Download Understanding Bulimia Nervosa

Understanding Bulimia Nervosa
Binge Purge Cycle
The key characteristic of bulimia is the binge purge cycle - A typical pattern is for a sufferer to consume a large
quantity of food in a very short period of time. This is called binging. After a binge, people with bulimia will
try to remove the calories from their bodies. This is called purging. Purging can take many different forms.
Most frequently sufferers will make themselves vomit or will abuse laxatives or diuretics or compulsively
exercise.
Strict
dieting
Diet slips
or difficult
situation
arises
Feelings of
shame and
self-hatred
Purging to
avoid
weight
gain
Binge
eating
triggered
Most bulimics will try to control their weight using dieting but they tend to be emotional eaters and if a
stressful situation arises, food will often be sought for comfort as this is often the only way in which they are
able to make themselves feel better or numb their emotional pain – alternatively a small slip up on their diet
may trigger a binge
The binging episode will in turn trigger a purge as the sufferer feels guilty about the large quantity of food
they’ve eaten and tries to rid themselves of the excess calories they’ve consumed by vomiting or taking
laxative or using an alternative method of calorie purging.
After purging, sufferers experience extreme feelings of shame and self-loathing which will often strengthen
their resolve to diet as they often believe that if only they could stick to a sensible weight loss diet, and lose a
little weight, that they will be happier be more respected by other people too – and so the cycle starts again.
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Once trapped in the diet – binge – purge cycle of bulimia it can be very difficult for sufferers to escape and
almost impossible without help.
Hard to Spot
Bulimia can be really hard to spot and often goes undetected as sufferers tend to maintain a roughly normal
weight as they work hard during a purge to expel all the calories they’ve consumed during a binge. In
addition to this, sufferers are usually very secretive about their bulimic behaviours, of which they’re likely to
feel ashamed or embarrassed which makes the illness even more difficult to spot.
Weight Fluctuation
Whilst people with bulimia tend to have a roughly normal weight, as only about 50% of calories can ever be
expelled by purging, one characteristic of some bulimics is a frequent fluctuation in weight – as they may gain
weight during difficult periods when they are binging and purging heavily, and lose a little weight when they
are binging and purging less.
Self-evaluation based on weight
People with bulimia tend evaluate themselves based on their weight – they suffer from very low self-esteem
and attach a disproportionate importance to their shape and weight. They consider themselves too fat
regardless of how fat or thin they are and they use purging in order to try and control their weight. They also
think that everyone else is constantly judging them according to their weight which is one of the reasons they
are so motivated to try to control it.
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