The Three Main Types
The ones who suffer from anorexia have a distorted body image. Patients may think that they are fat and ugly while in reality, they can be skin and bones. Anorexics are generally perfectionists and will strive for their own standard of beauty. It is not uncommon for them to be living in a hyper-controlling environment where they are being controlled in a sense that they are pushed to do things all the time. Parents may be constantly hovering over them and they believe that they need to be that perfect son or daughter. And now after considering their environmental factors, anorexics are seeking a sense of control in their lives. So they turn to extreme dieting and exercise because the intake of food is the only thing that they can that they have control over. As mentioned by the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5, they will develop “pathological fear of becoming fat.” Anorexics will avoid eating and as a result of the irregular eating cycles, it is also common for females to also have amenorrhea. Women often miss
menstrual periods or stop getting them until they start eating regularly again. This eating disorder does not only target women but men are
suffering too. Compared to the big numbers of females patients, the
10 to 15% of males may not seem like much but it is still a very real problem.
Bulimia patients go through a bingeing and purging cycle.
When bulimics are bingeing, they usually go for the high-calorie
foods. After a short period of bingeing, bulimics will feel guilty about consuming the large pile of food, and do everything they can to purge it out. Many are also under the illusion that once the they throw up the remnants of the food, they will not
become fat from it. To burst this misconception, the reality behind self-induced vomiting is that the initial weight loss after throwing everything up the first few times is mostly likely from dehydration. This weight loss is highly difficult to maintain because the binge-purge cycle is bound to result in weight gain. Purging generally only cut the huge amount of calories bulimics consume during binge episodes in half. Since the act of vomiting is similar to restricting food, the body assumes it as restriction and slows the metabolism and converts the calories into fat. Vomiting will also amplify urges binge so the cycle continues to spiral out of control. While self-induced vomiting is a popular method of purging, it is not the only one. Laxatives are also a choice when bulimics are purging the little that they consumed.