Millions of Americans suffer through eating disorders, the most lethal of all mental illnesses. Doctors can’t say exactly what causes a person to start using food as a means of controlling emotion and self image, but likely causes include genetics, popular culture, dieting and low self esteem. Unfortunately, eating disorders are often concealed from family and friends for years, and since denial is such a characteristic part of these disorders – too many women (and men) fail to get the help they need. Treatment is available and treatment works.
If you have an eating disorder, your life revolves around food, and/or your control over food. Your self esteem is likely tied to the way you look and the way others look at you and it’s through food or your control over what you eat that you manage the emotions in your life.
Eating disorders are very dangerous and left untreated, they can eventually kill. Denial is a big part of a lot of eating disorders, so if you’ve decided that you might want some help you’re halfway home to getting better. You can get help and treatment works. You can learn to manage the way you feel without manipulating the way you eat and you can regain a healthy weight and self image!
What Are Eating Disorders?
Eating disorders aren’t well understood. They are characterized, generally, by a loss of control over the consumption of food. People with certain eating disorders might consume very few calories each day (anorexia nervosa), might consume an enormous amount of food and purge it (bulimia nervosa) or might simply consume enormous quantities of food (binge eating disorder).
No one chooses an eating disorder, and no one really knows exactly what causes their development, but for some people, risk factors like aggressive dieting, perfectionism, a genetic link to eating disorders and low self esteem combine into something terrible and dangerous, and all of a sudden – food is the central focus of life.
Eating disorders are the most dangerous of mental health disorders. If you have an eating disorder, you put your health at risk, and sadly, run a greatly increased risk of an early death.
Fortunately, effective treatments are available, and people who get appropriate treatment are very likely to return to a more normal weight. Denial can complicate treatment and relapse is often a problem. For many people in recovery, the battle against disordered eating lasts a lifetime.
page last update Aug 16, 2010
