title: Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders are psychological problems which manifest themselves in abnormal eating habits. Whether it is over eating, under eating or purging. Eating Disorders are painful physically and emotionally, and are so often misunderstood.

• One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia
• Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia
• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
• Only 30 – 40% of Anorexics ever fully recover
• The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
• Only 1 in 10 people with eating disorders receive treatment
• Treatment of an eating disorder in the US ranges from $500 per day to $2,000 per day. The average cost for a month of inpatient treatment is $30,000. It is estimated that individuals with eating disorders need anywhere from 3 – 6 months of inpatient care. Health insurance companies for several reasons do not typically cover the cost of treating eating disorders
• The cost of outpatient treatment, including therapy and medical monitoring, can extend to $100,000 or more
• 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25
• 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight
• 80% of 13-year-olds have attempted to lose weight
• Rates of minorities with eating disorders are similar to those of white women
• 74% of American Indian girls reported dieting and purging with diet pills
• Eating disorders are one of the most common psychological problems facing young women in Japan.

http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm

Anorexia Nervosa:
Research suggests that about one percent (1%) of female adolescents have anorexia. That means that about one out of every one hundred young women between ten and twenty are starving themselves, sometimes to death.

Bulimia Nervosa:
Research suggests that about four percent (4%), or four out of one hundred, college-aged women have bulimia. About 50% of people who have been anorexic develop bulimia or bulimic patterns.

Binge Eating:
A recent study reported in Drugs and Therapy Perspectives reports that about one percent of women in the United States have binge eating disorder, as do thirty percent of women who seek treatment to lose weight. In other studies, up to two percent, or one to two million adults in the U.S., have problems with binge eating.

Subclinical Eating Disorders:
We can only guess at the vast numbers of people who have subclinical or threshold eating disorders. They are too much preoccupied with food and weight. Their eating and weight control behaviors are not normal, but they are not disturbed enough to qualify for a formal diagnosis.

http://www.anred.com/stats.html

The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness: http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/index.htm
National Eating Disorder Association: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=337
Something Fishy: http://www.something-fishy.org/
National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/summary.shtml