Eating disorders

What are eating disorders?

Eating disorders are serious and can be life-threatening.

Eating disorders are more common in women than in men and especially in ethnic British, but others can also suffer from eating disorders.

There are three different eating disorders:

Anorexia (or anorexia nervosa) is a condition in which you restrict food intake in order to remain thin and are fixated on body size and eating.

Bulimia (or bulimia nervosa) is a condition typified by eating followed by making yourself sick, called purging, perhaps as a way of regulating mood.

Bingeing and other unspecified eating disorders; bingeing is more common in older people and is similar to bulimia for treatment, with the emphasis on understanding the thinking behind comfort eating and the subsequent emotions about having binged.