Bulimia Nervosa, a Family Matter

Bulimia, also called bulimia nervosa, is a psychologial eating disorder which mostly hit girls in the age of 15 to 25 years. It´s rare but it happen also to boys. Studies indicate that by their first year of college, 4.5 to 18 percent of women and 0.4 percent of men have a history of bulimia and that as many as 1 in 100 females between the ages of 12 and 18 have anorexia.

The two most common eating disorders for young people are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. People with anorexia, whom doctors sometimes call anorectics, severely limit their food intake. About half of them also have bulimia symptoms.

These young persons are almost always very ambitious in school and sports. We have seen athletes on top class level achieving great results. Considering the circumstances they do extremely well. They seldom become a winner because their disease usually stop them from having the energy to train and perform on top.

Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge-eating followed by inappropriate methods of weight control (purging). The desire for food and candy is very strong and at the same time the person try to reduce weight. This causes a strong conflict between the desire to eat and the desire to reduce weight.

To cope with the conflict they use inappropriate methods of weight control including vomiting, fasting, enemas, excessive use of laxatives and diuretics, or compulsive exercising. A period of binge-eating is produces strong feelings of guilt.

For a person with bulimia the self-confidence is strongly depending of the shape and weight of the body. There are similarities between anorexia and bulimia regarding the fear to become fat and the desire to reduce weight. It´s not unusual that anorexia turns into bulimia. Just about half of those with anorexia will have bulimia nervosa. The conditions can overlap.

The problems often starts in the teenages, you get more and more interested of your weight and that leads to repeated attempts to reduce weight. After some time one has no control over the situation and just to eat gives strong anxiety.

Probably there are a number of causes for the bulimia, psycological as well as biological. The cultural conditions with the ideal of females being slim, as it is in many countries, can also affect our view of the body we have.

Studies have shown that disorders in family relations can be one of the factors. Difficult periods of time or changes like puberty, death in the family or other family crisis can cause bulimia nervosa.

Bulimia nervosa can give severe medical complications. There is a risk for damages that will become permanent. Bulimia can also be the reason why a person will get problems with the teeth. That is of course a minor problem but they all have to be taken care of.