“Eating disorders are mental health conditions – it is a problem that is associated with an intense concern about weight, shape, and body image,” said Dr. Jorge Pinzon, a pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
“The person is consumed by worry about their weight, shape, and size, and based on that they engage in behaviour that is abnormal.”
While there are multiple forms of eating disorders, the two most commonly known are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
The National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) describes anorexia as “persistent behaviours that interfere with maintaining an adequate weight for health.” Among other methods, people with anorexia usually restrict their food intake or over-exercise to compensate for their food intake.
NEDIC describes someone who suffers from bulimia as having “recurring episodes of food restriction followed by binge eating.” People with this disorder usually purge, after binging, in the form of fasting, over-exercising, or self-induced vomiting.
All eating disorders are considered life-threatening mental illnesses and can be fatal.
“In Western cultures, the prevalence of anorexia is one per cent – so one person in every hundred may struggle with this problem. Bulimia is relatively more common – it is between three and five per cent,” Pinzon said.
Pinzon noted that anorexia is common in adolescents while bulimia is common in young adults. Typically, eating disorders affect females.
“Eating disorders in general affect young women – the ratio is thought to be one to 10. So for every 10 females with the anorexia, there is one male. For bulimia, the ratio is a little bit less.”
There are a number of misconceptions following these mental health disorders.
“People picture individuals who are malnourished and thin, or look very unwell. (But in reality) when someone has an eating disorder you may not know, they may look normal,” Pinzon explained.
“Most people struggling with an eating disorder don’t look like the picture most people see in the media.”
Another problem following eating disorders is the assignment of blame, says Pinzon.
“Another significant misconception is that people do this on purpose. This is important to note because this is a mental disorder, a significant health problem, and to date we don’t know where they come from.”
He warns people to recognize the signs if they think someone they love may suffer from an eating disorder. These include changes in behaviour or mood, dieting, or isolation.
There are a number of resources that people with this disorder can access, including NEDIC or the Eating Disorder Association of Canada (EDAC). Treatment involves addressing the issues through therapy and counselling.
