younger women. “Anorexia”

derives from two Greek words

that are usually translated as

“without appetite”, however,

anorexics do not lose their

appetite, but instead form a

fear of becoming fat and starve

themselves to a breaking point.

When in critical condition,

patients develop life

threatening difficult situations

such as kidney failure and liver

failure. Anorexia Nervosa kills

5.6% of patients every decade.

Treatment is hard to administer

because along with damaging

the body, It damages the brain,

causing thought, emotion, and

behavior changes.

In the Harvard

Medical School’s Mental Health

Letter Volume 28 Number 9 of

March 2012, it is said that

most people who develop

eating disorders are females.

These females include women

of all ages, not just adolescents

and young women. Because of

their age, some women will not

try to seek help from others

due to a fear of being forced to

gain unwanted weight or

labeled as a person with a

“teenager’s disease.” When a

community survey was taken in

1995 and 2005, Australian

researchers discovered that

although younger women

reported as having an eating

disorder behavior more often

than older women, the rate for

older women having eating

disorders rose drastically

between the two surveys while

the young women’s rate stayed

stable. A study of women from

Canada surveyed found that

women forty-five to sixty-four

were more likely to binge on

food, and feel guilty about

eating among other things in

In the Harvard Medical School’s Mental

Health Letter, people with Binge-Eating Disorder

regularly binge in secret, then feel the or shame

that comes with the act later. Unlike people with

Bulimia Nervosa, people with Bing-Eating Disor-

der do not binge, so they become heavier over

time and may become overweight or obese. Many

women with eating disorders may not fit the strict

criteria for having a eating disorder, but still need

and deserve treatment.

Solutionsforeatingdisor-

ders.com

Anorexics Think They Are Not

Skinny Enough

Anorexia Nervosa

I n s i d e t h i s

i s s u e :

Bulimia

Nervosa

2

Evaluation of

Eating

Disorders

2

Treating

Eating

Disorders

3

Inside Story 4

Binge-Eating Disorder

L O R D , A .

Eating Disorders F e b r u a r y 1 4 , 2 0 1 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

S p e c i a l

p o i n t s o f

i n t e r e s t :

Anorexia

Nervosa and

Its Effects On

Women

Causes of

Eating

Disorders

How Parents

Can Help

Their Chil-

dren in Tret-

ment

P a g e 2

“Women who

have gone

through a

divorce may

think that their

husband would

have stayed with

them if only they

had been a bit

slimmer...”

Disorder.org

Bulimia Nervosas will

make themselves

vomit

Causes of Eating Disorders

Evaluation of Eating Disorders

Bulimia Nervosa

According to the

Harvard Medical School’s

Mental Health Letter, Bulimia

Nervosa is characterized by a

pattern of binge eating lead-

ing a type of unnecessary

action to prevent gaining

weight. Researchers say that

a range of one to three

women out of one hundred

will develop Bulimia Nervosa

during their lives. For men,

however, only around one

tenth of their rate is equal to

women. Binge eating in-

cludes eating ridiculous

amounts of food in a sched-

uled time frame that is usu-

ally between two hours. Such

eating examples could be a

patient eating an entire cake

or a patient eating a full gal-

lon of ice cream alone. The

most common subtype of

Bulimia Nervosa is the purg-

ing type. These patients may

make themselves vomit by

using laxatives or diuretics.

In the non-purging subtype,

patients may exercise repeat-

edly and for long periods of

time or completely stop eat-

ing for an entire day or

longer. If a cycle of overeat-

ing and depriving takes over,

patients may eat to the ex-

tent of physical pain, then

compensate so drastically

that they feel famished.

