NEDA TOOLKIT for Coaches and Trainers
You can tell if a person has an eating disorder
simply by appearance.
You can’t. Anorexia may be easier to detect visually,
although individuals may wear loose clothing to
conceal their body. Bulimia is harder to “see” because
individuals often have normal weight or may even be
overweight. Some people may have obvious signs, such
as sudden weight loss or gain; others may not. People
with an eating disorder can become very effective at
hiding the signs and symptoms. Thus, eating disorders
can go undetected for months, years or a lifetime.
Eating disorders are about appearance and
beauty. Eating disorders are a mental illness and have little
to do with food, eating, appearance or beauty. This is
indicated by the continuation of the illness long after a
person has reached his or her initial ‘target’ weight.
Eating disorders are caused by unhealthy and
unrealistic images in the media.
While sociocultural factors (such as the ‘thin ideal’) can
contribute or trigger development of eating disorders,
research has shown that the causes are multifactorial
and include biologic, social and environmental
contributors. Not everyone who is exposed to media
images of the “thin ideal” develops an eating disorder.
Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa have been
documented in medical literature since the 1800s,
when social concepts of an ideal body shape for
women and men differed significantly from today —
long before mass media promoted thin body images for
women or lean, muscular body images for men.
Eating disorders are an attempt to seek
attention. Far from being a desire for attention, many who
experience eating disorders often go to great lengths
to conceal it due to an inability to recognize the
illness, fear of what might happen if the behaviors are
stopped, a desire to continue behaviors and/or feelings
of shame.
Purging is only throwing up.
The definition of purging is to evacuate the contents
of the stomach or bowels by any of several means. In
bulimia, purging is used to compensate for excessive
food intake. Methods of purging include vomiting,
enemas and laxative abuse, insulin abuse, fasting
and excessive exercise. Any of these behaviors can
be dangerous and can lead to a serious medical
emergency or death. Purging by throwing up also can
affect the teeth and esophagus because of the acidity
of purged contents.
Purging will help with weight loss.
Purging does not result in ridding the body of ingested
food. Half of what is consumed during a binge typically
remains in the body after self-induced vomiting.
Laxatives result in weight loss through fluids/water
and the effect is temporary. For these reasons, many
people with bulimia are of average or above-average
weight. Kids under age 15 are too young to have an
eating disorder.
Eating disorders have been diagnosed even in very
young children. Often the precursor behaviors are not
recognized until middle to late teens. Although the
majority of people with eating disorders report the
onset of symptoms by age 20, some people do not seek
treatment until later in life.
Achieving normal weight means the anorexia
is cured.
Weight recovery is essential to enabling a person
with anorexia to participate meaningfully in further
treatment, such as psychological therapy. Recovering
to normal weight does not in and of itself signify a
cure, because eating disorders are complex medical/
psychiatric illnesses.
Recovery from eating disorders is rare.
Recovery can take months or years, but many people
eventually recover after treatment. Recovery rates vary
widely among individuals and between different eating
disorders. Early intervention with appropriate care can
improve the outcome regardless of the eating disorder.
Although anorexia nervosa is associated with the
highest death rate of all psychiatric disorders, research
suggests that about half of people with anorexia
nervosa recover, about 20% continue to experience
issues with food, and about 20% die in the longer term
due to medical or psychological complications.
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