A growing area of importance in the medical and public health
fields is how doctors approach making people
“healthy.”
The medical profession has long focused on treating the physical
attributes of disease and injury in order to deem a person
“healthy.” However, according to the World Health
Organization, health is “a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and
infirmity.”
This approach is important when handling eating disorders
because the concern is not merely the physical toll on a
person’s body, but other mental issues that can either lead
to or prolong the disorder. Because of this relationship, a lot of
attention and research dollars are being poured into looking at
which mental health disorders could increase a person’s risk
for an eating disorder.
In a recent national survey, 55 percent of women and 41 percent
of men reported that they were unhappy with their weight. While
many will choose a healthy option of dieting and exercising to lose
their unwanted pounds, a percentage of these people will end up
with eating disorders.
The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia
nervosa and binge eating disorder. One out of every 100 women
between the ages of 10 and 20 will have anorexia, 4 out of 100
college-aged women will have bulimia, and 1 out of 100 women will
have a binge eating disorder, according to the Rotary Club of Santa
Monica.
Most people who have eating disorders are affected by several
psychological factors as well, such as low self-esteem, feelings of
inadequacy, lack of control in life, depression, anxiety, anger,
loneliness or stress. Other circumstances that may contribute to
the development of an eating disorder include family issues or a
troubled home life, major life changes, romance or friendship
problems, and abuse or trauma.
Researchers recently found that certain mental disorders may
increase a person’s risk of developing an eating disorder. At
the University of Pittsburgh, studies showed that two-thirds of
people with an eating disorder also had experienced periods of
clinical anxiety (most common were obsessive-compulsive disorder
and social phobia), and 42 percent of patients had developed their
anxiety as children, long before they were diagnosed with an eating
disorder
With the knowledge that childhood anxiety could be a risk factor
for development of an eating disorder, physicians could engage in
early prevention and treatment methods to reduce patients’
chances of developing one.
Another study done at Texas A&M University has linked
bulimia to a form of depression called dysthymia. Dysthymia, unlike
major depression which may only last for short periods of time, is
unrelenting, causing negative moods that can persist for decades.
Adolescent bulimics are more likely to suffer from dysthymia than
major depression, which goes hand-in-hand with bulimics suffering
from chronic low self-esteem.
With this finding, physicians have new information about how
bulimia should be treated when coupled with dysthymia.
UCLA students can call Student Psychological Services at (310)
825-0768 or the Ashe Center (310) 825-4073 for help and
information. Additional information is available at
www.snac.ucla.edu.
Fisher is a second-year student in the School of Public
Health.