What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are severe mental illnesses that cause sever disturbance to a person’s everyday diet. They may include eating extremely small amounts of foods or severely overeating. They might begin innocently but can later turn into an obsession. Eating disorders frequently co-exist with other mental illnesses like depression, anxiety disorder etc. Women are more likely to have eating disorders than men.
Types of eating disorders :
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge eating disorder.
1)Anorexia Nervosa
It is a complex eating disorder characterized by distorted body image, refusal to eat food and intense fear of gaining weight.It is more commonly seen in teenage girls.
2) Bulimia Nervosa
Regularly eating large amount of food in a very small period of time followed by purging by vomiting, using laxatives or using other methods to ensure less intake of calories like fasting or strict dieting. It occurs more commonly in late teens and early 20’s
3) Binge eating disorder-
The person has distressed episodes of overeating and an enormous amount of food is eaten in very short period of time. Men and women who suffer from this disorder may suffer from guilt, shame and depression.
Causes of eating disorders:
Eating disorders may be caused due to various reasons such as :
- Poor self esteem
- Negative body image
- Nutritional deficiency
- Irregular hormone balance
- Dysfunctional family
- Occurrence of some tragedy
- Stress
Eating disorders can result in heart, kidney and other health problems which can ultimately lead to death. It is best to get treatment at the earliest stage.