Information and Definitions on Eating Disorders

Expanding awareness and education of eating disorders and advancing recovery through support of creative expression.

Information and Definitions on Eating Disorders:

Why aren't enough people taking notice?

The death of singer Karen Carpenter who's long battle with an eating disorder finally took her life 1983 at the age of 42, brought much more media publicity to the seriousness of Anorexia Nervosa. But unlike Rock Hudson's death from AIDS, this incident did not bring about widespread fundraising efforts and policy change. And like many of the people who suffer themselves, the eating disorders crisis has not received the support or attention it deserves.

Some Alarming Facts:

Eating Disorders affect an estimated 10 million women and girls, and 1 million men and boys in the United States alone.
Since the 1960's incidents of eating disorders have doubled increasing in all ethnic groups.
Bulimia Nervosa accounts for the highest number of eating disorder incidents among adolescents and adults.
Eating Disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness at 20%
40-60% of high school girls diet
13% of high school girls purge
30-40% of Junior High School girls worry about weight
40% of all 9 year old girls diet

Risk Factors: are a combination of things depending on the person. Here are some.

Cultural - Social Pressure to be thin
Depression
Familial
Peer Groups
Temperament
Trauma
Genetics

Anorexia Nervosa: Individuals with anorexia nervosa are unwilling or unable to maintain a body weight that is normal or expectable for their age and height (most clinicians use 85% of normal weight as a guide). Individuals with anorexia nervosa typically display a pronounced fear of weight gain and a dread of becoming fat although they are dramatically underweight. This fear grows the more they lose weight. Concerns and perceptions about their weight have a extremely powerful influence and impact on their self-evaluation. The seriousness of the weight loss and its physical effects is minimized or denied (women with the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa have missed at least three consecutive menstrual cycles).

Binge Eating Disorder: is sometimes referred to as compulsive overeating. Some researchers believe it is the most common of the eating disorders affecting millions of Americans. Similar to bulimia nervosa, those with binge eating disorder frequently consume large amounts of food while feeling a lack of control over their eating. However, this disorder is different from bulimia nervosa because people with binge eating disorder usually do not purge (i.e. vomiting, laxatives, excessive exercise, etc) their bodies of the excess food they consume during a binge episode.

Bulimia Nervosa: Approximately 25 million people are struggling with binge eating disorder (Crowther et al., 1992; Fairburn et al., 1993; Gordon, 1990; Hoek, 1995; Shisslak et al., 1995). Individuals with bulimia nervosa regularly engage in discrete periods of overeating, which are followed by attempts to compensate for overeating and to avoid weight gain. There is variation in the nature of the overeating but the typical episode of overeating involves the consumption of an amount of food that would be considered excessive in normal circumstances. The bulimic is dominated by a sense of a lack of control over the eating. Binge eating is followed by attempts to undo the consequences of the binge though self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, severe caloric restriction, diuretics, enemas, or excessive exercising, etc. The bulimic's self-evaluation is centered on the individual's perceptions of his/her body image. Concerns about weight and shape are characteristic of those with bulimia nervosa. The diagnostic criterion of bulimia nervosa requires that the individual not simultaneously meet criteria for anorexia nervosa. (If an individual simultaneously meets criteria for both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, only the diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa, binge-eating/purging type is given.) The formal diagnosis also stipulates minimal frequency and duration cut-offs. The diagnosis requires that individuals must binge eat and engage in inappropriate compensatory behavior at least twice weekly for three months.

There are also two subtypes of bulimia nervosa. The Purging Type describes individuals who regularly compensate for the binge eating with self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, diuretics, or enemas. The Non-Purging Type is used to describe individuals who compensate through dietary fasting or excessive exercising. More info on Bulimia Nervosa next page.

Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS): There are variants of disordered eating that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. These are still eating disorders requiring necessary treatment. A substantial number of individuals with eating disorders fit into this category. Individuals with eating disordered behaviors that resemble anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa but whose eating behaviors do not meet one or more essential diagnostic criteria may be diagnosed with EDNOS. Examples include: individuals who meet criteria for anorexia nervosa but continue to menstruate, individuals who regularly purge but do not binge eat, and individuals who meet criteria for bulimia nervosa, but binge eat less than twice weekly, etc. Being diagnosed as having an "Eating Disorder not Otherwise Specified" does not mean that you are in any less danger or that you suffer any less.

Learn More! One crucial way to learn more about what these diseases are really about is to read the stories of the people who suffer with them. Log onto www.paysonroad.com and check out the Truth column. There, people with eating disorders have found a save forum to express their pain and suffering and get feedback from others who are engaged in the same battle. Statistics can not give you the window into the soul that these stories reveal.

The Road to Payson: You can get a lot more information, creative resources and support from Payson Road. So check us out online, www.paysonroad.com. It's not just any other site on eating disorders...it's facts, and resources, proactive methods of coping, mind and body healing methods, recovery exercises, two weekly writing columns, an arts and book referral network, news and events, a poetry wall, a message board to post your own story and read others, an interactive online support group, and much much more.

Payson Road is a community. Join us. Creativity is the path to everything.

www.paysonroad.com

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