Written by: Arin Lee
Edited by: Holly Paik
What do you think of when you hear the term “eating disorder”? If you thought that having an eating disorder inherently makes a person skinny, you may have been influenced by the gross misrepresentation of eating disorders set forth by the mass media. Various forms of popular media including movies, books, and television shows portray eating disorders as only being characterized by extreme thinness. And if you don’t think the mass media had something to do with your incorrect assumption, then the lack of conversation and limited public knowledge about eating disorders due to the stigma surrounding them might be a more feasible explanation. It’s disheartening how even with almost all of the information in the world being accessible at the click of a button, people still assume that everyone with an eating disorder presents as severely skinny. In reality, this is just not the case.
The latest edition of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) recognizes five major categories of eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder (BED), and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) (“DSM 5 diagnostic criteria”, 2023). Anorexia Nervosa, more commonly referred to as just anorexia, is the most frequently portrayed eating disorder in popular media, as it is mainly characterized by being severely underweight due to weight loss with other accompanying symptoms such as maintaining a highly rigid, intense exercise schedule under any condition and dressing in layers to stay warm/hide their weight loss (“Types of eating disorders”, n.d.). Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is also associated with drastic weight loss, but is also characterized by a very limited range of preferred/edible foods that gets narrower over time as well as a fear of choking/vomiting.
The other eating disorders are usually not characterized by the drastic weight loss that mainly afflicts those with anorexia and ARFID. Bulimia Nervosa, or just bulimia, is most typically characterized by a cycle of binging–eating large amounts of food past full capacity in a short period of time–and purging behaviors (e.g. self-induced vomiting, taking laxatives to stimulate excessive bowel movements) (“Types”, 2024). Binge eating disorder (BED) normally consists of binging behaviors without unhealthy compensatory measures (like purging) and is accompanied by feelings of guilt and shame over the lack of control one has during and after a binging session (“Types”, 2024).
Although anorexia is the most widely known eating disorder, it is not the most common nor is it representative of eating disorders as a whole. The most common eating disorder is actually Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder, or OSFED, with 39.5% of male eating disorder cases and 44.2% female eating disorder cases being represented by it in 2018-2019 (Bunnell, 2024). OSFED is hard to define in terms of how it presents itself physically on someone who has it, largely due to the fact that it encompasses a combination/selection of so many different disordered eating behaviors. These behaviors generally include purging/binging behavior, dieting behavior, and the intense need to “burn off” calories consumed (“Types”, n.d.).
Generally speaking, the assumption that those with an eating disorder are thin is a gross overstatement. In fact, less than 6% of people living with an eating disorder are medically underweight (Bunnell, 2024). This then means that over 94% of people are at a medically appropriate weight or are overweight/obese.
That being said, eating disorders cannot be assumed to have a certain “look”. It’s nearly impossible to assume that someone does or doesn’t have an eating disorder based solely off of what they look like. An eating disorder doesn’t define how a body looks, and the way a body looks is not indicative of an eating disorder.
References:
Bunnell, D. (Ed.). (2024, March 8). Eating disorder statistics. National Eating Disorders Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics/
DSM 5 diagnostic criteria for eating disorders. McCallum Place Eating Disorder Center. (2023, August 4). https://www.mccallumplace.com/admissions/dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria/
(n.d.). Types of eating disorders. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. https://adaa.org/eating-disorders/types-of-eating-disorders
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