(Mirror Daily, United States) – National awareness week for eating disorders starts today, the 21^st of January and it will end Saturday, on the 27^th. In this week, you can throw away any misconceptions or prejudices you might have about the mental disorders and learn the facts behind the eating disorders that affect a great number of the US population.

Eating disorders are classified by doctors as mental health issues. They are also the psychiatric illnesses with the highest mortality level. This kind of psychiatric disorders can seriously affect the psychological and physical health of a patient. Some actually being able to cause irreparable damage.

Any individual, no matter the gender, ethnicity or age could fall victim to an eating disorder. And when they do, the illness will take over their lives because it affects all levels of day-to-day activities and processes.

The estimated number of US citizens who suffer from an eating disorder is of 30 million individuals. The estimate does not contain the people who struggle with body dissatisfaction or disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.

A very common misconception is the fact that eating disorders are nothing but a lifestyle choice of the patients. That is completely wrong. According to both psychologists and psychiatrists, eating disorders are real medical conditions. They are caused by mental imbalances, not by poor life choices.

There are three eating disorders that are very common in the United States, and those are bulimia nervosa, anemia nervosa and the binge eating disorder.

For a better understanding of the eating disorders, one must first know their symptoms. The most common are

• a constant, slightly obsessive preoccupation with one’s body, weight or food
• compulsive exercising
• withdrawal
• a constant underlying fear of weight gaining
• a severe limitation of food or refusal to ingest any kind of solid food
• secret eating
• eating alone
• lack of menstruation in women
• laxatives or diet pills abuse
• last, but not least, binge eating, in the sense that an individual ingests very large amounts or portions of food in relatively short periods of time

Eating disorders can be treated with both medication and therapy. There are numerous support groups that offer their help to struggling patients.

National awareness week for eating disorders starts today and its main goal is to educate the US population about these serious disorders which, unfortunately, are considered to be whims by a very large number of citizens.

#NEDAwarenessWeek brings all of the information on symptoms, treatments and causes of eating disorders while also encouraging patients to win the battle against their illnesses.

National awareness week for eating disorders starts today and you can take a 3-minute test to see if you have a predisposition for eating disorders here. It’s quick and it’s anonymous.

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