Thinking About Eating Disorders

Allow me to tell you the story of a friend of mine.

A young teenage girl we know recently suffered through the death of her mother and consequently had to be faced with being raised by her father in whom she was petrified of. Did I mention she was to be in charge of raising her 6 younger brothers and sisters.

She was always thin, but now weighs 90 pounds. She doesn’t think she has a problem and her father doesn’t think she has a problem. There are many questions in this situation, the major one being does she have an eating disorder. If she does have an eating disorder, what type is it….anorexia, bulimia?

It’s clear she needs help, others have tried, however her father prevents any intervention. The question becomes, what is causing the eating disorder? That’s why I assembled this collection of articles and ebooks on eating disorders. Hopefully, you…the reader, might see yourself or someone you care about in the articles to come. Perhaps you might see that you are experiencing the symptoms discussed for anorexia or bulimia. Maybe you binge eat.

In a society that is increasingly placing standards of beauty upon the youths of our population, people are at more of a risk than ever when it comes to developing an eating disorder. The celebrities in television and the media display stick-thin figures which can create a high standard of beauty that can lead to many problems with an individual’s self esteem. When coupled with the fact that an obesity epidemic is overtaking much of the modern world, it’s important to have a full understanding of the eating disorders which are prevalent in society today in order to be able to catch the warning signs when an individual you know is afflicted.

This truly is a life and death discussion. Admitting you might have an eating disorder of some type is the first step in finding a solution to your problem. I pray that you might listen to the voice inside your head as you read the following material.

 

Anorexia Statistics

Without a doubt, one of the most prevalent eating disorders within our culture today is the one that is known as anorexia nervosa. It's a disorder which takes hold mentally within a sufferer, causing them to feel as if their body will never be as skinny as they want it to be. Those dealing with a case of anorexia can due much damage to their body and it's an important problem to address. In this article, we'll relay some statistics that we've found regarding this troublesome eating disorder so that you can get a good idea of how prevalent the disease is.

There are several different types of anorexia, and you may be shocked to find out that a full five percent of all women in America face a problem with one subset of anorexia. Coincidentally, as much as fifteen percent of all American women have unhealthy behaviors when it comes to eating. Few people realize exactly how many people face a problem with anorexia: five percent of all women account for one in twenty women having a definite problem with the disorder.


The stems of anorexia may occur when an individual is very young. The pressures that society places upon youth to be perfect specimens can really lead to a damaged self esteem that can cause a case of anorexia to occur. Studies have shown that as many as seventy percent of surveyed sixth grade girls started to become weight conscious between age nine and eleven. The study also showed that these girls often began dieting to curb their weight problems in middle school. Many argue that these pressures are too intense for our youth and that advertising should take a larger responsibility when it comes to marketing towards adolescents.


While females are most commonly associated with cases of anorexia nervosa, men may be affected as well. In fact, five to ten percent of all cases of anorexia are exhibited in men.


As noted before, many cases of eating disorders develop while an individual is young. A study was conducted that asked anorexic patients when they feel that they began suffering from the disorder, and the results showed that a full eighty six percent of all individuals with anorexia developed the condition by age twenty. Forty three percent of the patients surveyed stated that their problem began between age sixteen and twenty, thirty three percent became anorexic between ages eleven and sixteen, and ten percent began while they were ten years of age or below.


Eating disorders can be a very serious problem. It's a sad statistic to consider, but as many as twenty percent of all individuals with eating disorders will die due to their condition. When the condition is addressed and treated, however, the mortality rate from an eating disorder drops to between two and three percent.


Now that you know more about how common anorexia can be and how badly it can affect the health of an individual, you can realize how important it is to treat the condition if it is present in you or a loved one.

Written by: Scott Parat