Anorexia and Bulimia: Two Dangerous But Treatable Eating Disorders
Anorexia and bulimia are two common, potentially life-threatening, eating disorders that often start in the teenage or young adult years. They are much more likely to develop in females. The precise cause of eating disorders is unknown, but they have often been connected to issues of low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and even substance abuse.
Many mental health professionals attribute eating disorders as a way to gain control over one’s life. An anorexic or bulimic person may think that they can control at least this one food-related aspect of their life. As an anorexic you control what you eat and as a bulimic you purge after eating. Anorexia or bulimia can start with one or two isolated incidents which then evolve and take over the patient’s life.
Patients who have anorexia have an extreme fear of, and preoccupation with, gaining weight. Anorexics will diet and exercise excessively. At times anorexics will barely eat for fear of gaining weight. People who suffer from anorexia have a distorted body image and will see themselves as overweight in the mirror when they may in fact be grossly underweight. People with anorexia will end up eating tiny amounts of food, to the point that they are barely eating at all. Yet, they will usually deny any eating problem exists when confronted with the problem.
On the other hand, patients with bulimia are often within normal weight ranges. Yet, they too have a fear of gaining weight and are driven by a distorted body image of being fat or overweight. Bulimic patients will binge eat large amounts of food, and then purge by vomiting or overusing laxatives. People with bulimia feel great guilt and shame over their behavior and end up being very secretive with their actions.
It is often very difficult to treat a patient with an eating disorder, with anorexic patients being particularly difficult to treat. When a patient has suffered from anorexia for a while, the body often develops many difficult health issues. Also, the patient’s negative self-image is most likely at an all-time high.
At the onset of therapy a psychiatrist will recommend a complete medical examination for the anorexic patient to make sure there are not serious health complications that require attention.
Patients with eating disorders will benefit greatly from psychiatric treatment. The psychiatrist will build a trusting and supportive patient/psychiatrist relationship, which is essential. The psychiatrist will work to eliminate the patient’s obsession with body-image.
With anorexic or bulimic patients, a psychiatrist needs to be very patient and put personal frustration aside; the patient may be very slow in giving up their body-image preoccupation. Cognitive-oriented therapies for self-image and realistic self-assessment help patients overcome these disorders.
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