What causes anorexia in adult women?

Who knows? Women are prone to all sorts of mental/personality disorders.

I find women who have periodic anorexia are very angry and bitter. It's a form of revenge and slow suicide.

Being too fat.

Isak Dinesen ruined her digestion by taking laxatives to stay skinny. Later when her hair was falling out and she was suffering from severe digestive problems she blamed the syphilis her husband had infected her with and the mercury cures she'd been forced to undergo. But the medical consensus now is that it was chronic bulimia that ruined her health.

It really ruins your looks. Hair falls out, skin turns yellow and massive mood swings with paranoia . can it ruin voice too?

It's a control issue, regardless of age.

For certain people, when they feel extremely overwhelmed, anxious or insecure, they react by trying to control the one thing they feel they can: their body. Given the pressure our society places on women to be thin, anorexia or bulimia is the classic response. For some men, the response is to work out obsessively, juice with steroids and hormones, etc.

Body dysmorphia develops in parallel to to the syndrome, and reinforces it.

I truly believe that many closeted lesbians have it.

bump up calories

Why don't you read some of the clinical research on the subject to become better informed, rather than making up your own silly and unfounded suppositions about its causes?

Unlike what the world may be telling you, not every opinion is valid on every subject. There is such a thing as an expert with specialized education, training, knowledge and experience - no matter what the trumpanzee voices inside your head are telling you.

r9, Not a Trump supporter, but judging on your VERY defensive post, I am assuming you are starving yourself for a sense of control and to stifle rage and depression. Get help toots

Too lazy to eat

I worry about a friend whom I believe suffers from this disease of the mind. I fear a heart attack God forbid. She has small kids .

"Who knows? Women are prone to all sorts of mental/personality disorders"

Actually, men suffer mental disorders/personality disorders to a much higher degree than women.

We don't lock our doors because of women.

actually r1 studies and brain scans show that men have a much MUCH higher probability of having mental health issues. That's just a fact.

I was listening to Marc Maron interview a fellow recovering anorexic a while back. They talked about how they got a high from starving. You're body and mind goes into an altered state when you're starving. They sounded giddy when they talked about. The same way former drug addicts get when they talk about the old days. She said she knew she didn't look good but she liked feeling hungry. She was trying to look hot at the beginning, but it morphed into something different.

I can't remember her name so I can't link to the WTF podcast. She's a comedian and is close to Amy Schumer.

I notice that serious starvers have some difficulty talking. They lose their train of thought and one in particular takes EVERYTHING so personally and reacts hostile.

I have a pretty diverse friend group and all the female anorexics and bulimics were type A overachievers with mean or distant fathers and usually a narcissistic mothers, anecdotally. I don't get the sense they were self-harming as you see in other destructive behaviors. Each of these women wanted to be the best at what they do.

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum -- severe overeating issues/eating to the point of pain from childhood -- and I'm the opposite of type A. In my case, my eating is a form of self-harm and a manifestation of extreme self-hatred rather an effort to feel in control.

r17, anorexic in denial. HA HA HA HA HA

I have a theory that anorexics are suicidal but chicken shit .

It makes women UGLY and masculine looking.

"What causes anorexia in adult women?" Yet another topic gay men are experts in!

When they're done answering this question, I'm going to ask them the average size of women's labia.

"Who knows? Women are prone to all sorts of mental/personality disorders."

You are such an asshole. Women are no more prone to "all sorts of mental/personality disorders" than men. You seem to be suffering from some kind of mental/personality disorder yourself.

"I find women who have periodic anorexia are very angry and bitter. It's a form of revenge and slow suicide."

"Revenge? Revenge against who? And "angry and bitter?" Angry and bitter about what? You obviously don't know one single thing about anorexia. Your ignorance is profound.

"Not a Trump supporter, but judging on your VERY defensive post, I am assuming you are starving yourself for a sense of control and to stifle rage and depression. Get help toots."

I'm assuming you are a very unhappy douchebag. Get help, it will make you feel better.

There's a credible argument linking anorexia to autism spectrum behavior - the obsession with calorie counting and weight measurements. All the anorexics I have met are highly anxious, try and hide their bodies in layers of clothing, seem to go out of their way to present as aloof, cold, and unsexual. So it's probably abuse in early life that they haven't dealt with.

