Bulimia Nervosa

Also known as Bulimia Nervosa, bulimia was first discovered by Prof. Gerald Russell in the year 1979, when he was serving at the Royal Free Hospital in London. His discovery gained official recognition as a serious autonomous disorder by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.

The term Bulimia is derived from the Latin word Boulimia, which translates to ‘extreme hunger’. It affects predominantly women, though men have also been found to be affected. However, the instances of men suffering from bulimia are rarer than those of women.

Bulimia is a psychological disorder

Bulimia, like anorexia, is a psychological eating disorder. Unlike anorexia, however, bulimia is not just about excessive dieting and exercising; it involves the patient indulging in secretive eating binges, and then vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics to expel the food eaten from the body. A binge is basically an overindulgence; an eating binge involves eating larger quantities of food than a person’s regular meal amount.

Generally, a person suffering from bulimia eats a lot of food, over a short time span, and then expels it from the body using the methods mentioned above. A person with bulimia would also generally exercise a lot.

The eating binges are not necessarily routine. There could be periods where a patient would actually eat as little as possible. At other times, the patient could have just the normal meal and then vomit everything.

The inherent danger of indulging in these eating binges is that they get addictive, like a drug, and a person finds it increasingly difficult to stay away from binging on food and then expelling it from the body.

Questions About Bulimia:

Q:My daughter has been dignosed with bulimia. What can I do at home to help her?

A:Bulimia nervosa is an delusional eating disorder where the person affected does not see themselves correctly. Bulimia is what some call a "release" it is actually a disorder that stems from deeper, psychological problems. These psychological issues need to be addressed because your daughter has started to used food, binging and purging, and the self image distortion to cover up and numb deeper feelings. Bulimics oftentimes have been sexually traumatised or have had other trauma and the creation of an eating disorder and low self esteem is a way of expressing the psychological damage caused by trauma.

While this all sounds terrible and must hurt to read, as a mother I am sure that you feel deeply for your daughter's disease, it is something that love, support and seeing a therapist can help. By not judging your daughter and allowing her to speak with you freely about the disorder and how she feels about herself is the best thing that you can do. Offer her the ability to see a therapist, but like with all eating disorders, she will have to want to get better for the therapy to work. It is important to never make her feel badly for having this disorder because bulimics are excellent liars and have great showmanship in trying to prove everything is fine and they do not actually have a problem.

Health problems can also accompany bulimia, as the gastrointestinal tract is severely traumatised by the stomach acids and the cardiovascular system is as well. When your daughter wants to talk to you about her disorder, you may express your worry for her health in a caring way, explain to her that she is taking a toll on her body and while it may make her feel thin and beautiful now, it will not matter if she is sick. The only thing that I can stress to you to help your daughter is to be there and allow her to make progress on her own. Self help books (I recommend "Learning to be Me" by Jocelyn Golden) can put the disease outside of herself and allow her to be objective and see what a real problem bulimia is. Therapy is also most likely the only thing that will allow the underlying psychological problems to surface and be dealt with. Unfortunately, bulimia nervosa is a disease that will never really disappear, it is like an addiction and will fade over time, but the habit and mentality has been formed, creating a life long struggle where you as the mother will need to be there and love your daughter unconditionally.

Causes of Bulimia >>