Here are some of the most common eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa

As one of the most common eating disorders, anorexia nervosa affects millions of individuals around the world. Symptoms often include extreme fear of weight gain and the skewed perception of their body image. For instance, a subject with anorexia nervosa might feel fat, despite the contrary being true. Most of the people affected by anorexia nervosa appear to have a bodyweight level below minimal normal recommendations. However, it is not always the case since it is difficult to diagnose anorexia nervosa based on appearance alone.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa is different than anorexia in the way that it is not a refusal to intake food but rather a pattern of excessive eating followed by “compulsory” actions, such as vomiting or taking laxatives and other medications. Most bulimic people do this at least once a week and are often unable to control their urge to eat larger amounts of food.

Binge Eating Disorder and Purging.

Also known as BED, this eating disorder is the most widespread. It might often be misdiagnosed as bulimia, but it differs because a binge eating disorder will not necessarily trigger a compulsory action or altered body shape perceptions. BED can sometimes be linked with anxiety, stress, mood swings, and other emotional or even hormonal factors. While the binge eating disorder doesn’t involve compensatory behavior to lose the perceived weight gain from the food consumed, the opposite is true for purging disorder, which essentially consists of all the purging behavior and self-image misrepresentation, minus the binge eating.

Read below about what to do if you suspect you are suffering from an eating disorder.