How to Fight Stigma and Help People with Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are more than anorexia and bulimia. Risky behaviors like restrictive diets and excessive exercise can lead to serious health problems. These behaviors are common but often unnoticed, causing underdiagnosis.
Eating disorders (ED) like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder represent just the visible tip of a much larger issue. Many individuals engage in risky behaviors such as fasting, restrictive diets, vomiting, and excessive exercise to lose weight, even if they do not meet the clinical criteria for a full-fledged eating disorder.
This insight is provided by Karla Edith González Alcántara, an academic from the Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the UNAM Faculty of Psychology. She emphasizes that these behaviors are precursors to the development of eating disorders and are associated with serious physical and psychological consequences. Low self-esteem, high levels of anxiety, and depression are common among those who engage in these risky actions.
