Eating Disorders

Question 1

What does this image depict?

Answer 1

Healthy attitudes concerning food and body weight and the transitions that lead to disordered eating.

Question 2

What are the three types of eating disorders ?

Answer 2

Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge-eating disorder.

Question 3

What does nervosa refer to ?

Answer 3

An attitude of disgust with ones own body.

Question 4

What are characteristics shared by bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa?

Answer 4

1. Serious health issues can result, including death.
2. There is a genetic factor
3. Other issues such as depression, anxiety disorder and substance abuse can be involved
4. No simple cause or treatment for the disorders, relating to the fact that the causes can be complex due to a variety of factors
5. Not exclusively a food issue but may be related to lack of coping mechanisms and dysfunctional relaitionships. Food is just something that can be controlled

Question 5

What does anorexia nervosa translate into ?

Answer 5

A denial of appetite.

Question 6

What are some characteristics of anorexia nervosa?

Answer 6

Extreme weigh loss measures through starvation,

fear of becoming obese

distorted body image

Competitive and obsessive tendancies revolving around strict discipline and self denial of food, which becomes the focus

Rituals involving food and excessive exercise and calorie counting are common

Question 7

Who is most at risk of developing anorexia nervosa?

Answer 7

Adolescent and teenage females; once thought to mostly affect the middle and upper class of Caucasian females, the risk factor is spread across all ethnic groups.

Question 8

Warning signs of anorexia ?

Answer 8

Distorted body image leads to low self esteem and abnormal eating habits

Wearing baggy clothes and weighing ones self frequently

Obsessing about food in terms of weight control, thinking about food, watching others eat

Going to extremes to avoid eating

Self critical and tendancy to withdraw from family and friends

Intense fear of becoming fat or gaining weight

Question 9

What kind of physical and psychological effects does anorexia have on the body

Answer 9

Question 10

What is the ironic and sad truth of anorexia ?

Answer 10

The anorexic person views themselves in a distorted way and thinks they are fat when in reality they are wasting away. They are depriving their body of needed nutrients in adequate amounts.

Question 11

What are clinical guidelines for a diagnosis of anorexia?

Answer 11

Body weight less than 85% of the normal for persons age, height and gender

and a BMI less than or equal to 17

Question 12

What serious effects does anorexia have ?

Answer 12

Hormonal changes, lower body temperature, slow heart rate, decreased immune system and loss of mentrual periods.

Death can result if left untreated.

Question 13

What treatment options are there ?

Answer 13

Outpatient therapy to start with involves a physician, dietician, psychologist and involvement of other family members is important to the outcome.

Hospitalization may be necessary

Gain confidence and trust of patient, help them recognize their disorder

Establish first healthier and adequate eating habits, learning to respond to natural hunger cues and promoting a healthy attitude towards food

and then through Cognitive behavior therapy and more, address the psychological issues

Question 14

What is the long term goal of recovering from anorexia?

What is the current recovery time?

Answer 14

Having a BMI of 20 or greater.

Current recovery time is 7 years or greater.

Question 15

What is bulimia nervosa ?

Answer 15

An eating disorder in which large quantities of food are consumed over a short time period.

There is a binge cycle in which once the binge has happened, the sufferer has a great desire to get rid of the excess calories through laxatives or purging.

Restriction and excecssive excercise usually follows purging until the binge craving returns and the cycle continues.

Question 16

What is a difference between the behavior of sufferers from anorexia and bulimia?

Answer 16

Those with anorexia tend to be very controlled while bulimics tend to be impulsive and have difficulty controlling their impulses.

Bulimics are aware that they have an eating disorder and often end up battling a vicious cycle of binging-purging-restriction and exccessive excercise.

Question 17

What can trigger a binge for bulimia sufferers?

Answer 17

stress, boredom, loneliness and depression

Question 18

What is the criteria to diagnose bulimia?

Answer 18

The criteria are based on a binge purge cycle at least twice a week for 3 months, a lack of control over behavior fluctuating between consumption of inordinately large quantities of food in a short time period with attempts to restrict food

Question 19

Those with bulimia deal with a ___________ cycle, involving bouts of binging, ___________, restriction and ____________ excercise.

Answer 19

binge, purging, exccessive excercise

Question 20

Effects on the body from Bulimia

Answer 20

Demineralization of the teeth related to erosion from the stomach acids, burns on the knuckles related to the vomiting and swollen salivary glands are common amongst the bulimic population.

Question 21

Treatment options for Bulimia

Answer 21

Team approach

Address the binging and decrease amount of food consumed in a sitting

By addressing the quantity consumed, the frequency of purging will decline and allow healing of the esophagus and decrease damage to the teeth.

CBT is used to address self esteem and decrease concern with body weight

Learning to cope with stressful situations, controlling their impulsive behaviors and relearning normal patterns of eating will help an individual overcome this disorder. In certain cases medication may be prescribed to help the patient achieve success.

Question 22

What classification is reserved for those who have eating disorders that are not anorexia or bulimia?

Answer 22

Eatng Disorders Not Otherwise Specified

Question 23

What are disorders classifed under Eating Disorders Not Otherwise specified ?

Answer 23

Binge-eating disorder, night eating syndrome and the female athlete triad

Question 24

What is binge eating disorder?

Answer 24

Compulsive and excessive consumption of food -binge eating episodes are not accompanied by purging

. Characteristics include a lack of control over how much food is consumed and what is eaten, eating rapidly until feeling uncomfortable, eating alone due to embarrassment and feeling disgusted, depressed or guilty after over eating.

Question 25

diagnosis of Binge eating disorder

Answer 25

Compulsive overeating at least two times per week for at least 6 months can lead to a diagnosis.

A much greater percentage of the population suffers from this disease than anorexia or bulimia.

Question 26

Binge eating disorder has more to do with…………..

Answer 26

Using food as a coping mechanism to get through stressors and emotional disturbances

Binge eating empowers them to feel in control of their emotions and their situation. After the euphoria subsides following the binge, the individual has to deal with feelings of guilt, embarrassment and shame.

Body image and weight are not neccessarily linked to the disorder

Question 27

Treatment for binge eating disorder

Answer 27

Through therapy and professional help. Behavior modification techniques are introduced.

Help individual identify personal needs and express emotions while normalizing eating patterns and responding appropriately to hunger cues

Sef help groups and medication may be used

Question 28

What is night eating syndrome?

Answer 28

The hallmark is one third of a person’s calories are consumed after the evening meal.

The individual awakens at least once during the night and needs to eat prior to falling back to sleep.

Often there is a lack of hunger in the morning and the circadian rhythm (your body’s 24 hour clock) is out of sync.

Often those suffering have depression.

Question 29

Treatment for night eating syndrome

Answer 29

Antidepressants has been foudn helpful in treating the disorder

Question 30

What is female athlete triad?

Answer 30

involves disordered eating leading to a low body mass index, lack of menstrual periods, excessove physical training and osteoporosis related to inadequate calcium and vitamin D intake.

The triad often affects females who are participating in appearance based or endurance sports such as gymnasts, ballerinas or cross country runners.

Question 31

What is the general’s call to order regarding changing the culture around obtaining the perfect body?

Answer 31

All body shapes and sizes should be accepted with the emphasis on a healthy and fit body. We need to change our preoccupation with food and diets in the hipes of achieving the dream body.