1) The three most common eating disorders: Anorexia, Binge Eating, and Bulimia.

2) The death caused by eating disorders.

3) The side effects caused by eating disorders.

4) The decisions involving treatments.

5) The diagnosis standards of eating disorders.

My interviewee decided to stay anonymous and her alias name will be Ms. Red.  Ms. Red is a 16 year old teenage girl. She is a daughter of Hispanic parents. She's a Chicagoan and goes to Curie high school. She said that she didn't fully understand what made her qualified to speak on this subject other than her experiences. When she hears "eating disorders", she thinks of restricting calories and bulimia.  "Restricting calories because it's something that's been in my family, my parents are both into diet culture. They will count every calorie and track every food. Bulimia is just very common where you see people throwing up their food" -direct quote from Ms. Red. She believes that eating disorders are very common, especially among girls. "I think every girl I've met has had eating issues at some point in their life. I've even talked to some men in my life about it too. I realized that eating is something that everyone has experienced with eating issues" -direct quote from Ms. Red. She believes that people with eating disorders recovering on their own is possible but difficult to overcome. "I think that people could find their own methods and get over and possibly suppress the problem and get over it but it will always linger with you. Anything can make you look back at your past eating issues. I believe you could grow out of it but society will always remind you of it."-direct quote from Ms. Red.

“Nine percent of the US population, or 28.8 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime”, (The Social and Economic Cost of Eating Disorders). How do you break the cycle of an eating disorder, especially if it’s someone you love that is going through it? Many people believe that they can recover on their own but it is not as easy as it sounds. Many people don’t even realize or believe that they need help until it's too late. Involuntary treatment is needed in order to  help resolve eating disorders. Involuntary treatment will lower the deaths and bodily and or mental harm caused by eating disorders.

In todays’ times the three most common eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Anorexia is when someone restricts their calorie intake in an unhealthy and obsessive manner. People with anorexia often have body dysmorphia; meaning that they have a distorted picture of their own body image; making someone feel very anxious and extremely conscious of physical ‘flaws’.  Binge eating is when someone uncontrollably consumes large amounts of food rapidly for periods of time. They will eat past the point of feeling full and into discomfort.  Similarly to both binge eating and anorexia, people with bulimia also often experience body dysmorphia and deal with parts of binge eating. People with bulimia will secretly binge eat food and purge the food (many either force themselves to throw it up or use laxatives). Many often exercise or fast to compensate for the calories they intake. These eating disorders are commonly caused by “genetics.. environment.. peer pressure.. emotional health”, (Eating Disorders).

A lot of people think that someone can recover from these eating disorders within a couple of weeks but what people don't realize is the psychological aspects of these disorders. As previously mentioned; body dysmorphia; allows people to be more concerned about their appearance than their health. With the combination of body dysmorphia and an eating disorder such as anorexia and bulimia, there is a physical health decline. People are often dying from these eating disorders. “Every 52 minutes 1 person dies as a direct consequence of an eating disorder” (The Social and Economic Cost of Eating Disorders). This is how often people are taken from us because people fail to realize how dangerous and deadly eating disorders are. We are able to prevent this death caused by eating disorders by making anyone with an eating disorder go through treatment. More families and friends wouldn’t have to grieve the loss of a loved one. In treatment, patients are able to break the bad eating disorder cycle  and improve themselves. To put this in a larger perspective, “Over 3.3 million healthy life years worldwide are lost yearly because of eating disorders” (Van Hoeken, D.). Many lives are at stake due to these eating disorders because of the lack of intervention. With intervention, we are able to give people resources and a higher chance at a better and longer life. 

If it's not death that gets the person, the poor health caused by eating disorders is what would make people wish that they were. There are so many terrible side effects created by eating disorders. Some consequences to having bulimia include: “Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area…worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth from exposure to stomach acid when vomiting” (Eating Disorders: About More Than Food).  This is two of many side effects caused by bulimia. The side effects will ruin the quality of life that someone can live. The side effects might not be bad at first but they will always catch up with the person as long as they don’t get help. Some side effects that affect people who have binge eating disorder are: “Medical conditions related to weight gain. These may include joint problems, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), poor nutrition and some sleep-related breathing disorders” (Binge-eating disorder). These medical conditions would change the experience of life, preventing people from living their life to their fullest potential, just because they didn’t get the treatment that they needed to get better. Treatment would allow people to worry less about accommodating their life around these health conditions created by these eating disorders.

The biggest concern people will bring up about having involuntary treatment is that it would be against someone's right to self autonomy to make them go into treatment. What most fail to realize is that treatment is not all black and white. There isn't just one treatment plan for everyone; everyone's eating disorder is different and will need different kinds of help from one another. There are options to be made for what kind of treatment suits you best. A great example of how people are able to make choices for their treatment: “Develop a treatment plan..treat physical complications..identify resources..work to identify affordable treatment options” (Eating disorder treatment: Know your options). This not only shows that there are choices for treatments that work best for them but also give leeway to how much someone would need to spend for their treatment. It's important to remember that this treatment is necessary in order to lower the lives impacted by eating disorders, directly and indirectly. Another concern I have heard brought up was on how we would know if someone has an eating disorder and there are already systems in place doing that. “The standard for how to diagnosis eating disorders is to follow the criteria listed within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) for the specific disorder” (Eating Disorders-Recovery Village). With this standard set in place and professionals diagnosing the patients there should be no mix up in whether someone has an eating disorder or not. The involuntary treatment should only be for those who truly need the help.

With all of this information in mind, involuntary treatment for eating disorders is necessary to lower the side effects and the lives taken. It's important to remember that there are people around you going through the struggles of recovery . Not one person's experiences are the exact same as another's but everyone deserves a chance at getting better. Everyone needs a push in the right direction. Treatment is where the beginning to recovery starts.

Work Cited:

“Binge-Eating Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 23 Feb. 2024, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/binge-eating-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353627

Accessed 8 Mar. 2024.

“Eating Disorder Statistics.” National Eating Disorders Association, 1 Feb. 2024, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics/

Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.

“Eating Disorder Treatment: Know Your Options.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 14 July 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eating-disorders/in-depth/eating-disorder-treatment/art-20046234

Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

“Eating Disorders - Nami Westside Los Angeles.” Nami West Los Angeles, 25 Feb. 2022, namiwla.org/eating-disorders/

Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

“Eating Disorders Overview: Symptoms & Causes: Common Types of Eating Disorders.” The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, 28 July 2023, www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/

Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

“Eating Disorders: About More than Food.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

 www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders

 Accessed 8 Mar. 2024.