Researches on eating disorders over the last decade have shown that they are alarmingly increasing and segmenting into various varieties. More disturbing, is how that rehab seems to be just another vacation, since it has been glorified by Hollywood socialites. Along with the fact of them making rehab seem like the chic hangout, they are promoting the mindset that losing weight is a necessity for young women. That skinny is the only way to pretty. Not all people have the thousands of dollars to hire a support team and to enter a proper rehabilitation treatment center like the celebrities, which leads to an endless cycle of unhealthy eating, purging and slowly killing themselves just for the sake of vanity.
According to an article “Staving Themselves, Cocktail in Hand” by Sarah Kershaw, http://www.nytimes.com, the newest “trend” in eating disorders is called drunkorexia. Drunkorexia is when a person starves themselves during the say to save their calories for drinking later on that day. It is most popularly associated with college age females who frequently binge drink. This is also associated with the eating disorder bulimia, which involves throwing up the food and the alcohol consumed to cancel out the intake calories. The drinking is also used to calm down the person before they ate, since they are usually nervous about consuming food. Others skip meals altogether and just consume the alcohol, and purge it because of the calories. Researches have said that eating disorders often stem from childhood trauma, such as sexual abuse or neglect. Others do it because of the rush given by bingeing and purging.
There are other types of variations of eating disorders that are just as devastating. Manoerxia is the term that describes when males with anorexia while orthoexia occurs when a person has an obsession with healthy food. This leads to them cutting out fat and preservatives altogether in their diet, which is more harmful than helpful. Diabulimia refers to diabetics who stop taking their insulin because of the weight gain it may cause. It does not involve purging, but it can be extremely dangerous.
Another form of eating disorders includes the opposite of purging. Binge Eating Disorder is when a person eats obsessively, especially foods that are high in sugar and salt. They do not perform any exercise to offset this high intake of calories.
The article also talked about two young women who have suffered from various eating disorders, and how they have tried multiple times to receive treatment. Thirty six year old Judy Van De Veen has been suffering from anorexia for the last eight years, and has tried several treatment facilities. It started as it does for most victims, eating low calories meals at first, and then as time went on, bingeing and purging. At its worse, she would spend up to eighty dollars a day. Eventually she took up drinking and then purging, and then consuming more so she would stay drunk. Her problem, she said, that she wanted more of everything. Finally, she entered rehab and spent twenty five thousand dollars of her money because she did not have health insurance. She has now been sober for three years, but is still suffering from Bulimia.
Another woman with a story similar to Judy’s is Trish’s. She has been suffering from an eating disorder for a decade and has been to five rehabilitation facilities. Like Judy, she first began purging then began drinking to relive her stress of eating in front of other people. This is not uncommon because researchers have found that eating disorders and alcohol abuse is rising among woman. It also shows 25-33 percent of bulimics suffer from substance abuse issues, and 25 percent of anorexics suffer from them.
Quitting a substance habit is extremely difficult, but it is simpler than stopping an eating disorder. Since the body needs food, behavior needs to be modified how to eat healthier and properly. Drugs and alcohol can be eliminated since they are not a necessity for daily living.
It is a vicious cycle for a person suffering from an eating disorder, and it makes victims more prone to substance abuse problems. Promotion of avoiding these disorders should be prevalent in the media more than promotion of the stars getting help and literally dying to be skinny.
