Bulimia
Sharon is a high school girl like many others. With encouragement from her parents, she studies hard, is on the honor role, the swim team, honor club and even finds time to volunteer in the community. Yet, on a Friday night, while her parents are out at a movie (her boyfriend, Todd, cancelled on her) she eats enough food for five people then makes herself throw up. This is not just pigging out. It's symptomatic of an increasingly widespread eating disorder known as bulimia or the binge purge syndrome and it's more prevalent than most realize. Bulimia, like the better known eating disorder anorexia nervosa, has its own unique characteristics, causes and effects that should be recognized and addressed by society. First, the characteristics of bulimia involve bingeing on large quantities of junk food, followed by compensation by means of vomiting, laxatives or fasting. "The binge eating and compensatory behaviors must occur at least twice a week for 3 months. (APA, 1994)" (Morris, p. 389) This pattern is usually accompanied by an awareness that the eating pattern is abnormal, fear of not being able to stop voluntarily and self-depreciating thoughts. The victims of this disease are almost exclusively women between the ages of 16
Take models and actresses for example. A second, but more rare physical cause of bulimia is an "inflammation of the hypothalamic region or hunger control center of the brain. 13)It is evident that bulimia's characteristics; social, physical and psychological causes; and mental and physical effects are becoming increasingly complex as studies reach greater depth. 12) Subsequent weight loss may also "lead to amenorrhea, the absence of menstrual cycles. 20) "Some forms of cognitive-behavior therapy have also helped people with bulimia, especially when coupled with techniques to prevent vomiting. 98) Doctors also "suggest that bulimics seek professional help immediately because treatment may be lengthy and relapses are not uncommon. This obsession, in turn, causes many women to go to great lengths to maintain or lose weight. Finally, bulimia is used as coping mechanism -- just like cigarettes and alcohol, designed as a defense or release from emotional stress ranging from anxiety to severe depression. 110) For example, "nearly every one of the women treated at Cornell University's mental health clinic pointed to a real or imagined male rejection as the event that triggered the first big diet and, subsequently the first binge.
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