When the binge-and compen-

sation cycle takes place

twice a week for three

months, patients meet the

criteria for bulimia nervosa.

with appetite may be mis-

taken ass an eating disorder,

so it is necessary for a pa-

tient to go through with the

medical examination. The

professional may ask the

patient questions related to

their health, such as eating

behaviors, weight gain and

loss, etc. The professional

To help someone

with a eating disor-

der, professionals

start by putting the

patient through a

medical examina-

tion. Certain medical

conditions such as

quick weight loss

and interference

may also ask the patient of

they have any emotional

difficulties. After a physical

and the history of the patient

is taken, other tests may also

be ran, such as laboratory

tests to check for metabolic

imbalances.

emotions. Such an example

of one going through this is

Joan Rivers, who had Bulimia

Nervosa during her fifties

after she found out her

husband committed suicide.

Divorce is a second cause of

eating disorders. Women

who have gone through a

divorce may think that their

husband would have stayed

with them if only they had

been a bit slimmer, and go

into depression where they

think they need to improve

themselves and their body

image.

Eating disorders are

caused by a variety of

reasons. On such reason is

grief. As people get older,

they are more likely to

experience more deaths

during their entire lifetime.

Such events may lessen

one’s appetite, and

consuming less food or

purging may help people deal

with their overwhelming

Metabolic

Testing in

Laboratories

E a t i n g D i s o r d e r s

Treating Eating Disorders

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

Achieving a healthy

weight and an eating pattern, and

addressing any emotional

problems are some of the goals

of treating an eating disorder.

These commonly require the help

of a health

professional, a

nutritionist, and

other clinicians.

Psychotherapy is

one of the many

treatments a

patient may

receive. Many kinds of

psychotherapy can help a person.

CBT, Cognitive behavioral

therapy, questions any unrealistic

thoughts about food and the

appearance of people. This type

of therapy also helps people

more commonly develop

productive thoughts. Another type

of treatment is Nutritional

Rehabilitation. A nutritional

counselor can help a woman

recover from an eating disorder

by planning out when the patient

should eat according to the

situation she has gone through.

responsible for the patient’s

growth and development, while

the parents are in charge of mak-

ing sure their child does not

starve. Nurses and hospital staff

can help educate parents in the

way in which their child must be

treated in order to recover and

what habits they should form

while treating their child. The

second and last phases of the

method are handing control of

According to “Anorexia Nervosa:

Patient and Family-Centered

Care”, nurses and clinicians can

encourage families to positively

engage themselves as partners in

treatment of eating disorders. A

hospital in London has created a

family-based approach to treating

anorexia nervosa patients. The

method they use includes three

phases. The first step is weight

restoration. Some individuals are

eating over to the

patient and establish-

ing a healthy identity.

This motto can be

printed at home for

further use for par-

ents.

ders has a long history. Unfortu-

nately, many experienced health

care professionals may not be

acquainted with the latest sci-

ence and rely on past health care

providers’ observations and un-

derstandings, many of which are

outdated and inaccurate. The

awareness of eating disorders

has increased over the years and

the misguided conception of par-

ents causing eating disorders has

begun to decrease. Rather than

blaming family members, profes-

sionals are coming to appreciate

the help and support of family

members during the treatment of

eating disorders.

When families find out

that one of their members has an

eating disorder, a common

thought that goes through par-

ent’s heads is that the doctors

and nurses are blaming them for

their child’s disorder, even

though the parents believe they

are doing their best to support

their child. The belief that fami-

lies/parents cause eating disor-

Nutritional

Counselors

Help Their

Patients

Plan What

They Should

Eat and

When

Families and Eating Disorders

Parents as Help in Treatment

Maudsley Hospital Adopted This

Method

“...the

misguided

conception of

parents

causing

eating

disorders has

begun to

decrease.”

www.kcl.ac.uk

s3.amazonaws.com

www.acrochester.org

www.disorder.org

solutionsforeatingdisorders.com

Basic Information about eat-

ing disorders can be found at

the websites

www.nimh.nih.gov, http://

www.nlm.nih.gov/

medlineplus, and http://

www.womenshealth.gov.

Picture’s Websites:

24.media.tumblr.com

25.media.tumblr.com

Nimh,nih.gov is an excellent website for gathering information!