We will discuss the three major types of eating disorders, what causes them, and how to help someone whom you suspect or know has an eating disturbance or disorder. They affect more females than males, but do occur in both sexes. They can happen at any age, but most frequently occur initially during adolescence and young adulthood. People of all races, religions, sexual orientations and economic backgrounds suffer from eating disturbances and disorders. Estimates of the prevalence of eating disturbances and disorders in college populations vary tremendously.
People eat for a variety of reasons.
Ideally, we would all eat only when we are hungry, then would stop eating when we are full. We would eat only in response to our bodies' hunger signals and would trust what our bodies tell us. Instead, we often eat when we are not hungry. We eat when we are lonely, bored, depressed, angry, frustrated or stressed. We also eat when others are eating because eating is a very social activity and is a way for others to show us that they care.