Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders involve an intense preoccupation with eating and weight that supersedes other aspects of a person’s life. There are two main types of eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia.

A person with Anorexia Nervosa may experience:

1. A restriction in food intake
   
2. A belief that they are overweight when they are actually underweight
   
3. Guilt in regards to the ingestion of food and not eating when they are hungry
   
4. An unhealthy preoccupation with body image and gaining weight
   
5. A lack of, or irregular menstrual cycles

Individuals experiencing Anorexia are usually perfectionists who lack a sense of control over their lives. They then attempt to impart a sense of control over their lives through their food intake. This condition affects roughly 1% of the population.

A person with Bulimia may experience:

1. Eating excessive amounts of food in a small period of time to the point of feeling uncomfortable
   
2. Feeling out of control of one’s food intake
   
3. Feeling guilty, embarrassed, or depressed about the amount of food that has been consumed
   
4. Expelling excessive food that has been eaten through the use of vomiting, the use of laxatives, or excessive exercise.

Individuals with Bulimia often binge to manage difficult emotions such as sadness, depression, anxiety, grief, anger and stress. This condition affects around 5% of the population.

Other eating disorders also exist such as Binge Eating Disorder where a person eats excessive amounts of food in a extremely short period of time and does not expel this food, and Overeating Disorder where a person may feel a constant compulsion to eat more than they need to.