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DR. LORETTA
KASPER'S ESL 91 ON THE WEB  |
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PRACTICE READING TEST
Bulimia
Ó2001—Loretta F. Kasper, Ph.D.
Directions: Today you will be doing a different kind of reading
practice. You will read the following
text on Bulimia, an eating disorder. This text contains glosses, which, when
you move your mouse under the blue link, provide you with an on-screen
definition of new words. After you finish reading this text, you will search
the Internet to find at least ONE additional text on Bulimia. Then after you read BOTH this text and the
one you find on the Internet, you will answer a series of comprehension
questions.
Read the following essay. Find one additional text on Bulimia and Read
it. Then CLICK HERE to answer the
comprehension questions. You will type the answers to the questions directly
into the computer screen. When you are finished, click the button that says
"Submit your answers." This will take you to a page that has the
correct answers. To keep a copy of your answers, you will need to print them
out.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia
is a cycle of uncontrolled binge eating
following by purging. People with bulimia nervosa consume large
amounts of food and then rid their bodies of the excess calories by vomiting,
abusing laxatives or diuretics, taking enemas, or exercising obsessively. Some use a combination of all these forms of
purging. Because many individuals with
bulimia "binge and purge" in secret and maintain normal or above
normal body weight, they can often successfully hide their problem from others
for years.
Bulimia
can range from a mild and relatively infrequent response to stress to an
extremely debilitating pattern that absorbs nearly all of a person's time,
energy, and money. In its most severe
forms, binge eating and purging may occur ten or more times a day.
Bulimia
usually begins innocuously
as an attempt to control weight.
Purging may seem to be a convenient means for a person to overeat
without gaining weight. It can quickly
become a destructive process that cannot be controlled. Persons with bulimia are often aware that
their eating patterns are abnormal and out of control and that their lives are
dominated by their eating habits. They
may feel quilty and depressed after a binge.
Over time, the cycle becomes more and more dominant in the person's
thoughts and behavior. It may impair personal relationships
and interfere with other activities, leading to depression, isolation, and
lowered self-esteem. Once caught in
this pattern, the resulting shame and sense of helplessness may make it
difficult for the person to seek the help that is needed.
Physical
effects can also be serious. Frequent
vomiting can cause permanent tooth damage from erosion of tooth enamel as well
as damage to the tissues of the throat and esophagus. Kidney problems and seizures are also possible. Electrolyte
imbalance with consequent risk of serious cardiac problems is also a
significant danger.
Consider
the case of Lisa, a young woman suffering from bulimia.
-- Lisa developed bulimia
nervosa at 18. Her strange eating
behavior began when she started to diet.
She too dieted and exercised to lose weight, she regularly ate huge
amounts of food and maintained her normal weight by forcing herself to
vomit. Lisa often felt like an
emotional powder keg--angry, frightened, and depressed.
-- Unable to understand her own behavior, she
thought no one else would either. She
felt isolated and lonely. Typically,
when things were not going well, she would be overcome with an uncontrollable
desire for sweets. She would eat pounds
of candy and cake at a time, and often not stop until she was exhausted or in
severe pain. Then, overwhelmed with
guilt and disgust, she would make herself vomit.
-- Her eating habits so embarrassed her that
she kept them secret until, depressed by her mounting problems, she attempted
suicide. Fortunately, she didn't
succeed. While recuperating in the hospital,
she was referred to an eating disorders clinic where she became involved in
group therapy. There she received medications to treat the illness and the
understanding and help she so desperately needed from others who had the same
problem.
Family,
friends, and physicians may have difficulty detecting bulimia in someone they
know. Many individuals with the
disorder remain at normal body weight or above because of their frequent binges
and purges, which can range from once or twice a week to several times a
day. Dieting heavily between episodes
of binging and purging is also common.
Eventually, half of those with anorexia will develop bulimia.
