Notes on Eating Disorders
What can trigger an eating disorder in adolescents?
 Need to overachieve: feeling that you have to please others through straight A’s, star
performances or being the perfect son or daughter.
 Difficulty with emotions: food may comfort depression, anxiety, despair or anger.
 Society: the female and male body are viewed as an object and scrutinized by its size,
shape and appearance.
 Need for control: to get attention from parents, rebel against parent control, make up
for feelings of helplessness, or dealing with stressful events.
Anorexia: an emotional disorder in which a lack of self-esteem and a fear of being over weight
results in self-induced starvation.
Facts:
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These adolescents are usually perfectionists and over-achievers.
Males can also be anorexic. About 15% of anorexics are male.
Statistics say that 1 out of every 200 adolescent females is anorexic.
At puberty, they are usually about 5 to 10 pounds overweight.
They may be concerned about physical changes in their bodies such as sexual
development.
 They use dieting as a way to deal with emotions.
 They set unrealistic dieting goals.
 They may use diet pills, laxatives and diuretics to lose weight faster.
Psychological Problems:
 Psychological issues precede the disorder.
 As the physical disorder gets worse, so do the psychological problems.
 They may become more depressed.
 Lower self-esteem
 Consider suicide
Physical Signs and Symptoms:
 Decrease in body fat by 15-20%
 Loss of muscle mass
 Decreased blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature.
 Breast development may diminish (in females)
 Menstrual period may stop (in females) know as amenorrhea.
 Dehydration
 Anemia
 Smaller heart size
 Distorted body image: Think they look fat whey they are not.
 Thinning of the hair, severely dry skin, brittle nails
 Lanugo: fine hair that grows on the bodies surface to keep it warm (also known as
“peach fuzz”)
 Decrease in sleep- restlessness
Treatment:
 Psychological and medical treatment is needed: You have to treat the reason for the
disease before you can treat the physical problems (possible hospitalization or
outpatient treatment).
 The goal of the counselor is to help the person with the eating disorder to accept
themselves.
Anorexia results in the death of approximately 10% of the cases per year.
Bulimia: an emotional disorder in which a fear of being over weight and a lack of selfesteem result in secretive binging (eating large amounts of food) followed by purging (
getting rid of the food through vomiting, periods of starvation, excessive exercise, or the
use of laxatives).
Facts:
 25-30% of all college age women engage in bulimic behaviors.
 5% of all bulimics are men. Usually related to sports such as wrestling, gymnastics
and horse jockeys.
 10-15% die from disease.
 There are approximately 10 times more bulimics than anorexics.
 High achievers that are concerned about being accepted by others.
 They use dieting as a way to deal with their emotions.
 They purge after eating by vomiting, using laxatives or diuretics or excessive
exercising.
Psychological Problems:
 Lack of confidence and self-esteem
 May feel lonely and frightened even though they seem confident.
 Depression
 Emotional problems always precede the physical disorder.
 Counseling may be needed to break the cycle.
Dieting
Overeating
Purging
Guilt
Physical Signs and Symptoms:
 Gain and lose weight often.
 Not have changes in body weight despite eating a lot.
 Use laxatives often.
 Make excuses to go to the bathroom after meals.
 Have bad tooth decay from stomach acid during vomiting.
 Have cuts and scrapes on the back of their hands from self-induced vomiting.
 Digestive disorders.
 Kidney damage from laxatives and diuretics.
 Anemia
 Infected and swollen glands around the jaw line.
 Blood-shot eyes or broken blood vessels in the face.
 Abnormal heart rhythm.
 Abnormal interest in food.
 Eating in secrecy.
Bulimics are more likely to seek treatment than Anorexics or binge eaters.
B.E.D. Binge Eating Disorder: Eating large amounts of food (binging) during one sitting as a
way to cope with emotional issues.
Facts:
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B.E.D. is diagnosed if a binge happens at least twice a week for 6 months.
Can consume as much as 10, 000 calories in one sitting.
Binger feels out of control when eating and do not feel as though they can stop.
The binger emotionally and mentally checks out during a binge.
Bingers can wake up the next day with a “food hangover”.
B.E.D. is more common than anorexia and bulimia combined.
1/3 of all B.E.D. patients are men.
Bingers can pass-out from eating too much food.
B.E.D. is the leading cause of obesity. Obesity can lead to high blood pressure and
heart disease.
Psychological Issues and Treatment:
 Difficulty dealing with emotions
 Emotional issues precede the disorder.
 Feel guilty about binging
 Address underlying issues that concern a person to binge.
 Treat depression of anxiety related to B.E.D.
 Work on issues of nutrition and healthy diet.
 Hospitalization might be needed to treat obesity.
Physical Signs and Symptoms:
 Eating much more rapidly than normal.
 Eating until uncomfortably full.
 Eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry.
 Eating alone as a result of embarrassment about the amount of food eaten.
 Feeling disgusted, depressed or guilty after binging.
 Obsession with food.
Concerns
about
weight
Low
Selfesteem
Cycle of
B.E.D.
Binging
Dieting