What Is Anorexia? What Is Bulimia? How Are the Two Similare, If They Are, and How Do They Differ?

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WHAT IS ANOREXIA? WHAT IS BULIMIA? HOW ARE THE TWO SIMILARE, IF THEY ARE, AND HOW DO THEY DIFFER?

In this essay similarities and the differences between anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are considered. Similarities in the explanations of the two eating disorders are discussed through psychodynamic, behavioural, genetic and biochemical explanations.

Anorexia nervosa is a complex emotional problem characterized by an obsession with food, weight, and thinness. Victims actually starve themselves, eating fewer calories than their bodies need to function.

According to the current diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), a woman is suffering from clinical anorexia, not just dieting or fasting, when her weight has fallen to 15% below the normal range and she has not menstruated for at least three months. Sometimes the diagnosis is made because of drowsiness and lethargy that are affecting her work. Other symptoms are dry skin, brittle nails and hair, lanugo (fine downy hair on the limbs), constipation, anemia, and swollen joints. The level of female hormones in the blood of an anorectic woman falls drastically, and her sexual development may be delayed. Her heart rate and blood pressure can become dangerously low, and loss of