medical question what causes anorexia and bulimia?

Question

why cant these people just eat

Answer 1

People often think that anorexia and bulimia is a choice. But in reality, I'ts not. Eating disorders are diseases, more mental than physical. Saying "why cant these people just eat" is like telling a bipolar (depressed) person to just get happy. Mental diseases are more complecated than physical ones, but it is difficult to obtain one unless you are prone to it due to genes. My mother lost both of her sisters to suicidal depression, and my sister is a recovering anorexic with a minimal case of bipolar disorder. Having to deal with my transition into middle school and my sisters decreasing weight and increasing panic attacks really scarred my childhood. I am 13 now and my sister is recovering. But like an alcoholic is always an alcoholic- she will always have that anorexia in her. She has learned to fight it- fight the body dismorphia, the OCD, and will the help of mood stablizers and anti- depressants she is slowly starting to recover. She went from 85lbs to 100 and is healthy is again interested in things other than her weight. Mental diseases are difficult to understand and deal with, most people thing people with these diseases are "crazy". They really arent- its not there fault. Someone cant just choose to become anorexic, something has to really trigger it. Stress, loss of control in other parts of their lives, or ongoing comments about their weight and exposure to this society where so many are sickly skinny. So when you hear people bad mouthing anorexics and bulimics, and talking about them when they dont know the real story, try to educate them. Thats what i have been trying to do because Im very sensitive to comments like that .

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Why can't some obese people not stop eating?
Anorexia is nothing like Bulimia but R from the same Root problem.
Lack of self esteem, a fear of growing-up, 1 or more references 2 their weight & occasionally some sort of abuse. Physical, emotional or mental. 1 or more can make a dire life.
They R both distressing 4 all involved & not only makes dinner time a battle field every1 ends up no longer enjoying food!
It's a difficult process 2 return 2 a normal diet & they will need 2 B monitored over months or sometimes years.
In the same way as there is no such thing as an Ex-alcoholic there is no such thing as an Ex Bulimic/Anorexic.
They do need professional help, it is beatable.
Positive, slow 2 anger people around them they can B encouraged over time 2 resume a normal diet.
Try 2 imagine what it would B like it 2 eat was 2 fail or 2 eat as much as possible & 2 fail would mean not bringing it all back up?
Failure is a nasty thing & worse when it's self-inflicted.

Answer 4

They are eating that is the problem, anorexia eat very little to survive and bulimia eat and then hurl. This is a serious medical condition.

Answer 5

anorexia is cause by people starving there self. (starvation diet)
bulimia is caused by people eating food just for the joy of it an then throwing it up.

these people think they are going to lose weight by doing this, they will lose weight but there is a good chance of that person dieing!!!

Answer 6

These deseases are mental, not just physical. It mostly happen is teens. Teens have hyper-active minds. Any little disbalance can get exagerrated and out of proportion. If they get it in their heads one day that they are fat, they just can't get it out. It's not their fault, it's just chemicals in their brains are running to fast and get confused sometimes. Once they fallen into the pattern, it's hard to get back on track.
No, they can't just eat because if they do - something clicks in their brains in a wrong way.

Same deal with depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder: you can ask why peolple can'r stop washing themselves, and why exactly they think that washing themselves 5 times will be much better than washing themselves 2 times. No, brain is a powerfull thing. Once it is out of balance, it is hard to get back in balance.

Answer 7

What causes these things? An unrealistic view of self-awareness.

A good example of this is the movie Shallow Hal.
Except the opposite.

Looking in the mirror and seeing a fat person, when you are really not fat at all but too thin.

Answer 8

It is about control. Alot of people who have it a perfectionists, or feel that that their life is out of control and they get satisfaction in controlling what they eat and how they eat it and what they weight. They also suffer body dismorphic disorder, what they see in the mirror is very different from what others see. To a cetain degree, we all do that. But anorexics see themselves as fat when they are nothing but bones.

Answer 9

To someone who has never had it, it seams as simple as why not eat or stop throwing up. But for people who suffer fromit, its not that easy. They look in the mirror and all they see if fat and hate.

Saying "why can't people just eat" is like saying, why can't an overweight person just not eat. Its not that black and white.

Answer 10

The media is part of the reason why people do this especially women of Hollywood who have pressure to stay thin. Young people who see their favorite stars tell themselves that they should look like them and often be that way in order to be socially accepted.