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Types of Eating Disorders 2

In the first part of this article, we have covered the most important types of eating disorder categories currently known to medicine and we started off with a brief explanation on how bulimia appears, how it can be treated and what its effects are. In this second part, we'll focus on one of the most common and widely spread eating disorders of today, namely anorexia.

Anorexia

Overview

Anorexia can be characterized as a psychiatric condition leading to an eating disorder. As opposed to bulimia, the sufferer of anorexia does not binge eat and then intentionally purge the food from his body, but voluntarily starves himself to achieve a thin body image. Oftentimes, this intentional starvation is coupled with excessive exercising and other methods that may be typical to bulimia too, such as excessive use of diet pills, diuretic drugs, laxatives, enemas and so forth.

Causes

As is the case with bulimia, anorexia is caused by modern society and the way it impregnates the image of the "perfect body" in our minds. The condition affects young people mostly, since they are less robust on an emotional level. In addition, a great part of the entire population of anorexia sufferers consists of young women, who are being pressured more than men about their body image, proportions and weight. Although these are the main triggers that build up the anorexia eating disorder, the exact psychiatric patterns and ramifications of the conditions are still largely unknown and continuously studied upon.

Effects

An individual that suffers from anorexia will have a completely distorted self-image and no matter how thin he or she will get, the thought that their body can get even thinner will be predominant. This leads to extreme weight losses that can produce a general state of weakness, coped with the voluntary starvation which hinders the body from acquiring the daily required amount of vitamins and minerals. If these two elements are combined for a longer period of time, they will have devastating effects on the body, the systems that will be afflicted mostly being the cardiovascular and digestive ones.

On an emotional level, anorexia will produce low self esteem and chronically low mood as well as clinical depression in some severe cases (of course, these factors are both causes and effects of the condition).

Treatment

When a person suffering from anorexia is diagnosed for treatment, the first step is usually focusing on him gaining a normal weight and bringing the body functions to normal parameters. This cannot be done abruptly however, so a few weeks of careful dieting are crucial for the treatment to work. Additionally, most patients will require constant sessions with a psychiatrist that will try to cure them of their addiction for low body weight. This can oftentimes be an extremely difficult task for the psychiatrist, as most anorexia sufferers will not willingly accept the fact that they have a problem. Lastly, a treatment for anorexia may contain anti-depressant medication such as Prozac, although they have proven not to be as efficient as they are with bulimia sufferers.