Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are not usually thought of as a mental health issue even though they are a very mental thing. Many people don’t believe eating disorders are as bad as they have been in years past, but what has happened is people are better at hiding them now with social media. There are many blogs on sites like Tumblr and Instagram that have “Thinspo” on them. These pictures and blogs are not necessarily meant to encourage eating disorders in others. They are usually more so a public way for people to express themselves and get through their struggles.

According to Lexico.com powered by Oxford, last updated in 2019, an eating disorder is “any of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits”. This means that by definition it is a mental illness and should be treated as such.

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In the United States, there are about 30 million people suffering from eating disorders. These are very serious problems. Every 62 minutes one person dies from their Eating Disorder(s). These disorders kill more people than any other mental illness.

Eating Disorders are not specific only to specific genders, races, or sexual orientation. In a study, 3.5% of women and 2.1% of men of sexual minorities have reported having eating disorders.

In doing some math using Countrymeters.info. “United States of America (USA) Population” Sept. 26, 2019, As of Thursday, October 9, 2019, the population of the US was 332,295,998 (329,525,437) people. Of that, about 50.52% of people in the US are women. This means there are 168,250,288 (166,739,871.122) women in the US. Of that, approximately 0.9% or 1,514,252.592 (1,500,658.8401) women in the US are struggling Anorexia as of October 9th. Also, approximately 2.8% or 4,668,608.99142 (2,501,098.06683) women in the US are struggling with Bulimia. Men are more likely to have bulimia because they eat and then over exercise thinking it will make them more “buff”.

The chance of having an eating disorder is also 50-80% genetic.

Sources used for information: https://anad.org/education-and-awareness/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/ https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eating_disorder https://countrymeters.info/en/United_States_of_America_(USA)

Source used for picture: https://www.boredpanda.com/for-inktober-i-focused-on-mental-illness-and-disorders/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic