Overview: What is an eating disorder?
Eating disorders can start at different stages of life. Anorexia usually begins in adolescence. Bulimia and binge eating disorder, on the other hand, usually start later. They can begin in later adolescence or young adulthood – even into the fourth decade of life. There are also eating disorders that cannot be assigned to one of the above-mentioned categories, which are referred to as atypical eating disorders.
Eating disorders – frequency and age
In Switzerland, around 3.5 percent of the population will develop an eating disorder in the course of their lives. This means that the incidence in Switzerland is about as high as in other industrialized countries. Women are affected more often than men. A Swiss study, which took all language regions into account and examined around 10,000 people, arrived at the following figures for the various eating disorders:
Eating disorders: Causes and risk factors
There are many causes of eating disorders. In most cases, several factors have to come together to trigger an eating disorder. In any case, experts now agree that there is no single cause.
Developmental psychological factors
Perfectionism, anxiety, self-esteem problems, depressive moods, as well as difficulties in regulating emotions seem to play a role in eating disorders. However, performance orientation and major concerns about appearance, figure and weight can also contribute to the development of an eating disorder.
A negative attitude and assessment of one’s own figure and body weight can also lead to an eating disorder. Many people with anorexia or bulimia have a disturbed body perception and a false body image – they perceive themselves as too fat, although this is not objectively the case.
Socio-cultural influences
Eating disorders are much more common in the western world than in other cultures. High-performance athletes and models are particularly at risk. Body weight plays an important role in some sports, such as competitive gymnastics or ballet.
The decisive factor is an ideal of beauty in society that favors “super-thin” people. But the (social) media and advertising also often convey the ideal of being slim. This puts pressure on people if they do not meet the current ideal of beauty. Many young people struggle with their supposed extra pounds. They have often been on several diets at a young age before the eating disorder begins.
Family factors
Negative experiences in the family can contribute to the development of bulimia. Physical or sexual violence as well as neglect in the family, addictions or personality disorders in parents are also often found in the lives of people with eating disorders. And if appearance and thinness are very important in the family or there is a high demand for performance, this can also promote an eating disorder. Overprotective parents who are extremely protective of their child may also encourage an eating disorder.
Genetic and biological factors
Eating disorders occur more frequently in some families, which suggests the involvement of genes. Relatives of people with eating disorders are also more likely to develop an eating disorder. Experts have also found a familial clustering of mental illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression.
- AnorexiaPeople with anorexia are often severely underweight. They also starve themselves, go on diets, vomit, take medication (e.g. appetite suppressants, diuretics, laxatives) or exercise excessively in order to lose weight. Binge eating and vomiting may be present in anorexia.
- Bulimia: Bulimia is typically characterized by repeated binge eating and binge eating. Those affected then try to counteract the threat of weight gain by vomiting, taking laxatives, dehydrating medication or excessive exercise. People with bulimia are usually of normal weight.
- Binge eating disorderAs with bulimia, sufferers have binge eating episodes in which they consume large amounts of food. Unlike bulimics, however, they do not take any measures to prevent the threat of weight gain. People with binge eating disorder are therefore often overweight.
- Atypical eating disorders: In addition to the clearly defined forms of eating disorders, there are others that do not fulfill the classic criteria for a specific eating disorder. This includes those who do not have all the characteristics of one clinical picture or who have the characteristics of several clinical pictures together. They also include phenomena that have only been around for a few years and have not yet found their way into the classification systems.
The transitions between the different forms of eating disorders can be fluid. Some also develop mixed forms with the characteristics of different eating disorders. One form of eating disorder can also merge into another over time. Bulimia, for example, can develop from anorexia.
Self-help groups
The exchange with people who are affected by the same disease can be a great support in coping with the disease. Advice on finding a suitable self-help group is available from Selbsthilfe Zürich. Self-Help Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich are cooperation partners in the national project “Health literacy thanks to self-help-friendly hospitals”.