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Women's Issues

Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior: rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on a life of their own. The main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A third type, binge-eating disorder, has been suggested but has not yet been approved as a formal psychiatric diagnosis. Eating disorders frequently develop during adolescence or early adulthood, but some reports indicate their onset can occur during childhood or later in adult hood.

Eating disorders frequently co-occur with other psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders. Recognition of eating disorders as a real and treatable disease, is critically important.

Anorexia Nervosa

An estimated .05 to 3.7% of females suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime.

Symptoms Include

• Resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height.
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.
• Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
• Infrequent of absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached puberty).

Bulimia Nervosa

An estimated 1.1 to 4.2% of females suffer from bulimia Nervosa in their lifetime.

Symptoms Include

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating an excessive amount of food within a discrete period of time and by a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode.
• Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications (purging): fasting: or excessive exercise.
• The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least twice a week for three months.
• Self evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.

Treatment

Eating disorders can be treated and a healthy weight restored. The sooner these disorders are diagnosed and treated, the better the outcomes are likely to be. Because of their complexity, eating disorders require a comprehensive treatment plan involving many interventions.

Bloomingdale Psychological Services is a full service practice which provides the following treatment for eating disorders:

• Assessment & Diagnosis
• Individual Therapy
• Medication Management
• Family Therapy
• Nutritional Counseling

Often the individual with an eating disorder is resistant to treatment as they do not recognize that they are ill. Often trusted friends and family members can be helpful in bringing the individual to treatment.

For more information call Bloomingdale Psychological at 610-688-2737.