Bulimia Nervosa

What is Bulimia?

Bulimia (medically known as Bulimia Nervosa) mainly affects girls in their late teens and early twenties. Bulimia is evident through cycles of binge eating of excessive quantities of food (typically sweet high-calorie foods) followed by a subsequent state of panic and the need to get rid of what has just been eaten by purging (caused by vomiting, laxatives, diuretics and/or excessive exercising).

There is a lot of confusion about eating disorders. Many people still think of them as ‘slimmers’ diseases’. While it is true that both anorexia and bulimia nervosa can develop from a strict diet, the reasons for a diet turning into an eating disorder go far beyond the desire to be slim. At present, it is thought that bulimia nervosa is a physical way of dealing with depression, stress, or issues of self-esteem.

This method of trying to deal with these types of feelings however soon becomes counter-productive as the feelings of control and calmness are short-lived. When bulimia nervosa takes hold it completely destroys your ability to control what you are eating. All of your energy and emotions become tied up in your relationship with food and feelings about your body. This can have the effect of suppressing other emotional difficulties as you simply do not have the energy to deal with anything other than the bulimia nervosa, but it is clearly a very destructive coping strategy.