Eating Disorders | AWARE Singapore

Eating disorders are illnesses that manifest themselves in extreme unhealthy eating patterns. They are mental conditions that affect eating habits but are not necessarily tied to a specific body type; someone with an eating disorder can appear very thin, healthy weighted or above healthy weight. Although symptoms of these disorders emerge primarily in young women, eating disorders can affect anyone from any gender, age, ethnicity and income level.

There are a few main types of eating disorders, highlighted below. An individual with an eating disorder can suffer from more than one of the following types of disorders. The following describes the symptoms and not the causes of eating disorders.

Anorexia Nervosa involves the partial or total abstinence from food (solids or liquids) because she/he believes any amount of food will cause weight gain. An anorexic often perceives herself/himself as ‘fat’ and has an intense fear of gaining weight. This is reflected in an unhealthy preoccupation with food and exercise, and sometimes purging through self-induced vomiting and laxative abuse.

Bulimia Nervosa is often associated with binge-eating disorder as a bulimic is often engaged in a cycle of binging and purging. Bingeing is characterized by the consumption of a large amount of food (in comparison to what the individual normally consumes) in a short period of time and is frequently emotionally-induced. Purging arises from the guilt of overeating and involves self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, excessive exercising and extreme fasting.

Binge-eating Disorder involves binging excessively with periods of uncontrolled, impulsive and continuous eating to the point of being uncomfortably full, with no compensatory behaviour (purging) after. Bingeing is usually triggered by an emotional event that causes the individual to turn to food as a means of comfort, the aftermath of which often results in guilt and self-loathing.

Orthorexia Nervosa is a relatively lesser-known eating disorder which involves extreme exercise and obsession with eating what is perceived to be ‘healthy’ foods. They reject any food that is perceived as unhealthy such as food with oil, butter, carbohydrates etc. Sometimes orthorexics eliminate such a large number of foods from their diet that they become emaciated, which results in anorexia orthorexia. However, anorexia and orthorexia are different illnesses that arise from different intentions with anorexics usually seeking to lose weight whereas orthorexics typically seek to attain pure, clean and healthy bodies.