Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: similarities and differences
The eating disorders are any behavior in relation to food that cause damages to health of the person. It can be the habit to eat compulsively, eating almost nothing or eating thinks inedible. Of the Eating Disorders, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are the ones that most frequently and both are considered as psychological illness by World Health Organization (WHO).
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa affect mainly teenagers and young adults, in the most of cases girls, but the number of cases in boys increased recently. About 90% of cases occur in young women.
The reasons for this illness are not known by scientists and experts. They all agree that it is a result of a combination of environmental and genetic factors. The social factors can be history of eating disorders in the family, history of mood disorders in the family, authoritarian or neglectful families, extreme appreciation of skinny body, traumatic sexual experience, bullying in childhood and personality traits such as low self-esteem, introversion, perfectionism, impulsivity, affective instability, avoidant, anxious. Besides can be hormonal disorders as in metabolism of serotonin and noradrenaline.
As people with anorexia as people with bulimia have a real fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape. But the patient behavior and symptoms of the diseases are different.
People who have anorexia have obsession by excessive thinness submitting themselves to extremely rigid diets. The simple act to eat became exceedingly stressful. The initial phase of anorexia is characterized by restriction of foods considered unhealthy and this restriction increases progressively until patients remain some days without eating. Gradually, patients go on to live exclusively in the diet, food, weight and body shape, restricting their interests and leading to gradual social isolation. The course of disease is characterized by progressive weight loss and continuous. Besides anorexics has a distorted image of their body. They always fell fat even though the family and friends say otherwise. Others practices commons between anorexics is the exaggerated practice of exercises and use of laxatives and diuretics.
The consequences of disease in the acute phase are severe and can be fatal. The rates of mortality of anorexic patients are 15% to 20%. Among the health damages caused by the disease we can cite amenorrhea, lack energy and weakness, poor memory, constipation and bloating, tooth decay and gum demage, dizziness, fainting, headaches decreased heart rate, low blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms, heart failure, osteoporosis, atrophies and other mental disturbers associated with this pathology such as depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, kleptomania and self-mutilation.