R22= hysterical fraufish

I think r25 has it right.

R25 nails it. I have yet to meet a warm anorexic

Anger and feeling helpless are huge contributors.

r25, so, you're saying Diane Keaton is the prototype?

"There's a credible argument linking anorexia to autism spectrum behavior - the obsession with calorie counting and weight measurements."

Not every mental disorder is due to autism The counting of calories and keeping track of weight fluctuations are just part of an anorexic's need to have control over her (or his) body. That's really what anorexia is all about: an obsessive need to be in control of something, and what would better to be in control of than your own body.

Zeroing in on the "adult" part of your subject line, I think it's because women never give up on the idea of being attractive (see Madonna as extreme example), and accordingly never stop being vulnerable to society's messages about what makes a woman attractive. My $0.02.

It's a defense against rage!

Is there anything positive that is linked to autism ? Jeeze.

"Is there anything positive that is linked to autism ? Jeeze."

Should there be?

According to the so called high functioning ones, they are higher on the evolutionary scale r35

I have a question. So often, it's said that people with anorexia see themselves as fat? Then, why do so many of them wear sleeveless and low-cut clothing to showcase their boniness? I mean, if they thought they were fat, they would be trying to cover up their body.

A person I knew with this disorder seemed to develop it after giving up a child for adoption at birth. Her father was horrible so I wondered about her upbringing. She was from a small, rural town. Everyone knew she had it but it was never confronted. I was riding in the car with her one day and the light caught her arm which was covered in that downy fuzz they get. She had an explosive personality. I left the area after I divorced but my son still sees her sometimes when he goes to his Dad's as they are family friends. Everyone still goes on functioning around her as if nothing is wrong. She was obsessive about what she ate, but would literally speed walk 3 miles after almost every scarce little meal.

Having control over their body gives them a feeling of control over their lives. Life is full of random terrors, you never know when you're going to have to deal with financial disasters, sickness, abandonment, abuse, all that shit. But anorectics have a mindset that associates all the terrible things in the world with fatness - being fat means you'll be poor, abandoned, sick, have to shop at Walmart, etc., and they think that if they can get rid of all the fat then they're protected from poverty, illness, all terrible frightening things that life throws at us.

Which is totally irrational, and why fat-phobia bothers me so much. Well, one of the reasons. Any time a person associates being a good person with looking good I wince, you can't believe that and have a fucking clue about the real world.

OP, years ago there was a woman at the gym I attended who was anorexic. She looked like she had walked out of Auschwitz. She was growing a slight film of hair on her back, which I later learned happens to anorexics.

It was frightening to watch her lift weights, because she looked like she was about to break. I do not understand how she was able to even get up in the morning. She looked near death. One of the managers told me that not only was she working out early each morning, but she also came in to the gym every evening and worked out as well.

Eventually, I never saw her again. I'm assuming she either died, or maybe got help. If I had to place my bets, I'd say she died, because she looked like she was beyond help and like she was going to have a fatal heart attack any minute.

I'm not sure how old she was, because the disease obviously ages one terribly, but she appeared to be in her mid to late 40s, so I'm guessing she was actually in her early to mid 30s.

When did anorexia become recognized as a disease? I never heard of it until the death of Karen Carpenter. And what's the difference between anorexia and bulimia?

What can we do to help them?

R41 bulimics puke up their meals, anorexics don't eat in the first place.

R18, I'm a binger not an anorexic, so I'm not sure wtf you're on about. I was raised by an extremely abusive parent who enjoyed humiliated me, and like many such people I self-harm compulsively. The anorexics and bulimics I know are fucked up in an entirely different way than I am and seem driven by the need to be perfect/beautiful/in control rather than the need to self-punish that drives me.

R16 describes the only boss that's ever fired me to a T. Wouldn't reveal her age, or even a ballpark age, couldn't communicate for shit, got angry when you didn't understand what the hell she was saying (she did this to everyone), thought that she was magnanimous and kind, and was, in actuality, Cruella de Vil's less attractive sister. Fake eyes, fake hair (bleached blond wig), fake name, facelift. Literally the most hateful woman I've ever met. She ate one larabar and a cup of yogurt per day and exercised non stop. She had the brainpower of a tree stump but thought she was Einstein.

