So now we've looked at the main characteristics of the three main types of eating disorder, what can we learn from this? What things are common to these three conditions?

Relationship with food

Firstly, we can see that anorexia, bulimia and overeating all occur when a person's relationship with food has become disfunctional - that is, it has become unhealthy - and harmful.

This disfunctional relationship with food takes different forms in the three conditions.

A person with Anorexia is fearful about eating food.
A person with Bulimia binges, then purges food.
A person with BED or CO eats to excess.

We have seen that the disfunctional relationship with food has usually come about because the individual is suffering from some sort of emotional distress.

Emotional distress

We have seen that these three conditions are linked to emotional distress of one kind or another. Again, this distress takes different forms.

A person with Anorexia usually has a distorted body image - this leads to intense dissatisfaction with his/her perceived physique.

The bingeing and purging of a person with Bulimia is often driven by guilt, shame and self-hatred concerning the perceived loss of control.

The overeating of a person with BED or CO is commonly a search for comfort, or relief from anxiety or stress.

So we can say that these eating disorders are not really about food at all - they are about internal emotional distress, which has led to this disfunctional relationship with food. These disfunctional relationships with food may sometimes be driven by a search for control (as seen in Anorexia and Bulimia), or a search for relief from stress (as seen in Bulimia and BED/CO), or a search for comfort (as seen in BED/CO).

A factor common to all three eating disorders that we have looked at here is that of body image and the desire to be 'thin'. Most cases of eating disorder have their roots in an attempt to diet.

Body image and women

Eating disorders are commonly viewed as being confined to young women.

There can be no doubt that women - and particularly young women - in most modern societies experience considerable social pressure regarding their appearance. As we said earlier, being 'thin' is seen as being 'beautiful' - and being beautiful is seen as being 'good'.

Consequently, young women often use their weight as a measure of their own self worth and attractiveness. Commonly, as a result of being unable to meet the unrealistic ideals often portrayed by the media, a young woman may end up feeling fat and inadequate. They may then attempt to diet in order to acieve the 'ideal' appearance. Repeated failed attempts by dieting to meet the ideal criteria for physical appearance can lead to emotional and behavioural problems, including binge eating, obsessions about food and eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.

The emotional distress that drives most eating disorders is often largely concerned, in one way or another, with the way that the individual woman sees her own body.

Recovery from eating disorders is possible. We'll discuss recovery in more detail later - in page 7 of this section. First, for those readers who feel they may have a problem with food, on the next page is a series of questions that will help you to find out if you have an eating disorder.