Eating Disorders Intervention

Best estimates suggest that one in every one hundred young women in this country has bulimia and a somewhat lesser number suffer from anorexia. Only about ten percent of those with eating disorders are male, but the number is growing.

Warning signs may include:

• obsession with food and body weight
• obsessing over calories (consumed and/or burned)
• bingeing and purging
• eating compulsively, overeating, eating when not hungry, constant nibbling
• exercising excessively, continual dieting
• use of laxatives or fasting to control weight
• guilt, shame, hopelessness
• unrealistic body image
• secretive eating, hiding food, discarding and then retrieving food
• eating habits and weight begin to concern other people
• stealing food
• eating differently in private than in public
• eating as an escape or coping mechanism
• believing that losing weight will make life better

With eating disorders, food is merely the ‘vehicle’. Food is an escape mechanism. The goal is the pleasure/reward response. Although there is a difference between bulimia and anorexia, there is a similar process in the dopamine response in the brain. With bulimia, there is a chemical experience during purging as well. The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated. Anorexia has one of the highest rates of mortality of any psychiatric condition, an estimated thirteen-percent per annum. It can result in gastrointestinal problems, heart and kidney problems, and infertility.