Anorexia is classified as sociological first and psychological second. It was non-existent before beauty and social standards pushed un-natural thinness in women. Most of the extreme diets can be broken down with math. Women can only consume daily calories x10 for their body weight. This decreases by 100 calories every decade after 20 yrs old. Exercise does not burn many calories for women. Meaning- if a woman is 110 pounds at 40 she eats 900 calories a day. 90 minutes of intense yoga burns less than 200 calories for a woman this size. At around 600 cal a day brain function starts to go haywire. Most women will have to do this 600 cal days if they eat a second meal or have some wine on another day. If 40 year old men had to live on 900 calories a day in order to be socially "acceptable" they would freak the fuck out and shoot crowds of schoolchildren on the daily. Be thankful that the world has pretty low standards for you.

Anorexia and bulimia go together. Anorexics invariably purge. They pretty much all do. Of course they would; they need to feel totally empty, so they vomit. What a horrible illness. Some famous anorexics"

Karen Carpenter (probably the most famous one)

Cristy Henrich

Gelsey Kirkland

Portia De Rossi

Princess Diana

Brenda Frazier

Lena Zavaroni

Calista Flockhart

Nicole Ritchie

R43, anorexia and bulimia are the ultimate form of self punishment. Many have death wish.

Lack of an available stiff dick & a hot fuck on the regular.

Anorexia is a way of maintaining a childlike body as the sufferer has a fear of sex and doesn't want to attract male attention.

49 posts and no one mentioned vegans. that's a record.

A famous historical anorexic was the Empress Sissi. Far from possessing the ripe, sunny beauty of Romy Schneider she was neurotic, sad and obsessed with her wasp waist. From her first weeks in court until her death, she wrote a great deal of depressing poetry. She had an internal gym installed in her private chamber and dined on raw egg white and salt, and the juice of beefsteaks squeezed into broth. She told her 13-year-old daughter of her wish to commit suicide. In fact, her son was Rudolf, suicide pact author of the Mayerling Incident.

As one of her ladies-in-waiting wrote:

[quote]"The Empress is sweet and good, but she makes everything a burden for herself, and what to others is a source of happiness becomes for her a source of discontent. She seems to me like a child in a fairytale. The good fairies came, and each of them laid a splendid gift in her cradle, beauty, sweetness, grace… dignity, intelligence and wit. But then came the bad fairy and said 'I see that everything has been given you, but I will turn these qualities against you and they shall bring you no happiness. I will deprive you of something which a man bears within him unconsciously—moderation in your actions, occupations, thoughts and sensibilities. Nothing will bring you happiness, everything will turn against you. Even your beauty will bring you nothing but sorrow and you will never find peace."

Rainy days and Mondays was my problem

R47 I'm sure that's true for many. Some people certainly do stop eating and self deny as a form of self punishment. Maybe I didn't articulate my point well.

Just commenting on the particular women I know, who were still functional enough to marry, finish college, and perform well at jobs. These aren't the types who wear ten sweatshirts to the gym and pedal themselves to death taking 5 spin classes a day (every spinning class I've taken has one such Skeleton in the back). For these women, the need to be seen as the skinniest was definitely a factor in their eating disorders. All of them had a narcissistic streak.

I just don't know/haven't read about any binge eaters for whom the drive to be better than others or control things plays a factor. If anything, I imagine people who overeat want to disappear Anyway the thread isn't about overeating so I digress

Online, the ones who hide it best by being socially acceptable (partner, career, mortgage, kids etc) of the "Toned/lean/strong/healthy/clean" wellness blogger variety. Lots of validations on social media. A lot of those type of people are hugely into weights and body building, but the ones I am talking about who are sick want to look skinny and young and cry when their shoulders get bigger due to muscle increase, and purge when they eat 17g of almonds instead of 15g. When they realise others think they are looking gross, they call people jealous haters and cyberbullies then post pictures of their cheat day treats of cookies, cupcakes and pizza slices.

