Eating disorders develop as outward signs of inner emotional or psychological distress or problems. They become the way that people cope with difficulties in their life. Eating, or not eating, is used to help block out painful feelings. Without appropriate help and treatment, eating problems may persist throughout life.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by a loss of at least 15% body weight resulting from refusal to consume sufficient food, despite extreme hunger. The sufferer usually experiences a high disturbance of perception of body image. The anorexic may regard himself/herself as fat, overestimating body size the thinner she/he becomes. He/she also feels an intense fear of becoming "fat" and losing control of eating, and thus has often has the tendency to exercise obsessively.
A person with bulimia nervosa binges, which involve consumption of large amounts of calorie-rich foods, during which the person feels a loss of personal control and self-disgust. Then he/she attempts to compensate for binges and to avoid weight gain by self-induced vomiting, and/or abuse of laxatives/fluid tablets. .
The control of weight, through a combination of restricted eating and compulsive exercising, dominates the anorexic's and bulimic's life. There are often signs of these diseases, which the observer is able to recognise, in order to help the individual.
Behavior and symptoms that may identify anorexia nervosa are: skipping meals, eating tiny portions, pushing food on plate around, not willing to eat in front of people; using eating rituals; cooking and shopping but not eating; using phrases repeatedly like "I ate already", "I"m not hungry", "I"m feeling ill"; difficulty in concentrating; and refusing help.
Behavior and symptoms that may identify bulimia are: evidently gorging in secret; fluctuating widely in weight; going to the bathroom regularly after meals; buying large amounts of food that disappears rapidly; exercising excessively; having dental erosions and increasing numbers of cavities; and consuming large quantities of food, though not gaining weight.
