The occurrence of eating disorders in the United States has reached almost epidemic proportions. In a culture that places such a high value on the importance of health and ideal beauty that may not be too surprising to some. But still there is a stigma attached to eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating so unfortunately many sufferers do not seek any kind of medical help or treatment, so the figures may actually be even higher than current estimates suggest.

According to those figures one in every two hundred American women suffer from anorexia and two to three out of one hundred from bulimia. It is estimated that there are at least 8 million people in the United States right now suffering from eating disorders of various kinds.

Just how dangerous eating disorders are is often underestimated by many people, the media especially. But the unfortunate fact is that 20% of people who suffer from an eating disorder will die as a result of their disease, with the death rate from anorexia nervosa being a full twelve times higher in females aged fifteen to twenty four than all other causes of death.

It is another myth that eating disorders are primarily a female problem. A recent survey conducted on the members of the Cornell University Men’s Football team, considered to be prime examples of young male perfection, discovered that 10% of them suffered from eating disorders. Teenage boys growing up in the 21^st century are as susceptible to self image problems as females, but often their problems are overlooked and they are often far less likely to seek help or medical treatment than their young female counterparts.

Almost every bodily function can be affected by eating disorders. Heart failure, kidney failure and renal failure can all be life ending results of an eating disorder.

There are many people who dismiss eating disorders as all being in a patient’s mind. In the case of anorexia patients many say to families of an afflicted patient “just make them eat” or to a bulimic patient “you are just greedy, stop eating”. But there are complicated psychological causes of eating disorders that need to be addressed seriously and compassionately and not simply dismissed as a character flaws that can be easily fixed.

Treatment for an eating disorder is complex and unfortunately in the United States tends to be extremely expensive. Many patients and their families have to fight their health insurance companies long and hard to try to ensure that the patient gets the treatment they need to truly cure their disease, which is often a lengthy inpatient hospital stay followed by years of careful monitoring and continued therapy.