Essay About Bulimia: The Silent Struggle

📌Category: Addiction, Health, Illness
📌Words: 892
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 22 June 2021

Bulimia Nervosa, commonly known as Bulimia, is an eating disorder that has become quite prevalent in today’s world. Bingeing and purging are two aspects of this eating disorder. To binge and purge is to consume an excessive amount of food, and then throw it all up later. People do this because they wholeheartedly believe they are overweight. Even if they look healthy from a bystander’s point of view, they cannot see themselves in that way. The most common reason that people obtain an eating disorder is from comparing themselves to others.

Anyone can look on social media and see unrealistic body standards. This causes many to believe that their bodies have to be skinny or, like the models they see, to be happy. Along with comparison, there is also a biological aspect of eating disorders. Adolescents who develop Bulimia often come from a family where weight and mental health problems occur, like substance abuse and depression (“Bulimia Nervosa: Symptoms & Causes”). Research also shows that there is a genetic link between people with an eating disorder and first-degree relatives who had an eating disorder (“Bulimia Nervosa”). Putting the biological component to the side, family dynamics play a role in teenagers developing bulimia.  Families with high levels of stress, bad communication skills, and high expectations take a toll on the teenager at hand.  Parents unknowingly contribute to their children's disordered eating habits in that way. On top of the pressures at home, teenagers also face the pressures of sports (“Bulimia Nervosa: Symptoms & Causes”). A fitting example of this would be the sport of wrestling. In wrestling, the wrestlers are constantly trying to either lose or maintain their weight, to wrestle in a certain weight bracket. This causes them to substantially restrict their diet. This also can occur in sports like ballet, where the stereotype is to be petite and have the same body as everyone else. Lastly, diet culture can lead people to bulimia. Those certain people restrict their intake all day to fit the particular diet and then go into a binge and purge episode (“Bulimia Nervosa”). With numerous ways of developing bulimia, it is beneficial to be able to identify if someone is struggling with it. 

What makes bulimia different from other eating disorders, is that the person suffering looks healthy from the outside. Obtaining the help and treatment they need becomes difficult then. There is still a substantial amount of signs that could inform a loved one when someone has bulimia. First off, their mouth can be an indication. Since they purge their food, their breath can often reek. Constant purging also leads to staining and decaying of the teeth. Their hands can have scratches on the back from self-induced vomiting. Besides those physical changes, the person will have social tendencies that can be picked up on. If they go to the bathroom right after eating, constantly worry about their body image, have peculiar eating habits, or refuse to eat in public, they could be showing signs of bulimia (Mennitto). All these facts may be hard to relate to, but they hit close to home for Sage. 

Sage, a twenty-six-year-old university student, suffers from Bulimia Nervosa.  This emerged when she was in the sixth grade. Sage had been developing sooner than the other girls in her grade, so she was subject to teasing. The name-calling at school finally pushed her over the edge by seventh grade. That was when she started participating in all kinds of diets, like only eating grapefruit. These diets were obviously not sustainable for her long-term health. From there she would sink into what she referred to as “bad” weeks. Stocking up junk food in her room to consume in secret at night, was what occurred during those weeks. Her parents were worried about her, so started having strict food plans for her. As a result, Sage would eat normally during the day, but continue her binge episodes at night. It was not till her freshman year of college where she began purging. The stress and pressure of school made her binge because the food was her comfort. She never liked how she felt after her late-night snacks, so she started throwing up, and realized it made her feel better. Sage has kept this behavior up since freshman year, and no one has noticed. She is worried that her boyfriend, who she lives with, will find out soon (“Society of Clinical Psychology”). Even if Sage wants to keep her bulimia a secret, it would benefit her to seek treatment so she can be happy and healthy. 

Treatment for bulimia can vary immensely for each patient. Generally speaking, one of the first steps to recovery can be nutritional counseling. Those counselors will help the patients learn how to pace meals and adjust daily calorie intakes to fit their goals. One of the most successful treatments is CBT. CBT is a type of therapy that is focused on changing their distorted thoughts about themselves. They teach them different ways to deal with stress, rather than bingeing. Another treatment option would be medication. Prozac is the only FDA-approved medication for eating disorders. Research shows that people who just take medications tend to stop treatment early (“Treating Bulimia Nervosa”). While all these treatments individually can help a patient, a combination of them is key to recovery. 

There are steps outside of a doctor's office that could prohibit the development of an eating disorder. Children should be taught at home to have positive thoughts about themselves. Also, parents should avoid talking to their children about their weight and just promote living a healthy life (“Bulimia Nervosa”).  Recognizing the signs in a friend could save their life. If education is made a priority, then fewer people will have to face this terrorizing eating disorder alone.

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