Anorexia and Eating Disorders

Women and size 

Thousands of women and an astonishing number of men too, look at the mirror everyday, and dislike what they see. Thinness has become a trend and women consider size zero as the cut off for being anything close to average. Media hype has contributed significantly to propagating thinness. Some professions like modeling or acting demand it; but when the obsession begins to take drastic proportions, it may become life threatening and corrective measures are essential for survival. These then point to eating disorders that are not a ‘fad’ anymore.
Diet and its balance
Balanced diet should be everyone’s goal. Being on a nutritional regime for weight loss but having controlled regular meals is acceptable too; however a continuous preoccupation with one's weight and worrying about it is not normal. Self-control is something each one needs to acquire with the habit of eating healthy within limits. All foods were made to enjoy and they all deserve to be devoured and relished. Binging is also allowed occasionally while religious fasts may be justified as an occasional attempt at cleansing the body and self-restraint. However the key to normalcy is to survive and thrive within these limits. 
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa describes a psychological disorder, in which the sufferer becomes abnormally sensitive of being perceived as fat or fears becoming fat; hence doesn't eat much food at all. The person may be several pounds underweight, to the extent of looking sick and malnourished. However one sees oneself as grossly overweight. Hence there is intense starvation, physical exercise and ways to enhance fat burn. It almost becomes delusional and there is no way to convince the person otherwise. Physical problems set in with the severe malnutrition and one usually gets hospitalized. Anorexia nervosa is extremely traumatizing.
Overeating and Bulimia nervosa
Overeating and bingeing is a trouble several people face when they are emotionally distraught. In Bulimia nervosa though, the sufferer overeats but is concerned with weight and is pathologically afraid of becoming fat. Here instead of starvation, there is binge eating accompanied by the use of laxatives, hormone pills and emetics, along with manual induction of vomiting; all of which are the measures used to prevent absorption of food in the body and the resultant weight gain. Life becomes focused on food, ways to secretly acquire food and means to compensate for the eaten food. There may be food refusal in front of people but an intense binge as soon as one gets an opportunity alone.
Food and Emotion
Causally, it is important to understand that eating disorders are really not a problem of control over food; they are problems with control over one's emotions. People with these disorders have a variety of external and internal conflicts, unhappiness, stress and a sensation of loss of control. Their behavior of avoiding food, hiding food, starving themselves or vomiting out the food gives them a sense of control. Also, anorexia and bulimia are associated with depression; anxiety and they also are linked with a high incidence of suicide. Food is an emotional issue and becomes a point of concern when one is emotionally unstable.
Stop it: better sooner than later
MINDFRAMES offers counseling and psychotherapy for the resolution of conflicts. Medication assists in the management of co-existent depression and anxiety and also aims at decreasing impulsivity. Sometimes hospitalization is warranted, for correction of metabolic derangements and dehydration that can occur due to starvation and the repeated purging-vomiting behaviors that are very common in anorexia and bulimia. Medication misuse and toxicity, constant purging and vomiting, are all life threatening and warrant special attention and treatment.