Eating Disorders

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What are eating disorders?

• An eating disorder is when a person experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape.

• A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food than usual, but at some point, the urge to eat less or more spirals out of control.

Main Types

• The two main types of popular eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia.

• Binge-eating is also another disorder that is being looked at much more recently.

Anorexia Nervosa

• Anorexia is characterized by emaciation, a relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight, a distortion of body image and intense fear of gaining weight, a lack of menstruation among girls and women, and extremely disturbed eating behavior.

• Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight, even when they are starved or are clearly malnourished.

Symptoms of Anorexia

• thinning of the bones• brittle hair and nails • dry and yellowish skin • growth of fine hair over body• mild anemia, and muscle weakness and loss • severe constipation • low blood pressure, slowed breathing and

pulse • drop in internal body temperature, causing a

person to feel cold all the time • lethargy

Along with Anorexia comes…

• Psychiatric and physical illnesses, including depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior, substance abuse, cardiovascular and neurological complications, and impaired physical development.

Treatment for Anorexia

• Restoring the person to a healthy weight. • Treating the psychological issues related to

the eating disorder.• Reducing or eliminating behaviors or

thoughts that lead to disordered eating, and preventing relapse.

• Support by friends and family are a key part of recovery.

Bulimia Nervosa

• Bulimia is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over the eating.

• Unlike anorexia, people with bulimia can fall within the normal range for their age and weight. But like people with anorexia, they often fear gaining weight, want desperately to lose weight, and are intensely unhappy with their body size and shape.

Symptoms of Bulimia

• chronically inflamed and sore throat • swollen glands in the neck and below the jaw • worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and

decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acids • gastro esophageal reflux disorder • intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse • kidney problems• severe dehydration from purging of fluids• oral and tooth-related problems.

Treatment for Bulimia

• Patient may undergo nutritional counseling and psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy, or be prescribed medication. Some antidepressants, such as Prozac, which is the only medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating bulimia, may help patients who also have depression and/or anxiety.

• Also support from friends and family will help with recovery.

How does this connect to the fashion industry?• Because of all the hub-bub with body image

and people wanting to be super skinny, they resort to such drastic measures.

• Some models resort to eating disorders to keep their jobs.

• Some are required to stay under a certain weight to keep their career.

• However, some stores/modeling companies are trying to change how they portray their companies image.

Sources

• http://nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/complete-index.shtml

• www.googleimages.com