish a regular diet, stop purging or exercising, and work to better control the psychological symptoms of their eating disorder.
Finding hope
At first, patients may feel overwhelmed when they are diagnosed with eating disorders, especially in combination with other mental health problems. A college student once said, “I thought I was just partying. Now you are telling me that I have a substance use problem in addition to my eating disorder! "
But the truth is, patients know what they are up against deep down as they live and experience their struggles every day. Making these struggles more explicit, naming them, diagnosing them, explaining how the different disorders interact, and most importantly, treating all problems leads patients to a more complete recovery.
For more info visit- https://www.counsellorwhocares.co.uk/.
