Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa

Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa

Darya Farafonova

Professor Schelkanova

December 18, 2012

Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa

Nowadays, human’s life is very busy. Because of this fact, people incline to ignore many things that happened around them. This is how anorexia and bulimia comes into human’s lives. Eating disorders can be implicit for some time because patients do not notice its symptoms. Anorexia and Bulimia are two serious deceases that people all over the world must know about.

Medicine knows a lot of diseases that have the same symptoms, as Bulimia and Anorexia do. This fact makes diagnosing medical issues very complicated. According to American Psychiatric Association Work Group (2000), «Some deceases can’t be seen for some time but the body is reacting and giving signs but the minds pushes them away. Other times, there are symptoms that are so noticeable that medical help is given immediately». Sometimes, eating disorders don’t seem a problem at first sight. But it leads to bad consequences. The difference between symptoms of Bulimia and Anorexia can sometimes be confusing, especially when decease just begins. The term «anorexia» refers to intentional rejection of getting the food due to gaining the excess weight and the «bulimia» means craving of food (Fariburn and Harrison 2003). Sometimes the diseases may be called as Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa. The term «nervosa» means the psychological thought process of eating the food (Wikipedia 2012).

The fundamental difference between Bulimia and Anorexia is that the Bulimic eats a big amount of food, usually with a very high amount of caloric, after that bulimic purge the stomach from the food they have eaten. Anorexic don’t eat a big portion because of the fear of gaining weight. Moreover, Anorexic usually loses weight to the point that physical problem is obvious.

It is necessary to make a list of factors that help such deceases as Bulimia and Anorexia to obsess the body and brain. Canadian health survey reported that the most interesting risk factor concerning eating disorder is being a female. Statistics shows that 90% of people who have eating disorder are females. The next important factor is age. Studies show that eating disorders are most likely during early adulthood and adolescence (Wilfley D.E., 1997). According to Nicholls D. and Viner R (2005), «Anorexia and Bulimia usually first occurs in adolescence with peaks at 13 to 14 years of age and at 17 to 18 years of age. Over the past 40 years, the incidence has been steady in teenagers, but it has increased threefold in young adult women» .

Also, the media plays significant role in creating a perfect slim body image. Teenagers, especially girls, are very sensitive to their body image and haste to make their body image the same as media creates. They think of this image as a necessary factor for success in career, dating and other achievements in life. Moreover, the teenagers usually feel unsatisfactory because their body is not perfect and look for methods to get to their ideal forms imposed by the media. Drucker D.J. and Saper C.B., (2000) did a research, which included 4200 high school students. The main objective of the research was to identify the level of self-esteem in high school students. The study unexpectedly shows, «62.1% of the girls would like to weigh less and only 18.3% among the boys». Furthermore, the research concluded that there is a correlation between low self-esteem and development of eating disorders.

It is necessary to keep in mind other risk factors. One more risk factor that is important to pay attention to is family relationship. Family usually plays a great role in whether a person develops an eating disorder. Many families influence negatively on their children or relatives by discussing the appearance in sarcastic manner. Excessively critical parents and relatives, and their pressure to be slim, moreover, comparing with other people, who have a great body are all risk factors for getting eating disorders. Different researches also show that eating disorders are more likely for people who have critical and overprotective parents. Those people have a variety of negative psychiatric and physical affects. One more risk which deals with family relationship is to receive the decease by inheritance from one of the parents.

The next risk factor is Emotional disorders. People who have depression very often are more likely to have an eating disorder. Research made by American Psychiatric Association (2000) shows that 40 to 96 percent of all people afflicted from eating disorders also suffer from depression and anxiety disorders; «Among those who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, 69 percent are anorexic and 33 percent are bulimic» .

