Social Effects of Eating Disorders – Part 1

Eating disorders affect the lives of the people who suffer from them as well as family and friends. Those who experience an eating disorder also experience health effects as well as social effects. There are three main eating disorders that have received much of the media attention in the past several years. The first is anorexia nervosa which is a condition where the person perceives themselves as overweight and, despite their actual weight, can literally starve themselves to death.

The second eating disorder is bulimia nervosa in which the individual participates in binging and purging. The sufferer is usually of normal weight but will binge eat and then, feeling guilty about the amount of food they ate, purge (vomit) to get rid of the calories. And the third eating disorder is compulsive eating disorder in which the individual binges without purging.

As you might imagine, no matter which of the three eating disorders that an individual experiences or suffers from, there will be social effects that will impact the life of the sufferer and their immediate friends and family. People who are in the throes of an eating disorder often feel ostracized from their friends, have low self-esteem that has an effect on most of the things they attempt to do and feel fat and out of place with their peers. All of these things lead to feelings of depression and isolation throughout most of their life.