People with anorexia and bulimia may fixate on weight and appearance, and they may have a distorted body image. Both conditions result in a person trying to lose weight using unhealthy strategies.
There are key differences between anorexia and bulimia. People with anorexia tend to adopt extreme diets. They may restrict their food intake to a degree that can lead to malnourishment and even death.
Some people with anorexia exercise to excess. If a person is already malnourished, this amount of exercise may cause them to faint or experience other potentially severe adverse effects. Also, a person with anorexia may vomit or take laxatives to lose weight.
The primary characteristic of bulimia is episodes of binge eating followed by ‘purging.’ An episode may involve overeating and later vomiting, using laxatives, or administering enemas to get rid of the calories consumed.
Learn more about the differences between the symptoms of anorexia and bulimia below.
A person with either disorder may be a perfectionist and fixate on pleasing others. Some research points to distinctions in the psychological makeup of people with these disorders.
For example, the authors of a 2016 study found that, compared to those with anorexia, people with bulimia are more likely to:
have fathers with very high expectations
have a history of overweight in adolescence
have grown up in families that emphasized fitness and staying in shape