As with anorexia, bulimia typically begins during
adolescence. The condition occurs most
often in women but is also found in men.
Many individuals with bulimia, ashamed of their strange habits, do not
seek help until they reach their thirties or forties. By this time, their eating behavior is deeply ingrained and more
difficult to change.
Bulimia nervosa patients--even those of normal
weight--can severely damage their bodies by frequent binge eating and
purging. In rare instances, binge
eating causes the stomach to rupture; purging may result in heart failure due
to loss of vital minerals, such as potassium.
Vomiting causes other less deadly, but serious, problems--the acid in
vomit wears down the outer layer of the teeth and can cause scarring on the
backs of hands when fingers are pushed down the throat to induce vomiting. Further, the esophagus becomes inflamed and
glands near the cheeks become swollen.
As in anorexia, bulimia may lead to irregular menstrual periods. Interest in sex may also diminish.
Some individuals with bulimia struggle with addictions,
including abuse of drugs and alcohol, and compulsive stealing. Like individuals with anorexia, many people
with bulimia suffer from clinical depression, anxiety, OCD, and other
psychiatric illnesses. These problems,
combined with their impulsive tendencies, place them at increased risk for
suicidal behavior.
Causes of Eating Disorders
Anorexia
nervosa has been known for over a century but it is only since the early 1970's
that bulimia, not associated with anorexia, has been known to
professionals. One out of every one
hundred women may become anorexic. Estimates of the frequency of bulimia vary
from five out of a hundred to twenty out of a hundred in college age
women. Men also develop anorexia
nervosa and bulimia but in far smaller numbers. Both disorders appear to be on the increase. Experts do not know the causes of these
disorders nor why they are increasing, but most agree that biological,
psychological, and social factors all play a part.
Least
is known about biological factors. Some
evidence suggests that eating disorders may develop as a response to inherited predispositions to mood swings
and depression. Other evidence reveals
an increased incidence of major depression and alcoholism in blood relatives of
persons with bulimia or bulimic variations of anorexia nervosa. Antidepressant medication under the
supervision of a physician has been found helpful to some individuals in
controlling the binge-purge cycle.
More
attention has been paid to the psychological development of persons with eating
disorders. It is speculated that
anorexia may function as an attempt to gain control over life or life
circumstances when a person has felt little control in the past. It may also serve as an avoidance of the bewildering complexities of
physical and emotional maturation.
Individuals with anorexia are often compliant "model children"
who tend to be intelligent, perfectionist, and have high personal standards. They often want to please others but have
low self-esteem and problems with assertion. They will also
frequently be depressed. High
expectations within their families may be another contributing factor.
Persons
with bulimia also suffer from low self-esteem but tend to be less passive than persons with
anorexia nervosa. Individuals with
bulimia tend to be more socially active, are more likely to date, and may use
alcohol and drugs. Research suggests
that persons with bulimia have a higher general level of anxiety than
others. Thus the binge-purge cycle may
function as a mechanism for relieving anxiety and emotional stress.
Social
factors also seem to contribute to eating disorders. Excessive emphasis within our culture on slim, boyish figures for
women makes it increasingly hard for the adolescent girl, already worried about
herself and her body, to feel acceptable.
Increasing numbers of teenage girls resort to extreme diets or purging
in attempts to make their maturing bodies conform to the expectations of
society. Some of these individuals will
be trapped in the destructive pattern of eating disorders. Females have traditionally felt more
pressure than males to conform to physical stereotypes
of what is acceptable. This may
explain why so many more females than males develop eating disorders.
BEFORE you answer the
comprehension questions, search the Internet for additional information on
Bulimia. Find and read AT LEAST ONE additional
text on Bulimia. Use the information in this text AND in the additional text
you find to answer the comprehension questions. Go to Vivisimo.com
to search.
Now go to the
questions at https://kccesl.tripod.com/hypertextstudy/bulimiafreeglossquesf02.html
Page last updated
on November 12, 2002