Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders

Growing up children are expected to excel, especially in today’s society. With all the magazines and media young girls are exposed to a distorted perception of what people should look like. Currently 3% of American women suffer from bulimia nervosa, and other eating disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008). According to Hansell bulimia nervosa is characterized by “repeated binge eating followed by compensatory measures, such as self-induced vomiting or excessive exercise, to avoid weight gain” (Hansell & Damour, 2008, p. 276). The side effects of this and other eating disorders have adverse health issues and all individuals in society are affected by these conditions, especially if their loved ones are directly affected by the condition. In order to understand eating disorders one must examine the side effects that it causes to the individual and society.

Eating Disorders

“The DSM-IV-TR identifies three eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorder not otherwise specified” (Emery & Oltmanns, 2000, p. 278). Anorexia nervosa is defined as a condition in which an individual refuses to maintain a body weight that is at least 85% of what would be deem normal for that individual’s age and height. Individuals are fearful of gaining weight therefore they continue dieting regardless of the negative physical and psychological effects. Individuals suffering from anorexia become overly obsessed with being thin that leads to feelings of worthlessness and diminished personal value when not persisting to lose weight. Bulimia nervosa is a repetitive pattern in which an individual engages in eating an excessive amount of food in a short period of time and then engage in behaviors to balance the excess of food intake and avoid gaining weight. Individuals who are bulimic measure their self-worth in terms of weight and what they have eaten. There are two kinds of bulimia: purging and non-purging. Individuals...