Eating Disorder Myths:
This page exists as an effort to destroy false stereotypes
that surround the words "eating disorder" and breed
their reproduction.
MYTH 1:
Eating disorders are not a serious mental illness.
FACTS:
- Eating disorders are responsible for the highest
number of deaths from psychiatric illness.
- The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa
is 12 times higher than the death rate of all causes of death
for females 15-24 years old (Sullivan, 1995).
- Anorexia is the 3rd most chronic illness among adolescent
girls (Cavanaugh, 1999).
- Nearly half of Americans personally know someone with
an eating disorder (South Carolina Department of Mental Health).
- Eating disorders affect 8 million people in the United
States.
MYTH 2:
Eating Disorders only affect wealthy Caucasian women from
Westernized cultures.
FACTS:
- Although we may not know the exact cause, we do know
that the expression of distress through disordered eating
and body discomfort is no longer bound to any geographic region
(Katzman, 1996).
- In a study reported in Medscape's all-purpose Medicine
6(3) 2004, researchers found abnormal eating attitudes in
non-Western countries have been gradually increasing, presumably
because of the influence, at least in part, of Western media:
movies, TV shows, and magazines. Researchers conclude that
the prevalence of eating disorders in non-Western countries
is lower than that of Western countries, but it appears to
be increasing.
MYTH 3:
Men are not at risk for eating disorders.
FACTS:
- One of the first two cases of anorexia reported was
in a male (Males with Eating Disorder, ix).
- In a study of 10,000 residents of Ontario, the University
of Toronto researchers found that 1 of every 6 people who
qualified for a full or partial diagnosis of anorexia was
male -- substantially more than the 1 in 10 usually reported
in studies of patients in eating-disorder programs (New York
Times, 2005).
MYTH 4:
An eating disorder is a lifetime illness.
FACTS:
- The Journal of Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
has conducted the longest longitudinal study to date on the
recovery rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In
carrying out the study, 246 women were contacted twice yearly
over the course of nine years. When contacted they were questioned
on their symptoms, psychological states, psychosocial functioning,
and participation in treatment.
The results of the study show a full recovery rate of women
with bulimia nervosa was significantly higher than that of
women with anorexia nervosa, with 74% of those with bulimia
nervosa and 33% of those with anorexia nervosa achieving full
recovery by a median of 90 months upon follow-up. Eighty-three
percent of women with anorexia nervosa and 99% of those with
bulimia nervosa achieved partial recovery. Approximately one
third of both women with anorexia nervosa and women with bulimia
nervosa relapse after full recovery. No predictors of relapse
emerged.
- A study conducted by Keel and Mitchell (1997) found
that half of women diagnosed with bulimia were symptom free
10 years later, while one-fifth continued to meet full criteria.
The remaining women experienced an occurrence of relapse in
bulimic symptoms. A risk of relapse decreases four years after
patients seek treatment.
MYTH 5:
Eating disorders do not affect young children.
FACTS:
- The most common age of onset is between 14 and 25
years of age, though are increasingly seen in children as
young as 10 (Cavanaugh, 1999).
- The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young
girls have indicated in surveys that they are more afraid
of becoming fat then they are of cancer, nuclear war or losing
their parents (Berzins, 1997).
- In a study of children ages 8 to 10, approximately
half of the girls and one-third of the boys were dissatisfied
with their size. Most dissatisfied girls wanted to be thinner,
while about half of dissatisfied boys wanted to be heavier
and/or more muscular. (Harvard Eating Disorder Center).
MYTH 6:
People with eating disorders appear severely underweight.
FACTS:
- People with bulimia are often normal weight and are
able to hide their illness from others for years. Consequently,
getting and keeping people with these disorders into treatment
can be extremely difficult (National Institute of Mental Health,
1993)
- People with anorexia may not receive medical or psychological
attention until they have already become dangerously thin
and malnourished (National Institute of Mental Health).
MYTH 7:
I do not need treatment.
FACTS:
- According to The National Comorbidity Survey Replication
(NCS-R) study; untreated psychiatric disorders can lead to
more frequent and more severe episodes, and are more likely
to become resistant to treatment.
- "The pattern appears to be that the earlier in
life the disorder begins, the slower an individual is to seek
therapy, and the more persistent the illness," says Dr.
Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical
School.
- Treating cases early could prevent enormous disability
before the illness becomes more severe and before co-occurring
mental illnesses develop, which only become more difficult
to treat as they accumulate. (National Institute of Mental
Health, 2005).
MYTH 8:
The media does not affect body image.
FACTS:
- In 2002, a study was done at Kenyon College to test
how the presentation of thin media images effects people's
body satisfaction. Participants were presented with an assortment
of slender bodied pictures taken from the media. As a control,
they were also presented with average weight models, attractive
non-models, overweight models, or objects such as cars.
The results of this study show body image as significantly
more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing
images of either average size models, plus size models, or
inanimate objects. This effect was stronger for participants
less than 19 years of age, and for participants who are vulnerable
to activation of a thinness schema.
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