What are Eating Disorders? Discuss Types and Treatment of Eating Disorder

Anorexia nervosa is a condition where individuals engage in self-starvation, which leads to low body weight. Those affected by anorexia nervosa severely limit their caloric intake, and some even go as far as starving themselves. This disorder is characterized by an unhealthy and severe obsession with weight loss and a refusal to eat the recommended amount of food based on their body type and level of physical activity.

Common symptoms of anorexia nervosa include

•  Severe weight loss
•  Restricting food intake
•  Extreme fear of gaining weight
•  Behaviors to avoid gaining weight
•  Fatigue
•  Insomnia
•  Dizziness or fainting
•  Obsession with thinness
•  Weak hair and nails
•  Cold intolerance and insensitivity
•  Severe constipation
•  Excessive exercise

People with bulimia nervosa face episodes of binge eating where they consume excessive amounts of food in a short period of time, often feeling a loss of control during these episodes. Afterward, they try to rid themselves of the calories through methods such as vomiting, using medication, or engaging in excessive exercise. This pattern of behavior can cause discomfort and nausea as the person eats quickly and beyond the point of fullness.

Common Symptoms of bulimia nervosa include:

• Consuming large amounts of food at once
• Frequent urination shortly after meals
• Swollen Salivary gland
•  Persistent pain in the throat
•  Tooth decay
•  Heartburn and reflux
•  Abuse of diet pills
•  Frequent diarrhea
•  Feeling light-headed or faint as an effect of intense purging behaviors
•  Self-esteem is impacted by body shape and weight
•  Extreme dehydration

A person with a binge eating disorder has a loss of control over their eating. They consume a lot of food in a short length of time. However, they don’t expel food or burn off calories through binging. Instead, they experience uncomfortable satiety and could battle despair, regret, or guilt. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disorders are just a few major health issues resulting from binge eating.

Common symptoms of binge eating disorder include:

• Eating more quickly than normal
• Eating until you feel full
• Eating a lot of food even when not hungry
• Eating alone because one is ashamed of how much they are consuming
• Eating follows up with feelings of depression or extreme guilt
• Experiencing a loss of control during episodes of binge eating

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a relatively new diagnosis in the field of eating disorders. Unlike anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, ARFID is not driven by concerns about body image or a desire to lose weight. Instead, people with ARFID experience a persistent disturbance in eating such as a lack of interest in food, avoidance based on sensory characteristics (like texture or smell), or fear of aversive consequences (such as choking or gastrointestinal discomfort) that leads to significant nutritional deficiency, weight loss or failure to grow, dependence on supplements, or marked interference with psychosocial functioning. ARFID can affect people of all ages but often begins in childhood, and is particularly common among children and adolescents with autism or gastrointestinal disorders. The physical health consequences can be serious, including growth faltering, low bone mineral density, and other complications related to chronic malnutrition.

Pica is an eating disorder that involves consuming items that are not recognized as food and do not have any nutritional value. Individuals with pica crave non-food substances such as paper, paint chips, soap, cloth, hair, chalk, metal, charcoal or coal, or clay. A higher risk of poisoning, infections, gastrointestinal injuries, and nutritional deficits may exist in people with pica. Pica may be fatal, depending on what you ate.

Rumination Disorder: After eating, people with rumination problems frequently bring their food back up into their mouths, re-chew it, and then either swallow it whole again, spit it out, or both.

Night eating syndrome: People with this condition regularly overeat at night, frequently after waking up.

Other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFED): Any additional disorders that don’t fall under one of the above disorders but exhibit symptoms like those of an eating disorder are included in this category.

The most crucial aspect of treating eating disorders is psychotherapy. A mental health practitioner can determine the best type of therapy for each individual’s condition. Psychotherapy helps develop healthy eating habits, achieve a healthy weight, and replace unhealthy eating patterns with positive ones.

Next, an experienced licensed dietitian can assist in changing eating patterns and creating nutritious meal plans. Nutrition education is essential for achieving a healthy weight, as it teaches how nutrition affects the body and how an eating disorder can impact physical and nutritional health. Nutrition counseling can also focus on meal planning and establishing regular eating patterns.

It’s important to note that eating disorders cannot be cured with medication alone; they are most effective when used in conjunction with psychological therapy. However, some patients with eating disorders may also experience depression or anxiety. In such cases, antidepressants can help reduce symptoms of anxiety or depression, which often accompany eating disorders.

Another approach is the Maudsley method, a family-based treatment particularly beneficial for parents of teens with anorexia. In this approach, parents actively supervise their children’s eating to help them develop healthy habits. The primary goals are to promote parental involvement and support their child’s recovery journey.