The American society continues to reward thinness. Consequently, people are conscious about their weight. It is even worse for people with eating disorders since they go to the extreme with their concerns hence develop abnormal eating habits that threaten their health. This journal entry looks at the three major eating disorders, which are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder focusing on their causes, treatment, features and symptoms.
An eating disorder is an illness that involves irregular eating habits since one is concerned about their body shape and weight. This means that one eats inadequate food or eats in excess. The eating disorders affect both males and females. They can develop at any stage but mostly happen during teenage to young adulthood years. Although treatable, these conditions can be deadly if unattended. For anorexia nervosa, the person will have great fear of gaining weight hence limiting the quantity of food eaten. Such a person will feel overweight even when he or she is underweight. This can lead to organ failure, brain damage, bone loss, infertility and heart problems (Ekern, 2017). On the other hand, a person with bulimia nervosa exhibits binge eating habits but compensates for the overeating by excess exercises, forced vomiting and use of laxatives. Such people feel unhappy with their shape. Bulimia nervosa could lead to heart problems due to electrolyte imbalance, gastrointestinal problems and dehydration. Binge eating involves having no control over feeding habits hence one overeats but does not consider compensatory behavior such as forced vomiting. This is likely to lead to obesity.
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Causes of Eating Disorders
There is no known cause of eating disorders but various factors are associated with the problem. It involves a combination of psychological, biological and environmental issues. The biological factors include irregularity of hormones, genetic disorders and nutritional deficiencies (Ekern, 2017). The psychological factors include low self-esteem and a negative body image while environmental factors comprise of dysfunctional dynamics in a family, professional careers that are concerned with thinness such as modeling and ballet as well as aesthetic sports where lean body is necessary for good performance. Such sports include diving, ballet, rowing, wrestling, gymnastics and running. Other environmental issues include trauma such as sexual abuse, peer pressure from friends, cultural pressures and stressful life changes and transitions.
Symptoms and Features of Eating Disorders
People suffering from eating disorders can exhibit several signs. These include regular fluctuations of weight, ritualistic eating habits such as avoiding food, and eating alone, chronic dieting even when underweight, obsession for fats and calories in food, fixed recipes, cooking for others without eating, and switching between fasting and eating (Ekern, 2017). Similarly, one may experience depression and may avoid social functions leading to withdrawal and isolation.
Treatment for Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are complex and could be severe. Consequently, they require professional and comprehensive treatment from persons specialized in the field. A treatment plan will be adopted for every individual depending on his or her needs. The plan can comprise of nutrition, medicines, medical care and monitoring, as well as therapy. Medical care involves handling any health issue associated with eating disorders while nutrition is designed to restore weight and get the person to normal eating through individualized meal plans. On the other hand, the person can be put on various forms of psychotherapies including the involvement of friends, families and other groups who help in equipping the person with coping skills as well as teaches on methods of communicating and expressing emotions. Medicines can help with binge eating and resolve other problems arising from the disorder including anxiety symptoms and mood changes.
References
Ekern, J. (2017). Eating Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, Signs & Treatment Help. Retrieved May 7, 2018 from https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/eating-disorder
