Help Us Understand Eating Disorders, Which Affect 30 Million Americans

(Yahoo Health – January 25, 2015) — Eating disorders — which affect an estimated 20 million women and 10 million men — are not the same from person to person.

Anorexia (characterized by self-starvation) and bulimia (characterized by bingeing and purging) are two of the more well-known eating disorders — but that’s hardly all of them. Take, for instance, the recent headlines over “orthorexia” — an eating disorder that is characterized by an obsession with only eating “healthy” foods. And binge eating disorder — characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating — is actually the most common eating disorder among males, Yahoo Health previously reported. (And on that note, eating disorders don’t discriminate between the sexes: As many as 25 to 40 percent of people with eating disorders are males.)

Because eating disorders can take so many different forms and affect people in so many different ways, Yahoo Health has partnered with Silver Hill Hospital on a survey for people who have ever experienced an eating disorder or disordered eating. The aim: to better understand the attitudes and perspectives of those who are struggling, or have ever struggled, with an eating disorder. After all, the best way to help someone is to understand where they’re coming from.

Take the survey here.