R54 good call about the bloggers!! Omg. Now I remember one named "chocolate covered Katie" who'd post all about her "super-indulgent" healthy desserts (anorexics preoccupation with desserts I will never understand) looked like she'd escaped from a concentration camp. Her pics/recipes full of ultra low cal chemical diet foods were the stuff of nightmares. The denials of eating disorder were even sadder, and took exactly the form you posted about

[quote]Who knows? Women are prone to all sorts of mental/personality disorders.

Hi Milo, glad you could join us considering your life is a shitstorm.

What's the deal with male anorexics?

I know one and it is sort of odd. He's really into food, he even works at a food oriented website. He knows all about different cuisines, yet he doesn't eat them.

[quote]It really ruins your looks....skin turns yellow

paging the yellow skin troll

Anorexia is about control.

There's a school of thought that it's about rejecting your mother or parents, since your mother gives you food as a child.

How do we help them?

I think there is a different root cause for the severe anorexics - the type that a tabloid show will interview for the freak factor and literally look like skeletons - and the garden variety "Hollywood/model" weight skinny woman who will probably never die from their eating disorder, but surely have some kind of disordered thinking when it comes to food and exercise. And that latter category has become bigger than ever, I think.

Anyway, I think control issues are at the root of both of these strains, but I've never really been able to figure out or guess what would push a woman with food issues to the total brink, versus being somewhat tortured yes but still leading a relatively normal life.

Any thoughts?

It's an addiction. There are many anorexics who are not really obsessed with the way they look (this is how many get into it or how they explain it to themselves or they present it to others). They get addicted to not eating and the way it makes their bodies FEEL. When you starve yourself you get high. Anorexics get addicted to that high and can't stop producing it. The same way that alcoholics get addicted to alcohol.

r57, being really into food is a typical aspect of anorexia, both in men and women. They're obsessed with food (probably more so because they deprive themselves of it and have cravings), but of course they won't let themselves eat it.

So they prepare it -- often elaborate meals -- and feed it to others. On the one hand, this lets them experience the food vicariously, on the other, there can be a very liberating Freudian sensation of "feeding your anxieties/ frustrations to someone else".

And at their core, anorexia and bulimia are control issues run amok.

About 15 years ago, Mary-Kate Olsen said she would be a chef if she were not an actress(/designer/mogul).

Defense against anger and hurt. It's also a form of severe control. It cause havoc on relationships etc. it becomes an obsession.

Mothers-in-law.

Because of advances in plastic surgery, to wit:

Women can now starve to get the boyish hipless shape that young men like on females; can exercise enough to get the heretofore male "6-pack"; and can strive for zero body fat---

All while knowing they, the women, can get surgical breast augmentation to replace and usually greatly increase the lost adipose tissue.

R42, Mock them as is usually done to their opposites? J/S.

It can cause brain damage and heart damage. I have seen beautiful women get really shot out and ugly from starvation. It makes them mean and unpleasant and paranoid .

R57 I don't know about all male anorexics. Marc Maron had an anorexic mother who told him she couldn't love him if he were fat. I think a lot of anorexics have mothers with it. Anorexic mothers are often obsessed with making sure their kids don't get fat. There's little hope of a healthy body image if you're raised that way.

R60 good question. Apparently sending them to group therapy isn't a great idea. They pick up tips and get into competitive dieting.

There's a good documentary called "Thin." I think you can see it on YouTube. It centers on four young women at a treatment center in Florida who are trying to recover from their anorexia and bulimia. One of the girls, a rebellious sort named Polly, had made a suicide attempt precipitated by eating two slices of pizza (yes, you read that right). She said that while that wasn't the whole motivation, it was "kind of the straw that broke the camel's back". Another girl has a feeding tube surgically implanted in her stomach. There was one that traced her eating issues back to an incident at the pediatrician when she was 7 and put on a diet which then led to anorexia. She describes massive binge/purge sessions. You watch this and think: all these girls have to do to get better is eat and not vomit. But it's a struggle to do that. It's hard to fathom. Such a simple way to get better and their mental state keeps them from doing it.

It's a demonic curse! Please pray for all sufferers.

