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More Older Women Opting for Treatment for Anorexia in US
Most of the women in this age group who seek treatment have had the problem for years, said Dr. Donald McAlpine, director of an eating disorders clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesotta. "The epidemiology is pretty clear that anorexia and bulimia both peak in the late teens, early 20s," yet "a lot of (patients) continue to be symptomatic right on through to middle life."
Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia often control body weight by voluntary starvation, purging, vomiting, excessive exercise, or other weight control measures, such as diet pills or diuretic drugs.
Bulimia nervosa, commonly known as bulimia, another eating disorder, is a psychological condition in which the subject engages in recurrent binge eating followed by intentional purging. This purging is done in order to compensate for the excessive intake of food, usually to prevent weight gain.
People who study such eating disorders suggest several reasons there might be more women over 30 seeking treatment for what is typically a young woman's problem: growing public awareness, social pressure to be thin and an aging group of baby boomers.
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More News on: Geriatry-Related Diseases, Quiz on Anorexia / Bulimia
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guest
07/24/2007
My name is Trisha Gura and I am author of “Lying in Weight: the Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women†(Harper Collins, May 2007). While the media continues to focus on eating disorders in teenagers, that focus has created a myth: when the girls get older, their eating disorders evaporate. The truth is that nearly 2/3 of individuals with eating disorders do not fully recover. The illness, or some remnant of it, remains, triggered by stresses and huge life transitions, i.e. marriage, pregnancy, parenting, mid and late life.
If it helps anyone, I just wrote a blog on Huffington Post about these stories. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trisha-gura/not-just-for-teens_b_57416.html
We need to create better awareness so as not to neglect older women and their needs.
Trisha Gura
trishagura.com
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 | Quiz on Anorexia / Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa – is it a psychological disorder , or simply an eating disorder gotten out of hand? And how does it differ from Bulimia Nervosa? Participate in our anorexia quiz to find out how well you understand this condition; learn its modern-day implications and how, in these mordern times, it affects both sexes equally . 
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