Eating disorders are psychiatric disorders that are characterised by abnormal eating habits that affect the overall health of an individual. They are complex, and life-impacting conditions that have severe effects on all aspects of health, physical, mental and social. Almost 70 million people worldwide suffer from any kind of eating disorder. Every 62 minutes someone is eating and losing it. Eating disorders can occur at any age, gender or race. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. The sooner a person with an eating disorder seeks medical help, the greater the likelihood of physical and emotional recovery from any kind of eating disorder. In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically diagnosed eating disorder at some point in their life. Of those millions of people, more than ten per cent are estimated to die prematurely as a complication of their eating disorder. Primarily a person with an eating disorder will have health risks affecting nearly every organ in the body.

What causes eating disorders?

1. Genetics. Genetic factors play a major role. Researchers on anorexia nervosa have identified the interaction of genes versus environment in the development of anorexia nervosa. Even more surprising, eating disorders do run in families and relatives are eleven times more likely to suffer from an eating disorder than those who do not have a relative with an eating disorder. This doesn’t mean that every person in the family will develop an eating disorder, it is just that they are more likely to do so.
2. Brain Chemistry. The organization and the reorganization of the brain is also a factor. In a person who does not suffer from anorexia nervosa, when hungry they will generally feel irritable and when they eat they feel better. In a person with anorexia nervosa, this coding is kind of reversed. The person can feel better when they are hungry and feel irritated and anxious when they eat. This may not be the case in every person suffering from this condition, but it helps explain the condition.
3. Environment/Social-cultural Influences. Environmental factors also play a significant role. The world is filled with various trends like dieting, the media, or fashion that can trigger an underlying predisposition for an eating disorder. 

The best way to think about it is: “Genetics loads the gun and the environment pulls the trigger.”

It is also very essential to understand that families or people suffering from this condition are not the cause. Eating disorders are not a choice, it is a mental condition. They are not a fad, phase, or type of lifestyle. The person suffering needs medical help just as a severe stomach ache or a broken leg. The only significant difference is that you can’t visually see an eating disorder.

Types of eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa: In this condition, the person refuses any kind of food and refuses to eat even when hungry. In this process of self-starvation, the body is deficient in the essential nutrients it needs to function normally. The body is forced to slow down all of its processes to conserve energy, resulting in:

Abnormally slow heart rate and low blood pressure. These changes result in a change in the heart muscle. The risk of heart failure rises as the heart rate and blood pressure levels lower. 

This may also cause: 

 

1. Severe dehydration, which can result in kidney failure
2. Fainting, fatigue, and overall weakness are common signs of anorexia nervosa. 
3. Reduction of bone density, causing dry, brittle bones
4. Muscle loss and weakness
5. Dry hair and skin; hair loss is also frequently seen

Bulimia Nervosa: This eating disorder is characterized by overeating, i.e., consuming large amount of food in a short period of time, followed by Purging (getting rid of food), may be by vomiting or using Laxatine frequently, misuse of diuretics, excursing extensively. This cycle of binge eating can affect the entire digestive system and can lead to electrolyte and chemical imbalances in the body that affect the heart and the functioning of other major organs of the body. Health consequences include: Electrolyte imbalances can lead to irregular heartbeats, fluctuating blood pressure, heart failure and death. Gastric rupture may occur during periods of binging. Frequent vomiting may lead to inflammation and possibly rupture of the oesophagus, which may also cause tooth decay and staining from stomach acids. Chronic irregular bowel movements and constipation can also be observed. Peptic ulcers and pancreatitis is common

Binge Eating Disorder: The sequence of this disorder is the same as that of clinically diagnosed obesity i.e

1. High blood pressure
2. High cholesterol levels
3. Heart disease due to elevated triglyceride levels.
4. Type II diabetes
5. Gallbladder disease

Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED): These eating disorders cannot be characterised by specific signs and symptoms. The similarity in all of these conditions is the serious emotional and psychological suffering and/or serious effects on the overall health of an individual. Examples include:

1. Atypical anorexia nervosa (weight is not below normal)
2. Bulimia nervosa (with less frequent behaviors)
3. Binge-eating disorder (with less frequent occurrences)
4. Purging disorder (purging without binge eating)
5. Night eating syndrome (excessive nighttime food consumption)

 

Conclusion:

Eating disorders are serious psychological disorders which need complete medical help to recover from. For those who do not suffer from any kind of these disorders, it can be difficult to understand the function of the disorder. Lack of education and awareness may lead people to think that these disorders are a choice. This kind of disorder may start as a conscious choice by the person to improve his or her health but eventually, as the disorder takes its course, the person no longer has many choices in their actions. 

By the time someone has reached a point where they require and seek therapeutic intervention for their eating disorder, they have often lost control over many or all of the behaviours related to it. However, this does not mean someone doesn't want to or cannot start the road to recovery. We should empower and empathize with someone with an eating disorder and understand that they are not functioning cognitively or psychologically at their typical baseline. We should help them start to fight back against the damage of malnutrition by replenishing vital nutrients and most importantly, we should hold hope for them when they are unable to do so for themselves.