What is bulimia?
A person with bulimia nervosa will eat an excessive amount of food in a short period of time, usually with a sense of being out of control. Overeating is followed by an attempt to compensate by purging, which may include vomiting, laxatives, diuretics or excessive exercise.
Are there any other types of eating disorders?
There's a third, Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) which broadly covers any other unnatural eating behavior. In fact, that’s the biggest category of people with eating disorders. And it encompasses people with anorexic-like behaviors and features but they haven't perhaps lost enough weight to meet the criteria for a full diagnosis. Or for people who have not been purging frequently enough to get the diagnosis of bulimia. But these are still patients who often are in very severe situations; it doesn’t mean that they’re less ill necessarily.
This also includes binge-eating disorder¾binging without the attempt to compensate. There are actually more people with this eating disorder than with anorexia or bulimia.
Who’s at risk for developing an eating disorder?
The most common for anorexia is a young adolescent between the ages of 12 and 14. For bulimia, it’s closer to 16 or 17. In both cases, your chance of getting it are much higher if you’re female. People with other sorts of psychiatric risks or issues like depression or anxiety are at increased risk for an eating disorder. So, many people with a history of trauma, psychological trauma such as abuse or rape, are at higher risk.
