EATING DISORDER

 Involve disordered eating behaviors and maladaptive ways of controlling body weight.
 Eating disorders often occur together with other psychological disorders, such as depression, anxiety
disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
 Eating disorders may develop in middle or even late adulthood then begin during adolescence or early
adulthood when the pressures to be thin are the strongest.
 Others engage in repeated cycles in which they binge on food and then attempt to purge their excess
eating, for example, by inducing vomiting. These dysfunctional patterns are, respectively, the two major
types of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
 

ANOREXIA NERVOSA
 The word anorexia derives from the Greek roots an-, meaning “without,” and orexis, meaning “a desire
for.”
 Anorexia thus means “without desire for [food],” which is something of a misnomer because people with
anorexia nervosa rarely lose their appetite.
 Usually develops between the ages of 12 and 18.
 Women with anorexia seek to rid their bodies of any additional weight and so turn to extreme dieting and,
often, excessive exercise.
 Other people may see them as nothing but “skin and bones,” but women with anorexia still see
themselves as too fat. Although they literally starve themselves, they may spend much of the day thinking
and talking about food and even preparing elaborate meals for others.
 Young women with anorexia nervosa are eight times more likely to commit suicide than are young women
in the general population.
o Excessive fears of gaining weight or becoming fat, despite being abnormally thin.
o A distorted body image, as reflected in self-perception of one’s body, or of parts of one’s body, as
fat, even though others perceive the person as thin.
o Failure to recognize the risks posed by maintaining body weight at abnormally low levels.

SUBTYPES OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA

1. BINGE EATING/PURGING TYPE:
 characterized by frequent episodes during the prior three-month period of binge eating or
purging (such as by self-induced vomiting or overuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.
 tend to have problems relating to impulse control, which in addition to binge-eating episodes
may involve substance abuse or stealing.
2. RESTRICTIVE TYPE:
 does not have binging or purging.
 tend to rigidly, even obsessively, control their diet and appearance.