Medtopicwriter

Excerpt from my feature story on adult onset eating disorders in Balanced Living Magazine:

Doctors report increasing numbers of adults with eating disorders.

Each year, pediatricians see increasing numbers of very young children, who have fallen prey to eating disorders (EDs), in their clinics and hospitals.  But the specter of anorexia, bulimia, and other eating-related disorders can manifest in people of any age.  Increasingly, women in their thirties and forties fall prey to these devastating psychological disorders.

Starving in Midlife

Psychiatrists and mental health professionals are reporting steadily increasing numbers of fully adult women presenting with these disorders, which usually develop in the preteen or teenage years. For these people, a major life change or crisis serves as the catalyst for the development of eating disorders. Divorce and loss of a loved one or job represent events that can trigger deterioration of psychological well-being leading to the initial appetite and weight loss. The control these women feel, due to the weight loss, can then develop into a serious illness, such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa. These dysfunctional eating patterns can lead to death in many cases for these patients.  Some physicians theorize that hormonal imbalances occurring around the time of perimenopause may trigger behaviors that lead to full-blown EDs in susceptible women. Read more here.