In today's American society, eating disorders are extremely common. Many people believe that eating disorders have reached epidemic levels. In most cases eating disorders lead to serious and life-threatening medical conditions. Also, eating disorders often lead to physical and psychosocial morbidity in adolescent girls or young women. There are three different classifications of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and the atypical eating disorders. Bulimia nervosa is a much more common eating disorder then anorexia nervosa.
             Bulimia nervosa is a psychological eating disorder, which is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by purging or taking laxatives. Bulimia became a recognizable eating disorder when it was established in the 1980's (1). Most bulimics look normal, and are not underweight. Usually bulimia is caused in people who have an overvaluation of body shape and weight. Some triggers for bulimia are uncontrolled hunger and stress. Binge eating and purging is usually done in secret, but bulimics often display signals that can be detected.
             Opposed to anorexia, bulimia generally occurs later in life. Young adults are more susceptible to bulimia then adolescents. Approximately five percent of older adolescents and young adult females are bulimic. The ratio is 29:1 of females to males who have bulimia. An aspect that does not contribute to the chances of bulimia is social class. Bulimic wealthy people as well as the less fortunate bulimics are in equal proportions. However, there are often more white bulimics then black bulimics. In addition to ethnic background, worldly location also is a contributing factor. Bulimia is often a larger problem in predominantly western societies (3).
             There are many symptoms and warning signs that someone can be bulimic. Some of the subtle warning signs are hair loss, showing blood vessels in the eyes, and exercising compulsively. Another major sign is...