By Gracie Lane
“I will never be thin enough” is the message that gets put into young girl’s minds when they start their teenage years. Anorexia Nervosa is the name for the broad term with symptoms consisting of:
- Inadequate food intake leading to a weight that is clearly too low.
- Intense fear of weight gain, obsession with weight and persistent behavior to prevent weight gain.
- Self-esteem overly related to body image.
- Inability to appreciate the severity of the situation.
- Binge-Eating/Purging Type involves binge eating and/or purging behaviors during the last three months.
- Restricting Type does not involve binge eating or purging.
Underneath the broad umbrella of Anorexia Nervosa, there are several equally as harmful disorders.
Bulimia Nervosa consists of:
- Frequent episodes of consuming very large amount of food followed by behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting.
- A feeling of being out of control during the binge-eating episodes.
- Self-esteem overly related to body image.
Other types include:
- Atypical anorexia nervosa (weight is not below normal)
- Bulimia nervosa (with less frequent behaviors)
- Binge-eating disorder (with less frequent occurrences)
- Purging disorder (purging without binge eating)
- Night eating syndrome (excessive nighttime food consumption)
- Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
- Pica
- Rumination Disorder
- Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder
Jamie Carney, one of my friends from middle school, has struggled with anorexia since she was young.
“I feel the need to control something in my life, and food is the one thing I can control. I was adopted from Europe, but before that I was in an orphanage in Germany. I never felt accepted in and loved, so I controlled what I could control. I thought being thin would make me beautiful and hide the fact that I have ugly red hair and glasses, so I starved myself,” said Carney.
Alex Kayser, another of my friends stated, “eating disorders come from your frame of mind. If you think you’re fat, then you are. If you think you need to do gross things, like puking to lose weight, then you will.”
If you or someone you know shows some or all of the symptoms listed above, get help now. No one should struggle with this alone.
The National Eating Disorders Hotline’s: 1-800-931-2237.