This article tries to seek the answer to the question, Do I have an Eating Disorder. The condition primarily affects young women. 5—10 million women in the United States are affected by this disorder. One million men also report this ailment.
Factors which Compel Us to Think – Do I have an Eating Disorder:
- Excessive fear of gaining weight
- Binge eating
- Self vomiting
- Continuing weight control diet in spite of being dangerously under weight
- Obsession with eating only pure diet
- Genetic factors
- Child abuse
- Parental influence
- Social isolation
- Peer and cultural pressure
- Depression
- Low self-esteem
- Anxiety
- A need to be accepted
- Inability to deal with emotions & personal issues (especially in men)
- Substance abuse
- Suicide
- Alcohol abuse
- Self injury
- Family tensions
Challenges Before the Query – Do I have an Eating Disorder:
As of now, those eating disorders included in the DSM are placed under the category of Axis 1 clinical complications along with major mental and learning disorders. DSM or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a set of guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association. It is followed by doctors in this country to diagnose and treat all types of mental disorders.
Eating disorders have a very strong psychological origin. In most of the cases, the causes are quite complex and not understood clearly. As a result, many of the types of this disorder are not yet mentioned in this manual due to the lack of sufficient scientific evidences.
Doctors too as a consequence of this constraint, lack enough knowledge on these disorders. It is not uncommon for the doctors to misdiagnose a type for another as symptoms of eating disorders generally mimic or overlap. It is left for the patients and their loved ones to place efforts all by themselves to learn about this ailment.
Insurance agencies refer DSM in order to include an eating disorder in the list of ailments covered by them. As many of these conditions are awaiting their inclusion yet, the patients and their loved ones have to wait for some more time to receive financial help for the expensive treatment.
