Bingeing and shame: understanding bulimia nervosa.
People with bulimia nervosa suffer through binge-and-purge episodes. That means they’ll binge by eating a large quantity of food in a relatively short period of time. Then they’ll purge by using laxatives or forcing themselves to vomit. Why?
Bulimia nervosa as a means of escape.
People with bulimia nervosa are trying to find a way to cope with unrealistic shame. This shame can be related to how they feel about themselves, or how they feel what’s going on in their lives. bulimia nervosa becomes an escape from feelings of anger, depression, stress or anxiety. Or sometimes people with bulimia nervosa may use their symptoms to regulate their effect.
Men and women suffering from bulimia nervosa are usually aware they have an eating disorder. They’re fascinated by food, and often buy magazines and cookbooks for recipes. They also enjoy discussing dieting issues.
How bulimia nervosa differs from anorexia nervosa.
While all individuals with any eating disorder use food as a coping mechanism to manage stress in their lives, what distinguishes bulimia nervosa from anorexia nervosa is not the purging, but the pattern of bingeing followed by purging. Purging may involve using laxatives or self-induced vomiting. People with bulimia nervosa, however, exhibit other harmful and compulsive behavior that can include excessive exercise or fasting in an attempt to burn off the calories of a binge. Someone with bulimia nervosa might also take diet pills or use diuretics to try to lose weight. He or she will often hide or store food for later binges, and will often eat secretly.
Behavioral signs of bulimia nervosa.
- Compulsive food consumption followed by guilt and purging
- Dramatic weight fluctuations
- Regularly going on rigorous diet and exercise plans, and misusing laxatives, diuretics and/or diet pills
- A persistent preoccupation with body image