OP If this is a serious question and some bitter gay shit or some Milo cocksucking douchebag troll shit- it's about CONTROL. Being sexually abused can cause anorexia in particular when it goes UNTREATED. Meaning no therapy. It can also be a form of OCD-obsessive compulsive disorder. Some anorexic women come from very bad home situations where their abused mentally/physically and being anorexic is a way they can have SOME sort of control in their life. The body needs food, vitamins, mineral and fat to continue to live and heal/repair itself. When the brain is starved of these things behaviours can be erratic AT BEST or just down right controlling and terrible at worst. R1-spoken like true female hating sub-turd. Awe whats the matter R2 Milo's demise got you down. Or are you just a serial killer?

bitches be crazy

R46 Ex Anorexic here. I NEVER binged and purged. I thought that was the epitome of weakness.

I suffered from depression and starving myself actually made me feel better. When you are starving you don't have the energy for much negative emotion. You get kinda numb, and this is an improvement.

Also, sometimes being obsessed with food because you are starving is a welcome distraction from some more negative feelings and obsessions.

There was definitely a sense of accomplishment and confidence that came from doing something so difficult.

r75, total troll . I can't recall any joyful and confident anorexics

I read an interview with a ballerina who was very slight for her whole career. She said that one time her company went on tour to a country where she didn't like the food, and she just stopped eating for the weeks they were there, and that once she started starving instead of dieting she felt really great, really high, there's a chemical change in the brain that can fuel the disease and some people can't let it go. She started eating again when she fainted and injured herself, dieting instead of full-blown starvation.

So yes, there's a neurochemical high that some people get from starvation, but I think people go down that path because they see starving as a way to feel in control of their lives. They think that fat is the worst thing in the universe and a magnet for all other bad things, and if they can get rid of all the fat they can get rid of fear and self-doubt, and nobody will ever hurt them because only fat people get hurt. It's crazy, but a lot of nitwits share a lot of beliefs with anorexics. Silly boys and girls really do believe that if they can perfect their bodies then everything else in their lives will go well, so they obsess over the body instead of things they can't fully control, like their careers.

r78, sounds like unhealthy narcissism .

I had an eating disorder for about a year in my early 20's. I guess i was more of an anorexic - but about once a week I would treat myself to a regular sized Portion of junk food (not the sever binging kind of thing) but I would take a laxative right after to get rid of it.

I exercised (spinning) twice a day.

I was a former fatty as a kid - i guess this was my way of looking how I always had wanted to look.

After a year of it I grew out of it and just watched my diet (low carbing, veggies etc) and exercised a few Times a week - and ditched the laxatives

When I was on this anorexic path I wasn't happy - I was obsessed. I weighed myself every morning. If I gained a pound my day was ruined - I would not go out with friends on the weekends if I "felt fat" or gained a pound etc..

I didn't look anorexic - just looked Like I shouldn't lose anymore weight. 120 (but mostly muscle) and 5'7 tall

Now years and years later I'm 130 and 5'7 - but I don't care about what I eat. I also don't eat candy or sweets - so I guess that helps me stay trim

I also only weigh myself every few months on a whim

How odd this thread is up now. This just happened yesterday, I was waiting for them to start letting the annies die, I mean if you tell trans people they are correct instead of treating their mental disorder, why not also tell the annies they are fat?

As someone who struggled with anorexia in the past, I can safely say that I never experienced a "high" from starvation. Maybe a "high" feeling from lack of sleep (since you basically can't sleep since you're so hungry) but not from not eating...and yes, it was about control as the only thing I thought I could (attempt to) control in my life at the time was my body.

I work with an anorexic. She would not call herself but her lunch consists of one apple and then she spends the rest of the hour running, even in winter. If we have a work lunch, she will push food around the plate and leave at least 75% of it.

She would never admit to having a problem but what she says about her childhood is telling: her mother constantly monitored and harped on her weight. Her sister overcame this and is a healthy weight but my co-worker worried about her being too fat.

She's a nice, kind woman, but very "Type A'. Always beating up on herself and taking blame for things that aren't her fault.

Anorexia does seem to be closely tied to perfectionism, at least in a lot of cases. They feel they have to eradicate any perceived flaw, at any cost, and simply can't conceive of living with imperfections. Their minds have two settings "Perfect" or "Horrible", and anything not absolutely perfect is horrible, therefore their body and/or lifestyle has to be perfect or life becomes unbearable.

