The most popular eating disorder

Eating disorders are serious conditions associated with persistent eating behaviours that
negatively affects health, emotions, and ability to function in important areas of life. The
most popular eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating
disorder (BED). Eating disorders are physiological diseases, which can lead a person to death
very quickly and brutally.

Many people eat to get rid of the stress, boredom and anxiety, or even to get a feeling
of joy. This action cannot help to solve their problems, it can only help for a few hours. In the
future it will influence on self-image and may even lead to bigger mental problems. Self-
monitoring is the most important thing to cope with such a disease. For example, in binge
eating it is important to control how much food a patient eats and when he/she eats.
Anorexia nervosa (or anorexia) is an eating disorder characterized by abnormally low
body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of weight. It can
lead to death if not to notice it on time. Girls more often get this disease, because of bulling
and, for example, family problems. People start to “treat” their moral problems by not eating
food normally. In this case they try to lose weight as they have a feeling that it stops to hurt
inside. People with anorexia control their weight more than other people. They form making
excessive efforts, which, are as a rule, significantly interfere with their lives. They limit their
food intake. They count calories every day and always think what they will eat next. They
may also be trying to lose weight by exercising excessively. No matter how much weight is
lost, a person continues to be afraid of getting weight again. It is not only about the food.
People who have such a problem have big emotional and self-worth problems. People with
anorexia have depression and anxiety. They are more inclined to have thoughts about a
suicide. It is difficult to get rid of this problem without any psychological help.
Some people do not really look like that they have such a disorder. They can even wear
oversized clothes because they do not want to show that they have anorexia. People with
anorexia do not want to eat with other people. They lie to doctors or other people that they
ate. They also lose interest to spend time with other people, because they will need to eat and
have good mood while being with them. Unfortunately, many people with anorexia do not
want to be treated, at least not initially. Their desire to stay thin for them is more important
than their own health.
Here are the main physical signs and symptoms of anorexia: extreme weight loss or not
making expected developmental weight gain, fatigue, dizziness or fainting, hair that gets
thinner, breaks or falls out, absence of menstruation, intolerance of cold, irregular heart
rhythms, brain works slower.
Bulimia is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder. People with bulimia
can secretly overeat. They eat large amounts of food with loss of control over eating—and
then they try to rid of extra calories in an unhealthy way. For example, they can regularly
self-induce vomiting or misuse laxatives, weight-loss supplements, diuretics or enemas after
overeating. It is not about the food, but it about the emotional and moral problem. It can
include the same problems and the same causes as anorexia. Also, the genes, social and
biological factors influence people who have bulimia. Girls are more suffering from this
disease. Symptoms are almost the same as in anorexia, but in bulimia people have a feeling
that they cannot control while eating and then induce vomiting.
Bulimia can cause many dangerous health problems: unhealthy teeth and gums because
of vomiting, low self-esteem, difficulties with creating relationships, low heart rhythm,
depression and many others.
 Binge-eating disorder (BED) is an eating disorder, when people consume large
amount of food and cannot stop eating. It causes extra weight, which is unhealthy for the
organism. If a person has BED, it is necessary to try to be on the diet or better go to
psychologist.
Symptoms of BED. People are eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific
amount of time and even if they ate, they feel that they want to eat more. They can eat
secretly or even alone. They are depressed and have some psychological problems.
There are biological, psychological and environmental factors in eating disorders.
Biological. People who have changes in certain genes have a higher risk of eating
disorders. For examples, those who have such a disorder in their family can get it easily,
because they see family members with such a disorder. For example, an older sister has it and
a smaller sister also wants to be thin as the older one.
Psychological. Some people with disorders may have obsessive-compulsive personality
traits. People with such traits can get hungry faster. As a matter of fact, people with an eating
disorder are perfectionists as they always think that they are not thin enough. Depression and
anxiety disorders are common for such diseases.
Environmental. Modern Western culture imposes thinness. Social media gives some
standards how a person should look like. Peer pressure can also give a thought that it is
necessary to be thin. It influences especially young girls. According to BED statistics people
in America often have BED because they eat fast food.
Eating disorders are usually treated in different ways. Usually a combination of
psychological therapy, medical supervision, and medication are used for treatment. Eating
disorder treatment also includes treating other health problems caused by the eating disorder,
which can be serious or even life-threatening if left untreated for too long. It is necessary to
start the treatment when the disease is not severe. Doctors prepare an individual treatment
plan for each patient that can last from two months to many years. Doctors try to help to
normalize eating patterns to achieve a healthy weight, improve mood, and show healthy ways
how to get rid of stress. If the problems are dangerous, patients need to stay in hospital.
According to studies about general eating disorders 9% of the population in the USA
have some eating disorder. It is something about 28.8 mln of Americans. In Europe about
10% of population has some eating disorder, that is something about 20 mln of population.
The most popular eating disorder in Europe is anorexia.
The comparison reflects that in America people more often suffer from this kind of
diseases. The most popular eating disorder in the USA is a BED, because in the USA people
eat a lot of fast food. Anorexia is the most common disorder in EU countries. This difference
is because of the differences in culture.
If people have such diseases, it is important to go to the doctor on time to get a
treatment. Parents should also speak about such problems with their children. Parents have to
support children if they have these diseases. It is important to discuss such problems at school
because bulling is one of the main reasons that can cause such disorders.

Recourses
From those sources I got the main information about eating disorders and the treatment. It
was not so easy to find them, but those are the best ones because I got a lot of useful
information from them. In this clinic it is easy to find info about different health problems.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anorexia-nervosa/symptoms-
causes/syc-20353591
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bulimia/symptoms-causes/
syc-20353615
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/binge-eating-disorder/
symptoms-causes/syc-20353627