Eating disorders are "mental health diseases that have recognizable causes, clear symptoms, and predictable outcomes.” As Kramer notes, “They also respond to treatment.” The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness further states that, "Eating disorders involve serious disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe overeating, as well as feelings of distress or extreme concern about body shape or weight."
As many cases go unreported, it is difficult to estimate how many people in the United States suffer from eating disorders. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders (ANAD) and NEDA report that anywhere between 7 to 10 million women, and 1 million men suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia; millions more suffer from binge-eating disorder. ANAD points out that, “All segments of society are affected: Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, all ethnicities, all socio-economic levels.” “The American College of Physicians lists eating disorders as one of the nine most serious problems affecting adolescents and young adults, and anorexia nervosa…as the third most common chronic illness.”
In addition, “individuals with eating disorders have the highest mortality rate among any groups affected with mental illness as 20% of people suffering from eating disorders die prematurely from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems.” DeBate et al. go on to note that, “anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.”
Read more about this topic: National Eating Disorders Association
Famous quotes containing the words eating and/or disorders:
“Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters: they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
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—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)