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NEDA TOOLKIT for Educators Common myths about eating disorders Even for professionals who have been treating them for years, eating disorders can be baffling and confusing illnesses. Adding to this confusion is the fact that eating disorders are surrounded by a large number of myths and misconceptions. It can be difficult for some people to take an eating disorder diagnosis seriously. This section will help dispel some of the most common misunderstandings about eating disorders and those affected by them. You may wish to print out this section and share it with other teachers and educators. Eating disorders are a choice. I just need to tell my student to snap out of it. Eating disorders are actually complex medical and psychiatric illnesses that patients don’t choose and parents don’t cause. The American Psychiatric Association classifies five different types of eating disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5 th Edition (DSM-5): anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED). Several decades of genetic research have shown that eating disorders are strongly heritable and frequently co-occur with other mental illnesses like major depression, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Doesn’t everyone have an eating disorder these days? Although our current culture is highly obsessed with food and weight, and disordered patterns of eating are very common, clinical eating disorders are less so. Those with disordered eating behaviors may engage in similar behaviors as those with clinical eating disorders, but disordered eating is distinguishable from a clinical eating disorder by the lower frequency and severity of the disordered behavior and symptoms. However, disordered eating behaviors should not be taken lightly; disordered eating is problematic, can be a source of distress, and may lead to a clinical eating disorder. When researchers followed a group of 496 adolescent girls until they were 20, they found that 5.2% of the girls met criteria for DSM-V anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. When the researchers included OSFED criteria, a total of 13.2% of the girls had suffered from a DSM-V eating disorder by age 20. The consequences of eating disorders can be life-threatening, and many individuals find that stigma against mental illness (and eating disorders in particular) can obstruct a timely diagnosis and adequate treatment. Eating disorders are a sociocultural disease. The causes of an eating disorder are complex. Current thinking holds that eating disorders are caused by a combination of biological, psychological, sociocultural, and environmental factors. Sociocultural factors, such as an emphasis on a thin body ideal, can create a culture in which disordered eating attitudes and behaviors are reinforced. Environmental factors, such as bacterial and viral infections and childhood teasing and bullying, may also play a role. Additionally, there may be a genetic component, as there are biological predispositions that make individuals vulnerable to developing an eating disorder. Eating disorders are complex diseases with multifaceted causes; anyone struggling with an eating disorder should be treated by a trained professional in order to ensure that all causational factors — biological, psychological, sociocultural and environmental — are appropriately addressed. It’s just an eating disorder. That can’t be a big deal. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness. Up to 20% of individuals with chronic anorexia nervosa will die as a result of their illness. Community studies of anorexia, bulimia, and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED) show that all eating disorders have similar mortality rates. Of the causes of death for individuals with eating disorders, suicide is one of the most common. Other causes include medical complications from binge eating, purging, starvation, and over-exercise. People who struggle with eating disorders also have a severely impacted quality of life, oftentimes leaving sufferers friendless and absent from a real life for many years. Page  | 8