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Common Mental
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Recognizing Adolescent Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are mental illnesses recognized by extremes. A person with an eating disorder experiences sever disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape.
Types Of Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa
The individual is obsessed with food and being thin, sometimes to the point of deadly self-starvation. She/he may exercise excessively or simply not eat enough calories.
- Restrictor type - severely limits the intake of food, especially carbohydrates and fat containing foods.
- Binge/purge type - eats in binges and then induces vomiting and/or takes large amounts of laxatives or other cathartics (medications, through their chemical effects, that serve to increase the clearing of intestinal contents).
Bulimia Nervosa
The individual has episodes of binging and purging. Binging is eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time. Purging rids the body of the extra calories by vomiting or excessive exercise. In between the binge-purge episodes, the individual may eat very little or skip meals altogether. The individual may be a normal weight or even a bit overweight.
- Purging type - regularly engages in self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas, or other cathartics (medications, through their chemical effects, that serve to increase the intestinal contents).
- Non-purging type - uses other inappropriate behaviors, such as fasting or excessive exercise, rather than regularly engaging in purging behaviors to reduce caloric absorption of excessive amounts of food by the body.
Eating Disorder[Not Otherwise Specified]
Involves disordered eating patterns that do not meet the criteria for any specific disorder type.
Links to Additional Online Information
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