The famous British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that “the human body is the best picture of the human soul”. Without a healthy body, no one can be themselves, as any disturbance in the body can also affect the mind.
Eating disorders are serious psychological conditions characterised by persistent, disturbed eating behaviours and related thoughts and emotions. It is not simply about food or body weight, but rather involves complex interaction between biological, psychological and sociocultural factors.
Eating disorders can affect individuals of any age, gender or background and can lead to physical and emotional consequences, including death. Highlighting the need, to raise public awareness of these disorders, an ‘eating disorder week’ is being observed from February 23 to March 2. This annual campaign aims to educate the public about the realities of eating disorders and provide hope to individuals and families affected by such conditions.
Eating disorders appear in various forms — anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant/resistant food intake disorder and pica.
Anorexia nervosa: An intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, combined with behaviours that result in significantly low body weight.
People affected by it have a distorted perception of their body image. It has two types. Restricting and binge eating/purging types. The main difference between the two is how the patients maintain their very low weight. In the restricting type, every effort is made to limit the quantity of food. A binge involves an out-of-control consumption of a larger amount of food, followed by efforts to purge.
Bulimia nervosa: It is characterised by uncontrollable binge eating and efforts to prevent weight gain by using behaviours such as self-induced vomiting and heavy exercise. By definition, the person with anorexia nervosa is severely underweight. This is not true of the person with bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa has two subtypes — purging and non-purging.
Binge eating disorders (BED): It shares some clinical features with bulimia nervosa — an important difference is that after a binge, the person with BED does not engage in any form of compensatory behaviours. There are also fewer dietary restrictions than bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa. People with BED might be unhappy with their body and weight.
Pica & ARFID: Pica involves eating substances such as chalk, soil or paper for at least one month. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is characterised by limited food intake due to sensory issues or fear. It’s not related to body image concerns.Anorexia nervosa mostly develops in 15- to 19-year-olds. The highest risk of bulimia nervosa is among young women between 20 and 24 years of age.
Eating disorders have long been regarded as occurring primarily in women. The most common form of eating disorder is binge eating disorder.
Worldwide, the lifetime prevalence of BED is around 2 per cent. The National Comorbidity Survey has indicated that BED has a lifetime prevalence of around 3.5 per cent in women and 2 per cent in men.
Worldwide prevalence of bulimia nervosa is 1 per cent. The risk of developing anorexia nervosa has increased during the 20th century. In Sweden, anorexia nervosa is found among 1.2 per cent of women and 0.29 per cent of men.
The causes of these disorders involve biological, psychological and socio-cultural factors. Biological causes include genetics, brain abnormalities, variations in neurotransmitters, etc. Psychological factors are traits of perfectionism, internalising the thin ideal, negative emotionality, childhood sexual abuse, etc. Finally, socio-cultural factors such as negative body image, social standards of beauty, etc, also cause eating disorders.
The most common psychological treatment methods for eating disorders are cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy and interpersonal therapy.
Sometimes medications are also used for anorexia nervosa. In severe cases, hospitalisation is required to regain normal weight.
In short, eating disorders are significantly increasing in this modern era. So, it is important to identify and manage these disorders. Otherwise, it will lead to complex physical and mental health issues, which may even result in death.