The Eating Disorder

While eating disorders are a fairly well-known phenomenon, there’s a lot of misconceptions regarding what they are, where they come from, and the treatment of them. In general, eating disorders are a real illness resulting from a range of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that can have potentially life-threatening effects. Eating disorders involve extreme thoughts and habits surrounding food, weight, and body size that develop from an array of factors and can affect anyone at any point in their life. While the social and psychological factors are more well-known, biological factors like Type One diabetes and a genetic predisposition for a certain disorder can also greatly affect someone’s struggle. Many people think eating disorders are a conscious choice made by an individual, but they’re actually biologically-influenced illnesses that people can and do fully recover from.

Eating disorders are complex illnesses that have many symptoms and many names. The medical disorders listed under the eating disorders category are: Anorexia Nervosa (Anorexia/AN), Bulimia Nervosa (Bulimia/BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED), Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED). All of these are caused by different things and need different things for recovery, some eating disorders also don’t meet diagnostic criteria, but regardless of all of that, they should be taken extremely seriously.

If you’re curious what to look out for in someone you think may have a disorder, some common signs are: increased concern for weight loss and/or dieting, society withdrawals, mood swings, weight fluctuation, dizziness upon standing, and issues with dental/skin/nails/hair health. If you notice any of these in a family member or friend, approach the situation with caution but get them help. Anorexia Nervosa is the most fatal psychological illness, so these conditions can be life threatening.

Refer to my previous post on help available to you if you or someone you know is in need of help, and remember that these are real illnesses that real people suffer greatly from.