It is essential to say that to identify the risk factors and symptoms of Bulimia and Anorexia deceases is not enough. Treatment of eating disorder has received very little attention considering eating disorders are among the most common psychiatric syndromes. But some methods exist. The main thing for people who have such kinds of deceases is to know how to treat it. Doctors say that it takes time to get well and sick people must work on himself or herself. It is necessary to figure out problems to attack if you have an eating disorder. These problems should be switched to a diet containing wholesome food which does not lure you into overeating, to learn how to recognize your feelings of physical hunger and satisfaction. The food should be based on ingredients with a low glycemic index. People who have eating disorder should eat only in response to physical hunger and stop when they are satisfied. Some medicines can make this process easier for some people. Drugs do not cure the eating problems, but make it a little easier to get well.

Except medical help and variety of diets, the psychological help is required. As mentioned in the fourth paragraph the adolescents are the age group that prone to develop an eating disorder. It is also the best age that provides the greatest chance for effective treatment and recovery. The time plays a really important role in treating the decease that is why to detect the symptoms of Bulimia and Anorexia early is important because a treatment in the adolescence is significantly improvement result of the therapy (Sigel E. J 2011). Generally, all the treatment programs that concerns eating disorders can be divided in to three main phases: restoring the severe weight loss; treating cognitive distortions, in other words, regain self-esteem and body image; resolve family conflicts and long term rehabilitation — it means full recovery (Sigel E.J., 2011). The cure that seems to be the most budding opportunity for adolescents is good family relationships. This method also helps to convince the children that they are independent in choosing the way of life and let them take control of their eating. Doctors also make families understand how to help the child cope with the difficulties of adolescence and not get into trouble situation. Comparing to common medical treatment, this method is short-term. It based mostly on outpatient cure. And it may bring a very good result over the long-term trying (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2010).

Making a conclusion, it is necessary to say that most of researches done in this field are done in the last 15 years. This amount of time is not enough for fully understanding all of principles of deceases and it is hard to make any strong withdrawals or thread that point out risk factors, preventions and needed treatments. Anyway, it lets figure out that most of people with eating disorders can be placed in one demographic group. This group is female adolescences. The main common risk factors are those which person receives from the outside environment. Such risk factors can come from the media, family or social groups. These factors can be the origin of what destroys a person’s self-image, self-esteem and, moreover, seriously affect the health of the patient. The reason comes from the way people perceive themselves comparing to the rest of people. They usually are not satisfied and because of that try to adopt to their body the ideal images presented by the society or the media. Preventing eating disorders can be conducted by affecting patients by sources such as teachers and family and friends (Becker A.E. and Grinspoon S.K., 1999).

To sum up, it is essentially to say that the Bulimia and Anorexia are two very hard for treating deceases and doctors all over the world give an advice not to be afraid to recognize for yourself that you got an eating disorder. Based on the experience, physicians made the algorithm of true recovery from anorexia and bulimia. It involves learning to listen to your body, listen to your feelings, trust yourself, accept yourself, Love yourself and enjoy life again.

disorder anorexia nervosa bulimia

References

American Academy of Pediatrics (2010). Clinical report: Identification and management of eating disorders in children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 126(6): 1240−1253.

American Psychiatric Association Work Group on Eating Disorders (2000). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders (revision). American Journal of Psychiatry, 157(1 Suppl): 1−39.

Becker, A.E.& Grinspoon, S.K. Eating disorders. New England Journal of Medicine, 1999; 340(14): 1092−8.

Bulimia nervosa. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulimia_nervosa

Drucker DJ & Saper CB, Chemical characterization of leptin-activated neurons in the rat brain. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2000; 423(2): 261−81.

Fairburn, C.G.& Harrison, P.J.(2003). Oxford University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.

Nicholls, D. & Viner, R. (2005). Eating disorders and weight problems. BMJ, 330(7497): 950−953.

Sigel, E.J. (2011). Eating disorders. In WW Hay et al., eds., Current Diagnosis and Treatment: Pediatrics, 20th ed., pp. 159−170. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wilfley, D.E. & Cohen, L.R.(1997). Psychological treatment of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 33(3): 437−54.