Research Paper On Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia nervosa (bulimia) is a highly serious and potentially life-threatening eating disorder. A person with this disorder initially eats, and binges upon, large amounts of food. Then, usually due to a fear of becoming overweight, the person insalubriously purges this food in order to get rid of the large number of calories recently consumed (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This subsequent purging is most commonly performed through either forced regurgitation or through the excessive taking of laxatives. Less common forms of purging include the consumption of diuretics and/or stimulants, restricting one’s diet to water only, excessively exercising, or any combination of these activities (Hay & Claudino, 2010). Before the 20th
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However, it was not commonly described as a technique that one would use to control one’s weight. Although purging had been observed in persons with anorexia, doctors believed that people engaged in purging to alleviate gastric pain caused by a lack of nutritional intake. Purging was still not generally viewed as a self-induced method of weight control. However, this misconception eventually was corrected. In 1979, British psychiatrist Gerald Russell published a report of bulimia nervosa, in which he reviewed and described patients with pocrescophobia who reported overeating followed by self-induced purging. He also showed a significant link between the disorder and both depression and suicide. Shortly thereafter, bulimia nervosa made its first appearance in the DSM-III (Russell, …show more content…
Most surveys that have been conducted have been based upon questionnaires randomly provided to high school and university students as well as to hospital patients. These surveys have yielded a very wide range of prevalence figures: between 0.3% and 9.4% of females, and between 0.1% and 1.4% of males (Makino, Tsuboi, & Dennerstein, 2004). Other studies have shown that bulimia nervosa occurs much more frequently in developed countries (Gelder, Mayou, & Geddes, 2005) and the disorder is approximately five times more likely to occur in urbanized areas than in rural areas (Son, Hoeken, Bartelds, Furth, & Hoek,
However, it was not commonly described as a technique that one would use to control one’s weight. Although purging had been observed in persons with anorexia, doctors believed that people engaged in purging to alleviate gastric pain caused by a lack of nutritional intake. Purging was still not generally viewed as a self-induced method of weight control. However, this misconception eventually was corrected. In 1979, British psychiatrist Gerald Russell published a report of bulimia nervosa, in which he reviewed and described patients with pocrescophobia who reported overeating followed by self-induced purging. He also showed a significant link between the disorder and both depression and suicide. Shortly thereafter, bulimia nervosa made its first appearance in the DSM-III (Russell, …show more content…
Most surveys that have been conducted have been based upon questionnaires randomly provided to high school and university students as well as to hospital patients. These surveys have yielded a very wide range of prevalence figures: between 0.3% and 9.4% of females, and between 0.1% and 1.4% of males (Makino, Tsuboi, & Dennerstein, 2004). Other studies have shown that bulimia nervosa occurs much more frequently in developed countries (Gelder, Mayou, & Geddes, 2005) and the disorder is approximately five times more likely to occur in urbanized areas than in rural areas (Son, Hoeken, Bartelds, Furth, & Hoek,