How Much Do You REALLY Know About Eating Disorders?

We’ve all seen the pictures of celebrities with their ribs sticking out and the headlines claiming them to have eating disorders, but other than ‘starving yourself to be skinny’, what do you know about Eating Disorders?

A lot of people think that Eating Disorders (ED) are just diets gone wrong in a world where the media is constantly telling everyone to lose weight, but science is proving that it's actually more than just an obsession-it's a neuro-biologically driven disease that has to do with brain chemistry and psychology.

It's more than will power.

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Think about it. Every single one of us has gone on a diet before… until that beautifully cheesy pizza is ordered and once again we give into temptation. How can people with ED not eat food, but every time I come across a piece of chocolate, it’s in my mouth before I can even process what’s happening? More and more research is showing that it’s not because these individuals have more will-power, but that it’s due to the genes they (would really rather not) have.

So what is an Eating Disorder?

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First off, there’s more than just Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. There’s actually a whole world of different Eating Disorders and it’s growing as researchers pay more attention to the diseases that have been around since before 1873.

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The latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 has EIGHT different diagnoses for Eating Disorders and two of those are for “other” or “unspecified” disorders that don’t have a name yet.

Of course there’s Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, but there’s also….

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Pica: A disorder where you eat nonnutritive, nonfood items like, dirt or clay.

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Or Binge Eating Disorder: when a person suffers from loss of control binges of food and feel depressed and guilty afterwards.

Disclaimer: Yeah, it seems like we have all Binge Eating Disorder sometimes, but those with the disease literally (in the correct sense) CANNOT control themselves- as in eating when they seriously don't even want to.

You can find information on all the eating disorders here:

Who has these disorders?

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A lot of times, it seems easy to point a finger at someone ‘too skinny’ and label them as anorexic or bulimic. However, there’s so much more to it, and you can never tell just by looking at someone. In actuality, bulimics are usually normal to overweight and some anorexics can still be overweight.

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It’s more to do with their actions and thoughts (like OCD and depression) rather than physical appearance.

So what?

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You could be thinking that you wish you could make the choice to be so dedicated to losing weight. Who wouldn’t want to look like a model?

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But having an ED is dangerous, damaging, and sometimes even fatal. People with an ED can have cardiac arrest, depression, anxiety, amenorrhea (when you don’t get your period), malnutrition, osteoporosis, etc…. The list goes on and on.

Not so glamorous.

So why do people choose to have an ED if it hurts their bodies so much?

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They don’t. Having an ED is something that people cannot choose- to get or to lose. People with an ED live a lifelong struggle to get back to a normal, healthy lifestyle where a fear or obsession of food doesn’t reign over their every move.

Research has shown impaired cognitive flexibility and set-shifting, weak central coherence, and abnormalities in reward processing with Anorexic and Bulimic patients, which consist even in recovered patients. Imbalance in serotonin have also been seen in patients, all of which point to neurological causes of ED. In fact, studies conducted with twins show a 50-80% heritability rate for ED, making genes a large determinant of having an ED. (Kaye, Walter. “Neurobiology of Eating Disorders.” UCSD, La Jolla. 7 July 2015. Lecture.)

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In fact, Eating Disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder.

It's not a joke...

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If that’s true, then why do ED receive inadequate research funding? Research dollars spent per affected ED individual was $0.93 (NIH, 2011) compared to $88/Alzheimer’s disease patient, $81/Schizophrenia patient, and $44/Autism patient. But Anorexia Nervosa is still the deadliest of them all.

It's most likely due to the common eating disorder stereotypes and myths prevalent in our society.

Misconceptions like:

“Eating disorders are a lifestyle choice that stupid girls make because they’re too vain.”

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We already talked about how having an ED is not a choice, but a deeper psychological issue that affects BOTH females and males. Oftentimes, they’re triggered by stressful events that have nothing to do with eating or food.

“Dieting is totally normal and way better than being fat. She’s just being healthy!”

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Restricting food, bingeing, or purging are unhealthy, damaging methods of dieting that are counterproductive to anyone who is trying to get their ideal body. These diseases make the person have such an abnormal relationship with food that it disrupts their everyday life and can cause serious medical complications.

“Eating disorders are just a phase. They just want attention.”

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Eating disorders are usually something people want to keep hidden and are usually not noticed until it’s time for medical and psychological help. Initially, most patients are in denial that they even have a problem.

“Eating disorders are caused by families and the media. We just all need to learn how to love ourselves.”

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While this is a more positive and accepting message, there needs to be recognition that Eating Disorders are neuro-biologically driven in order for them to be taken more seriously. Everyone gets bombarded by the media everyday, but not everyone has an Eating Disorder. Learning to love oneself is important for everyone, but it’s not the solution to a psychological disease, just like “staying positive” isn’t the cure to depression.

“Eating disorders are a white, rich girl thing.”

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Eating disorders can affect any population, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or class. And the stats of people with an ED are growing, making it a more serious problem as time goes on.

Obviously, there’s more to it than we know.

Which is why Eating Disorders should not be messed around with. For more information, check out this link or do some research of your own!