In honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 22 – February 28), we’ve dedicated a series of blogs to educate our members about eating disorders, who they affect, and how you can get help if you’re struggling with one.

An eating disorder is a mental illness that severely affects a person’s relations with food, body image, and self-esteem. People with eating disorders have excessive thoughts of food, body weight and/or how their body looks, and how to control their intake and relationship with food. Eating disorders are a complex illness that affect 9% of the world’s population – that’s 702 million people.

Eating Disorder Statistics
The following statistics are from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

• 10,200 deaths every year are the direct result of an eating disorder. That’s one death every 52 minutes.
• 28.8 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.
• Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as “underweight.”
• About 26% of people struggling with eating disorders attempt suicide.
• Eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, second only to opioid overdose.

The DSM – V recognizes six specific diagnoses under eating disorders. The six include:

• Pica
• Rumination Disorder (RD)
• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
• Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
• Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
• Binge Eating Disorder (BED)

Pica
Pica is an eating disorder characterized by an individual craving and eating non-food items, like dirt, clay, paper, chipping paint, pebbles, or laundry detergent. This disorder is most frequently seen in children, pregnant women, and individuals with previously-diagnosed autism, schizophrenia, and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Rumination Disorder
Rumination disorder is diagnosed in people who bring previously swallowed food back up and then re-chews the partially digested food. Few studies have been done on rumination disorder, but we know that it occurs nearly equally in boys and girls under the age of 18. This disorder most often occurs in infants and children (both with and without intellectual disabilities).

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
People with ARFID experience a negative relationship with food either due to a lack of interest in eating or distaste for certain smells, tastes, colors, textures, or temperatures. ARFID typically develops during infancy or childhood, is equally common among men and women, and can persist into adulthood.

Anorexia Nervosa
Those with anorexia nervosa place a high value on controlling their weight and shape by severely restricting the amount of food they eat. Some people with anorexia nervosa also purge or exercise compulsively. Anorexia nervosa seems to affect women more often than men, but the stigma around men with eating disorders leads to men seeking help less often and less overall diagnoses. Teenage girls are most likely to develop anorexia nervosa based on the current research.

Bulimia Nervosa
People with Bulimia Nervosa generally eat a large amount of food in a short period of time. Their binges are often only interrupted when they fall asleep or their stomach hurts from being stretched beyond normal capacity. After a binge, individuals with bulimia nervosa purge by throwing up, using a laxative or diuretic, or over-exercise. More women than men will experience bulimia nervosa in their lifetime and those in their teens/early 20s are most at-risk of developing this disorder.

Binge Eating Disorder
People with binge eating disorder typically eat unusually large amounts of food in short periods of time and feel a lack of control during binges. Those with binge eating disorder don’t restrict calories or use purging behaviors. This is believed to be one of the most common eating disorders, and often begins in the late teens/early 20s, but can develop at any age.

Where to Find Help
Eating disorders are difficult to overcome by yourself. If you’re experiencing any of these problems, or if you think you have an eating disorder, please seek medical help.

National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) Hotline Options: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline
How to Get Help: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/where-do-i-start-0
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255