Eating Disorder Information

It is very important to remember that eating disorders come in ALL SHAPES AND SIZES.  Eating disorders affect men and women, people of all colors, religions, backgrounds and socioeconomic status.  

Please take time to read the following information.  

Don't forget to read the "ED MYTHS" located at the end of this page.

There are 5 main types of eating disorders: (updated 5/2019)

Anorexia Nervosa: characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight and/or a refusal to maintain a healthy weight, and sometimes a distorted body image
Bulimia Nervosa: characterized by binge eating large amounts of food followed by an attempt to get rid of the food consumed through various purging behaviors (self-induced vomiting, exercise, laxatives, etc)
Binge Eating Disorder: characterized by eating large amounts of food, feeling out of control or powerless to stop, and not regularly using compensatory behaviors to counter the binge episodes
Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED - formerly ED-NOS): a clinically significant eating disorder that does not meet the diagnostic requirements for the other diagnoses
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): limited intake of food and/or inability to maintain a healthy weight WITHOUT distorted body image

Other eating disorders that are not formally recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5:
- Orthorexia: an obsession with "proper" or "healthful" eating, aiming for a "pure" or perfect diet
- Pica: eating items that are not typically thought of as food
- Rumination Disorder: regular regurgitation of food that may then be re-chewed, re-swallowed, and/or spit out
- Diabulimia: characterized by an individual with diabetes who manipulates insulin levels to manage weight

Although the diagnoses may seem straightforward, eating disorders are everything BUT straightforward.  People may have a combination of different symptoms, or may switch from one eating disorder to another. 

Remember that ALL eating disorders are DANGEROUS. 
 

Medical Consequences of eating disorders:

• Amenorrhea
• Cramps, Constipation, or Diarrhea
• Dehydration
• Dental Problems and Gum Disease
• Digestive Complications
• Dry or Brittle Skin, Hair and Nails, or Hair Loss
• Electrolyte Imbalances
• Facial Swelling
• High Blood Pressure (Hypotension)
• Kidney Infection or Failure 
• Low Blood Pressure (Hypotension)
• Lowered Body Temperature
• Malnutrition  
• Muscle Atrophy 
• Orthostatic Hypotension 
• Osteoporosis (or Osteopenia)
• Slowed or Irregular Heartbeat, Arrhythmias, Angina or Heart Attack
• Tearing of the Esophagus, Gastric Rupture or Gastrointestinal Bleeding

***Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness***

PLEASE SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOURSELF OR SOMEONE ELSE

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Possible Causes:

Eating disorders are incredibly complex, and there is no single reason why someone develops one.  The following are some factors that can contribute to the development of the disorder:

• Biology and genetics
• Psychological risk factors
• Traumatic events
• Family
• Social and cultural factors
• Major life transitions
• Other psychiatric illnesses 

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Eating Disorder Myths:

• You have to be emaciated to have an ED.
• In order to recover the only thing you need to do is eat.
• People with bulimia are never underweight.
• People with anorexia are always underweight.
• People with eating disorders who are overweight must have binge eating disorders.
• If your weight goes up you're getting better.
• If your weight goes down you're getting worse.
• When you reach a healthy weight you are recovered.
• People with bulimia and binge eating disorder wish they had anorexia but they don't have the self-control to stop eating.
• You're not sick until you're emaciated.
• People with anorexia never eat.
• You can't have a serious eating disorder if you're very young or old.
• Men don't have eating disorders.
• People with anorexia hate food.
• Having an eating disorder is a choice.
• Eating disorders are just a way to get attention.
• People with eating disorders can choose to stop using symptoms.
• Everyone with an eating disorder wants to be really skinny.
• People with eating disorders are vain and only care about their looks.
• Doctors and other professionals are always right.  If they say someone doesn't have an eating disorder, they are right.
• The reason people get eating disorders is because they took dieting to an extreme.
• People who binge have no self-control.
• You have to be "sick enough" to seek treatment.
• You can never fully recover from an ED.
• Men with eating disorders are always gay.
• Eating disorders are solely a problem about food.
• Purging is always done by vomiting.
• People with anorexia never eat "junk food" or desserts.
• The only eating disorder you can die from is anorexia.
• People have eating disorders in order to hurt or punish their family and/or friends.
• Compulsive eating is not an eating disorder.
• People with binge eating disorder are just lazy and have no self-control.
• An eating disorder is just a way to lose weight.
• People with eating disorders are Caucasian and middle or upper class.
• There is no such thing as too much exercise.
• People who have anorexia are always timid and shy.
• Eating disorder treatment is easy.
• If people with eating disorders go to treatment but don't get better and/or relapse after discharge, they are weak, unmotivated, and it is their fault completely.
• Everyone with an eating disorder who seeks treatment will enter a "revolving door of treatment" (in and out for many years).
• People with eating disorders are obsessed with unhealthy images in the media and this fuels their disorder.
• People who are overly concerned with "healthy food" do not have serious eating disorders.
  
• People with eating disorders struggle for at least 7 years with their disorder.
• In today's diet culture, practically everyone has an eating disorder!