While today almost everyone has heard of eating disorders, not too long-ago eating disorders remained relatively unknown and were not discussed in the way they are now. The death of Karen Carpenter in 1983 at the age of 32 from heart failure resulting from her battle with anorexia marked a huge turning point in the public discussion. Her death “raised public awareness of eating disorders, which had until then been little publicized or understood” (Latson para. 3). Karen Carpenter was part of a generation that idolized people like Twiggy, and she, like many other women at the time, was obsessed with the idea of looking bone thin. By many accounts, Carpenter was the first celebrity to die as a result of an eating disorder, but her death led to many other celebrities to come forward about their struggles. This most notably included Princess Diana and her struggles with bulimia.

Carpenter’s death not only brought eating disorders into the limelight on a social front, but on a medical front as well. After her death, significant steps were taken in the medical community to eliminate dangerous diet pills that were reportedly used by Carpenter. After her death, “a group of doctors and therapists who specialized in treating eating disorders lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to ban over-the-counter sales of the vomit-inducing drug ipecac” (Latson para. 4). It was reported that many women across America were using this pill to purge and lose weight. The pill had dangerous side effects, such as weakening the heart.
Society is now in a place where the term “eating disorder” is more widely known and acknowledge, but the question remains: what is an eating disorder? The answer is not so simple, in fact there are many different types and kinds of eating disorders. The most widely known is anorexia nervosa which is characterized by “weight loss; difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and in many individuals distorted body image.” (Anorexia Nervosa para. 1) People with anorexia typically restrict their caloric intake, while some may also exercise compulsive, purge and/or binge eat. Another widely known eating disorder is bulimia nervosa characterized by “a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self- induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating” (Bulimia Nervosa). The most common eating disorder in the United States is binge eating disorder (BED) and is similar to bulimia in that a person will eat large quantities of food to the point of discomfort and feel a sense of loss of control and shame but do not “regularly use unhealthy compensatory behaviors” (Binge Eating Disorder).

Many people do not realize there are many more clinically significant eating disorders other than anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Many of the other eating disorders are diagnostically new, meaning they may have existed for a long time, but did not have diagnostic criteria. One example of this is orthorexia which was coined in 1998 and is an “obsession with proper or ‘healthful’ eating” (Orthorexia). It is the fixation on what one is eating rather than the quantity of what they are eating. Another example is Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) which is similar to anorexia in that a person limits the amount of food they eat, but it does not “involve any distress about body shape or size, or fears of fatness” (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder). Others include Pica (eating items that are not food), Rumination Disorder (chewing and spitting food), laxative abuse, compulsive exercise, and EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified). Not only does the term “eating disorder” cover a wide range of diagnoses, within each of these is a diverse group of cases and people.

There are an estimated eight million Americans that have an eating disorder listed above (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). If someone walked into a room with 200 women in it, one woman in there would have anorexia, six of them would have bulimia and nearly half of the people would personally know someone with an eating disorder (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Anorexia is also the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). The mere prevalence of eating disorder is shocking, yet quite unknown to the greater population. They also have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness with around one person dying every hour from complications of an eating disorder (Eating Disorder Facts and Statistics). While all these statistics pertaining to eating disorders are quite upsetting, possibly the most upsetting fact is that only one in ten people with an eating disorder receive treatment (South Carolina Department of Mental Health). Those who do receive treatment face immensely high bills and often do not receive insurance coverage for their care.

Despite the fact eating disorders are talked about more now in society than they ever have been, there is still a need for more progress. For the last almost four decades, eating disorders have been a major heath issue in this country, but they remain severely underfunded and underacknowledged by both people and the government. Eating disorders are just as valid as any other health issues and deserve the same amount of attention as other conditions. Our nation is in desperate need for funding to increase education, discussion and research on eating disorders.

Latson, Jennifer. “Karen Carpenter: How Did She Die?” Time, Time, 29 Dec. 2016, time.com/3685894/karen-carpenter-anorexia-death/.

“Anorexia Nervosa.” National Eating Disorders Association, 28 Feb. 2018, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/anorexia.

“Bulimia Nervosa.” National Eating Disorders Association, 22 Feb. 2018, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bulimia.

“Binge Eating Disorder.” National Eating Disorders Association, 22 Feb. 2018, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bed.

“Orthorexia.” National Eating Disorders Association, 13 Dec. 2019, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/orthorexia.

“Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).” National Eating Disorders Association, 22 Feb. 2018, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/arfid.

South Carolina Department of Mental Health. “South Carolina Department of Mental Health.” Eating Disorder Statistics, http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm.

“Eating Disorder Facts & Statistics.” Eating Disorder Facts & Eating Disorder Statistics | Eating Recovery Center, http://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com/conditions/eating-disorders/facts-statistics.

Ekern, Baxter. “Funding for Eating Disorder Professionals Seeking to Do Research.” Eating Disorder Hope, 25 July 2015, http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/funding-for-eating-disorder-professionals-seeking-to-do-research.