Eating disorders, beyond the superficial mentality

When society addresses the topic of eating disorders, the majority automatically bonds it with a superficial thought that shouldn't be taken seriously.

Eating disorders are not just a superficial thought; it is a mental illness that pervades all aspects of each sufferer's life.

When I ask people to list the cause of an eating disorder, they blame the media for it and think that people just have eating disorders because they have an obsession with wanting to be thin. Like models or celebrities they see on television, or the covers of magazines, making them superficial.

However, the media does not cause everyone to develop an eating disorder. They mostly contribute to dieting and size discrimination but eating disorders are not diets.

The cause of an eating disorder could range from being sexually molested, having a disfunctional family, having an alcoholic dad and mom's push on food as comfort, or maybe the death or abandonment of one or both parents, it usually deals with mental or emotional damage which can manifest itself in an eating disorder.

According to The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders, the most common disorders are anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, and binge eating.

Anorexia includes obsessive exercise, calorie and fat gram counting, starvation, restriction of food, self-induced vomiting, the use of diet pills, laxatives or diuretics to attempt controlling weight to a persitent level.

Those who are suffering with anorexia have a low self-esteem and often have a tremendous need to control their surroundings and emotions.

Bulimia is defined as rapid food consumption followed by tremendous guilt and purging (laxatives or self-induced vomiting). A feeling of lacking control over his or her eating behaviors, regularly engaging in stringent diet plans and exercise, the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, and/or diet pills.

Those suffering with bulimia may seek episodes of binging and purging to avoid and let out feelings of anger, depression, stress or anxiety.

Compulsive overeating is characterized as an addiction to food, using it as a way to hide from emotions, to fill a void one may feel inside, and to cope with daily stress and problems in their lives.

Binge eating defines someone who consumes an unusually large quantity of food in a short period of time (less than 2 hours) uncontrollably, eating until he or she is uncomfortably full, unlike with Bulimia, they do not purge.

Binging can be used as a way to keep people away, it can also be used as self-punishment for doing "bad" things, or for feeling badly about yourself.

Many people assume that a person with an eating disorder is only found in females, and young people, but that is not the case.

Eating disorders affect both females and males, heterosexuals, homosexuals, kids, teenagers, young adults and the elderly. It is not determined by the color of someone's skin or race, but by the individual's personal background and mental history.

Eating disorders have long been classified as just being a phase, a joke, a superficial thought, an act to seek attention, so when do we take the sufferer serious?

The disorder is not always visible and not everyone is open about it, many people hide it because they feel ashamed and judged by society. Someone in your family may be suffering from it and you don't know it, perhaps a friend, or your boyfriend or girlfriend.

An eating disorder can cost someone their life if they are not properly treated, so we need to stop judging and be more understanding of this disorder, and next time you come across someone who is suffering from this illness, please just listen.

As a person who has gone through more than two of these disorders, I feel that this issue is not given much attention and if it is, then it is usually misunderstood.

That may be the reason why most people keep it to themselves and end up dying without anyone telling them that there is treatment for it, and that they are not alone.

So next time you hear about someone suffering with this disorder, don't just laugh at them and call them superficial, reach out to them offering help because you can make a difference.