Is an illness that causes serious problems to your everyday diet such

as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating

and that affects all aspects of each sufferer's life

Eating disorders frequently appear during the teen years or young

adulthood but can appear during childhood or later in life.

70 millions of people
worldwide suffer an eating
disorder

14 millions of them
occur in America

Eating disorders have the

highest mortality rate of
all mental illnesses

In Madrid a 11% of
teenagers between 15-18
years suffer an eating
disorder

Is characterized by:

EXTREME THINNESS

INTENSE FEAR OF
GAINING WEIGHT

They see themselves as

overweight even when
they are underweight

EXTREMELY
RESTRICTED EATING

Food and weight control

become obsessions

They are checking their

weight several times
during the day

People with anorexia have 18% more

probabilities to die earlier than people of
similar age in normal conditions

Some of them recuperate with

treatment after only one
episode. However others can
have relapses*

Relapse /rlps/: to
fall again in the
illness

There are other symptoms that can appear

over time:
THINNING OF THE BONES (osteoporisis)

HA
K
A
E
W

AILS
N
D
IR AN

BRAIN DAMAGE
LOW BLOOD PRESURE,
SLOW BREATHING

DAMAG
ET
STRUCT O THE
URE AN
D
FUCTIO
N OF TH
E
HEART

AND H SKIN
Y
R
D
WIS
O
L
L
YE

ANEMIA, MUSCLE
WASTING AND
WEAKNESS

GROWTH OF FINE HAIR

ALL OVER THE BODY
(LANUGO)

LACK OF
MENSTRUATION

Frequent episodes of
eating large amounts of
food followed by forced
vomiting, excessive use of
laxative, fasting, excessive
combination or a
combination of these
behaviors

Fasting /fst/
abstain from food

They fear gaining weight

They want desperatly to

lose weight

They are unhappy with

their body size and
shape
The behavior of eating and
purging can happen anywhere
several times a week or a day

Bulimic behavior is done

secretly because they feel
disgust and shame

A bulimic person can develop these

symptoms:

INFLAMED AND SORE

THROAT

RUSSELLS SIGN

GASTROINTESTINAL
PROBLEMS

SEVERE
DEHYDRATION

DECAYING TEETH AS
A RESULT OF
EXPOSURE TO
STOMACH ACID

Decay /dke/
deteriorate

Is an EDNOS (Eating
Disorders Not Otherwise
Specified)
People lose control over
his eating. These periods
of binge eating are not
followed by purging,
fasting or excessive
exercise.
In fact, these people tend to
be obese.
These people have a higher
risk for developing
cardiovascular disease

Binge /bnd/ an episode

of excessive eating
or drinking

They experience guilt,

shame and distress

Recent studies are indicating that the

real figure could be that up to 25% of
people with eating disorders are
male.
Particularly, in anorexia,
one in four children who
suffer an eating disorders
is a boy.

Their symptoms are similar to

females. But can have muscle
dysmorphia (bigorexia) that is
characterized by an extreme
concern with becoming more
muscular

1 in 10 cases of these
disorders involve males.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Panic disorder
Phobias
Depression
Anxiety
Stress

HOME AND SCHOOL FACTORS

Parents behaviours
Comments made by classmates

PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

FACTORS
Low self-esteem
Perfectionism
Approval seeking
Dependency
INTERPERSONAL FACTORS
Troubled personal relationships
Difficulty expressing emotions and
feelings
History of being ridiculed based on size
or weight
History of physical or sexual abuse

CULTURAL FACTORS
Cultural pressures that glorify
thinness or muscularity
Media: TV, Magazines

I am not gorgeous, I am very far

from perfection. Sometimes in the
morning when I wake up, I look in
the mirror and I look fat. I also do
not like my legs

Treatment plans are adapted to

individual needs and include one or
more of this treatments:
Individual, group, family
psychotherapy
Medical care and monitoring
Nutritional counseling*
Medications

Counsel /ka nsl/ A person

who gives advice.

Some patients can need to be

hospitalized to treat problems
caused by malnutrition or to ensure
they eat enough

ANOREXIA
Give back the person to a healthy
weight
Treating the psychological
problems related to the eating
disorder
Maudsley therapy: parents of
adolescents with anorexia assume
responsibility for feeding their child.

BULIMIA
Eliminate or reduce binge eating
and purging behaviors.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Fluoxitine (prozac): the only
medication approved by the U.S
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

BINGE EATING
CBT
Fluoxitine and other
antidepressants

SCOFF questionnarie:
Do you make yourself Sick because you feel uncomfortably full?
Do you worry that you have lost Control over how much you eat?
Have you recently lost more than One stone (6 kilograms) in three months?
Do you believe yourself to be Fat when others say you are too thin?
Would you say that Food dominates your life?

If you answer yes to two or more of these questions,

you can have an eating disorder.