Personally, I think perfectionism ought to be counted as a mental illness, as it leads to irrational beliefs and drains all the joy out of life. Anorectics concentrate their perfectionist madness on the body, but others will drop friends because they can't forgive little annoyances, or throw out possessions because of imperceptible damage. Because yes, their brains have two settings, "perfect", or "unbearably horrible". That's a terrible way to live.

That's a badly written article, R80, and doesn't address how the hell the court came to such a decision. I'm aware of medical law, and the basis of the law is that patients who are in their right minds have the right to refuse treatment, even if it results in death or disability. But patients who are NOT in their right mind have decision made for them until the are rational. So, did the court block the tube feeding because they decided this 57 pound woman was rational, or because treatment had failed and it was clear that the anorexia was eventually going to kill her, or because she was never going to be anything but a misery or a drain on society?

Okay, it probably wasn't the latter, courts don't made decisions like that even if it's true of the person in question.

***yawn***

In my small hometown an anorexic woman worked at Laura Secord (a Canadian store that sells chocolate and ice cream). I haven't seen her in a long time. Like an above poster, I wonder if she died, or got help. As for why they often wear clothing that shows off their shape, a theory is they think they are fat and disgusting, and want others to see how gross they are. This may explain that YouTuber Eugenia Cooney's outfits.

A dear friend struggled when her husband started wandering. With money and decent looks, he was chasing younger women successfully. Instead of leaving him, she drove herself to lose so much weight to compete in a way. She ran up and down one of the main roads in our small city so much that people were worried about her. Sad. He ended up leaving for the young gold digger. My friend is working on it and I think doing better. But she still talks about him whenever she drinks. Getting so thin aged her quickly but maybe now she can move on. I hope

My mother is extremely food and weight obsessed. Both my siblings and I have had food issues our whole lives.

r86 oh my god, that chick is fucking gross, no way she's not dancing with ED. Ugh, who are these "youtube stars" even if she weren't grotesque, her "fashion" seems to be shitty Hot Topic fare, not anything edgy you couldn't find in a mall.I give her props on not going on Dr. Shill at least.

The worst part of Euginia's sad story is that her lardass so called "mother" says Euginia is just fine. No problems.

I had a severe eating disorder in my twenties. I wouldn't have called it anorexia, but I was around 8 stone. I monitored every mouthful and took laxatives regularly.

For me it was an act of rebellion over my toxic mother, who over fed me as a child, then abused me mercilessly over my weight. She herself was severely overweight. Even at a UK size 8 (not sure what that is in US terms) she would complain that should wear voluminous clothes to cover my tummy (which was as flat as a board) and carp on about how fat I was as a child, including how it had broken her heart to see me so fat.

If I put on a pound or two in my thirties, she gloated. I'm now in my forties and sadly us females do get fatter as we age.

People I knew who suffered true anorexia were all high achievers with toxic parents who tried to drive them to perfectionism. If they weren't perfect in every sphere of life, abuse ensued.

Abandonment issues

Such a lot of fuss and handwringing on this thread.

Most Americans could afford to miss a meal. Or three.

Bumping this.

I have been surprised by the statistics involving the growing male population with anorexia.

I think most people are prone to some of "eating disorder", especially in today's society.

I’ve known two types of anorexics. Type A perfectionists who are super-achievers and you can feel the sense of superiority wafting off them. They’re the ones who wear leggings and strappy crop tops to show off their ribs.

Then there are the waify ones who are withdrawn and sad. They’re the ones in the baggy clothing. I really feel for those women.

Also, no one has mentioned the curious racial makeup of anorexics. The vast majority are white and affluent.

Awhile back I read a study about a Canadian treatment protocol that really helped with young women dealing with anorexia. They took the approach that these women were like canaries in a coal mine, and a sign of the despair over the state of the world and our inability and lack of power to control that. Young girls, in particular, feel the disconnect deeply and are prone to more depressive mental illnesses. Instead, they turn to complete control of their bodies as their only recourse. For the young men they treated it appeared the root cause was the same but the reaction was more self-destructive as they engaged in higher incidences of risky behavior as well as body mutilation.

I would think that adult women are responding similarly to different situations where they perceive a lack of control over their destiny.

Lexipro is known to cause it as a side effect.