There’s more than a few kinds of eating disorders out there. At the base level, they are characterized by a change in attitudes and behaviors relating …show more content…
For a legal diagnosis of Bulimia Nervosa from a health professional, both the binge eating and the compensatory behavior must occur on an average of at least twice a week for three months. The methods used by bulimics are commonly referred to as bingeing and purging. Bingeing is the process of ingesting large quantities of food in a limited amount of time, while purging is the practice of voiding that intake through one or more self-induced practices. These practices are most commonly vomiting, but can also include excessive exercise, or the abuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or even in some rare instances, recreational drugs. In some cases, fasting can be considered a compensatory behavior, as long as it follows a period of bingeing. These bingeing incidents are often followed by a depressed mood and self-deprecatory thoughts. Four strong binge triggers are hunger, loneliness, anger, and fatigue, feeling any one of these can trigger binge eating. People with Anorexia Nervosa may also exhibit binge eating and then purging in order to remain thin, but the difference is that those with Bulimia Nervosa are able to have their body weight remain in a normal range. As those with Bulimia look normal when compared to the common …show more content…
While they occur around the world across all ethnic and socioeconomic groups, eating disorders are more common in industrialized nations and in urban areas of the world. This is due of course to our culture that places a high value on thinness. TV, movies, magazines, pretty much all of our media, gives the message that being thin matters. For example, one study found Canadian children in grades three and four said they would rather lose a parent, get cancer, or live through nuclear war than be fat. Because of all of this, people with eating disorders may see getting thin as the key to success and happiness. This message usually only applies to women as ninety percent of eating disorders occur amongst women. Research has concluded that though social pressures to be thin contribute to the development, psychological, social, cultural, and genetic factors all contribute to a person’s