Eating Disorders

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Eating Disorders
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Do you think you might have an eating disorder?
All Students 9.5
Males 5.0
Females 11.6
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Do you know someone who you think has an eating
disorder?
All Students 68.3
Males 70.0
Females 67.4
90 are female
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Eating Disorders

• For those of you who know someone with an eating
  disorder
• What makes you think he or she has one? What do
  they do?
• Why do they do it?

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Eating Disorders

• Eating disorders involve serious disturbances in
  eating behaviors, such as extreme and unhealthy
  reduction of food intake or severe overeating, as
  well as feelings of distress or extreme concern
  about body shape or weight
• - National Institute of Mental Health, 2004

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Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa

• Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above
  normal for height and age
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat,
  even though underweight
• Disturbance in body image, undue influence of
  weight and shape on self-esteem, denial of
  seriousness of low body weight
• Lifetime prevalence among females 0.5-3.7

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Anorexia Related Behaviors

• Obsessed with the process of eating
• Repeatedly checking body weight
• Exercising compulsively
• May involve compensatory behaviors (purging)

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Symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating and a sense of
  lack of control during binge episodes
• Recurrent compensatory behavior to prevent weight
  gain (purging, fasting, or excessive exercise)
• Binging and compensatory behaviors both occur at
  least 2x/week for 3 months
• Lifetime prevalence among females 1.1-4.2

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Symptoms of Binge Eating

• Do at least 3 of the following 5 things
• Eat much faster than normal
• Eat until uncomfortably full
• Eat large amounts when not hungry
• Eat alone due to embarrassment over amount
• Feel depressed or guilty after eating
• Binge eating bulimia without the purging
• 2-5 of Americans in a 6 month period

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Body Weight Patterns

• Anorexia nervosa underweight
• Bulimia Nervosa normal weight
• Binge eating over weight

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Associated Factors

• Beauty standards
• 76 of women who diet do so for cosmetic rather
  than health reasons

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Conformity or Deviance?

• Are people with anorexia conforming to, or
  deviating from cultural expectations?
• How about binge eaters and bulimics?

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Do you suffer from depression?
All Students 27.0
Males 15.0
Females 32.6
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Do you suffer from anxiety?
All Students 46.0
Males 25.0
Females 55.8
Statistically Significant
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Eating Disorders Depression
of class who think they have an eating disorder
Depression-Yes 29.4
Depression-No 2.2
very statistically significant
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Eating Disorders Anxiety
of class who think they have an eating disorder
Anxiety Yes 20.7
Anxiety No 0.0
very statistically significant
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Primary and Secondary Deviance

• Primary deviance
• Multiple causes
• Often excused without lasting consequence
• Secondary Deviance deviance that results from
  having been labeled deviant
• Internalization
• Reduced opportunities

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Becoming Anorexic/Bulimic

• When the desire to be thin co-occurs with initial
  failure at dieting, experimentation with extreme
  dieting methods is likely
• When weight loss from extreme dieting is approved
  by others, the dieting is reinforced

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Labeling the Behavior

• Extreme dieting is initially excused as primary
  deviance
• How?
• Over time, weight loss and/or binge eating bring
  negative public attention
• People become concerned, stop praising
  appearance, and eating behaviors
• The secret is out - the labeling process begins

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Labeling and Help Seeking

• People with eating disorders often do not
  recognize or admit that they are ill. As a
  result they may strongly resist getting and
  staying in treatment NIMH, 2004
• Labeling can facilitate help-seeking
• Accepting the problem (self-labeling) legitimizes
  the need for help treatment
• Help-seeking is most likely if the problem is
  viewed in medical rather than judgmental terms

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Treatment for Eating Disorders

• Medical Intervention
• For anorexics, restore weight to normal range
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Psychological disturbances (distorted body image,
  low self-esteem), may include families
• Medication Therapy
• Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety