Each year, thousand of young people die from eating disorders. The signs and symptoms of eating disorders are fairly obvious, but the underlying causes that hide deep within those suffering from the disorders are not so readily identified. What is true is that anyone suffering from an eating disorder can break free and recover with time and hard work that begins with the proper treatment.
An eating disorder is not merely a problem a person has with food. Rather a person that does not eat enough or eats too much, is displaying symptoms that are related to much deeper, underlying difficulties that muct be identified and dealt with before recovery can be complete.
Types Of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders take on many definitions that include anorexia nervosa, binge eating, compulsive eating and bulimia. Each condition comes with its own signs and symptoms and complications, but all have one thing in common — they can lead to death from complications directly related to them.
Anorexia
Anorexia nervosa is an insidious disease. A person suffering from it is usually a perfectionist who feels an overwhelming need to control weight and food. To block out any other emotion or feeling, this individual obsesses about caloric intake, and no matter how little food is eaten it is always too much. When an anorexic looks in the mirror, he or she does not like the reflection and always sees someone who is too fat. It’s hard to treat those suffering from anorexia. To them, treatment means force feeding in order to gain weight, which is, in the anorexic’s mind, taking away one of the few controlling mechanisms they have in life. They fear being fat and continue to diet even when they are so thin and undernourished they take on a skeletal appearance. Unfortunately, without treatment anorexics will die. As a matter of fact, each year complications from anorexia claim the lives of approximately 10 to 20% of those diagnosed with the disease. Treatment does make a huge difference and those willing to be helped with psychological, medical and nutritional treatments often make full recoveries. Early treatment is key to a successful recovering for an anorexic, and because most suffering from the disease resist medical treatment, it might be necessary for those closest to the person to force treatment.
Treatments include a combination of counseling, retrained eating habits, regain of weight lose and antidepressant medications. In some cases, hospitalization may be required if life-threatening conditions exist.
Bulimia
Another eating disorder is bulimia (bulimia nervosa). To understand bulimia, think about binge eating, when a person eats excessively without realizing or caring about the consequences. Bulimics do just that, but unlike a binge eater, a bulimic will end a bingeing episode with vomiting as a way to keep control over their weight. They may also take laxatives, exercise excessively or use diet pills. This obsessive behavior of eating and purging affects men and women alike and is usually accompanied by other problems including drug and alcohol abuse. Bulimia is related to depression, stress and guilt. When a bulimic first indulges, the feeling of total bliss is present, but this is soon followed by guilt and remorse, causing the bulimic to vomit to regain control. This may be followed by compulsive exercising and dieting for days in order to compensate for the guilt The road to recovery is a bit more promising for bulimics than for those with anorexia, because the weight loss is not usually as severe.
Treatment for bulimia, like anorexia, involves different treatments including psychotherapy and antidepressants. If the condition is severe, there may be a need for temporary hospitalization to evaluate and decide what treatments will best work for the situation at hand. Like anorexia, the treatment period for bulimics is usually long term.
Binge and Compulsive Eating
Eating great amount of food characterizes binge and compulsive eaters. They eat tons of food all at once and end up feeling overstuffed and uncomfortable. From a psychological point of view, bingers are also blocking emotions and feelings they don’t want to deal with, so thy eat to numb their feelings and create short-lived comfort rather than chaos. Binge and compulsive eating can lead to obesity and other medical dilemmas, but with the proper treatment, these disorders are probably the easiest to overcome.
Treatments for Binge and Compulsive Eating
A relationship with a therapist that has extensive knowledge and training working with binge and compulsive eaters is usually a priority treatment of choice when dealing with this condition. Once again, many of the underlying reasons for binge and compulsive eating are similar to anorexia and bulimia; therefore, many of the same treatments are ordered. Group therapy seems to add a positive reinforcement among binge and compulsive eaters as they are more able to identify with those facing similar issues and feel more comfortable disclosing emotional and behavioral challenges that they believe led them to the binge or compulsive eating diagnosis.