Food and eating feature largely on this site and we have already produced a few lists about bizarre food and bizarre mental disorders. This list joins the two together by discussing relatively bizarre mental disorders that relate to food or weight. If you can think of others, or have an experience with one or more on this list, let us know in the comments.
Characterized by the obsession with eating healthy foods, this disease can be confused with and/or diagnosed as anorexia; the main difference being the reasoning behind the eating habits. Anorexics are obsessed with losing weight, while orthorexics feel a need for healthy or “pure” foods. Orthorexia is not recognized by the DSM IV and in general will not be diagnosed, but it is seeing a greater stronghold across the US. You can read the tragic story of a young woman who ultimately succumbed to orthorexia here.
PWS is caused by a chromosomal defect. It is non hereditary and it affects both sexes and all races. PWS can bring with it a number of symptoms including motor skill deficiency, incomplete growth, and mental retardation. In addition, PWS causes an unquenchable appetite. Left unchecked, sufferers can literally eat themselves to death. Treatment includes growth hormone and a low-cal diet that absolutely must be maintained. A fictionalized account of Prader-Willi was seen on the show CSI in 2005.
Pica is perhaps the most interesting disease on this list. It is both an eating disorder and a psychiatric problem. People with pica feel a compulsion to eat non-nutritional and non-food items. These can include anything from cigarette butts to paint. It is quite easy to get sick or even die from pica as the sufferer can eat dangerous chemicals or sharp objects that can puncture their vital organs.
Often called the opposite of anorexia, bigorexia is the only disorder on this list with more male sufferers than women. Bigorexics compulsively work out, take supplements, and severely restrict their diets. No matter how muscular and sculpted their bodies are, those with the disease are shy or even humiliated to show off their bodies because in their minds they just aren’t good enough. Statistics vary widely, as in addition to the embarrassment from the illness, eating disorders have long been seen as a women’s or girl’s disease and many men will not come forward.
Binge eating is a separate condition than bulimia. It is thought to be the most common eating disorder, yet is specified in the DSM IV as a part of EDNOS, or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. This is a broad category of ED and you can read about the criteria for EDNOS here. BED sufferers do not have the love of food most compulsive orders do. Like anorexics and bulimics, binge eaters are ashamed of their bodies and generally are embarrassed about their eating habits.
While not technically an eating related illness in and of itself, it is almost never diagnosed without the presence of another eating disorder. As the name suggests, a person with anorexia athletica goes beyond the normal feeling most of us have after a nice long run or a good session in the gym. The feeling is not optional for those with the disease, and they will often push themselves to over exertion or even serious injury to achieve the perfect body.
NES is a new disorder, yet like orthorexia is gaining in diagnosis. Night eating sufferers- usually obese or morbidly obese, eat almost nothing in the morning and during the day and eat over half of their daily calories at night. They often experience insomnia or wake up to indulge as well. Like others with and ED, people with NES are often secretive about their habits and are loathe to admit there is a problem.
While BDD can be diagnosed without the presence of an ED, is is nearly almost diagnosed along with the “big two” and often lingers long after other symptoms have lessened. People with BDD are convinced they have any number of defects, including but not limited to being fat and ugly,and having bad hair, bad teeth, and a bad odor. This goes beyond the normal teenage insecurities about how someone looks. When a BDD sufferer looks in the mirror, they see something completely different than those around them do.
Bulimia is characterized by binge/purge cycles. When most people think of bulimics, they think of self induced vomiting to purge. While this is one of the most common ways to purge, bulimics will also use diuretics and enemas. Additionally, bulimics will use ipecac syrup or over exercise to induce vomiting. Bulimics are very aware that their behavior is both abnormal and frowned upon and will go to great lengths to hide it. Interestingly, bulimics with a balanced binge purge cycle are generally a normal weight. It is only those who purge more than they binge who exhibit the outside signs of an eating disorder.
Newest studies estimate that 1 out of 100 teenage girls suffer from anorexia. Girls as young as 8 have been hospitalized with the condition. Brain mapping of those with anorexia shows their addiction to not eating is just as great as those with heavy drug or alcohol addiction. Anorexics are at great risk for relapse because anorexia and other eating disorders, like most addictions, never go away. Those that have been through treatment and no longer show symptoms or signs of their condition are considered in remission and must keep their impulses and urges in check. Even years down the line, one event can re-trigger the illness. However, those who do manage to keep the disease in line can recover fully and live and eat normally.
Contributor: Callie
Good, informative list. I never realised orthorexia could be fatal. Also thank you for pointing out that many bulimics can be normal weight. Jfrater, is there any chance of a disturbing image warning? The pic for number one is a bit gross.
Good. It should be gross. Too many people think anorexia is a choice, just extreme dieting.
I had a friend in high school that used to put flat head pins in her mouth and would chew on them. I don’t think she actually swollowed them, but it’s a weird thing to put in your mouth though!!!
#7 I understand the guy in the picture trouble… Something just seem to be really not in proportion.
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Good work
This list just makes me sad.
Is there any significance in the fact that this list comes one day after the food festivals list?
Great list.
I think I might have had number eight for a while. When i was 13/14 I used to eat at least 5 sheets of paper every day, along with pieces of wood and even CD’s and their cases. In one day I remember realising I’d eaten 6 CDs and 5 cases. As far as I know it never did me any harm, and I guess I just grew out of it. It seemed perfectly normal at the time, but thinking back it was extreamly odd.
when i was in school some people (including me) had this habbit of eating chalks but i think that is a indication of calcium deficiency (correct me if i m wrong ) .i even had an urge to eat earthenware. I m frm india
this list is good but very sad, those poor people who suffer with these dieseases and either cant admit to them or wont admit to them,
i nursed a lad with prader-willie syndrome before, never heard of it until then, its an interesting disorder to read up on, well…i your geeky like me haha
astraya: the lists posted are always significant
I take great care over topics 
amitabh: I ate chalk once – it was tasty!
nurseamy: you are geeky? Well you found the right site then
LilyBily: I used to eat paper too – but it gave me a pain in the stomach so I stopped.
Interesting list. Last week when I was in the hospital, the toddler in the room next to mine had been diagnosed with #9.
the picture for #1 makes me feel sick, i dont understand how anyone can do that to themselves. also, i know that people with bulimia and anorexia have psychological problems and that they feel pressured to be thin but there are people in the world who need food and die everyday because there isnt enough of it, i think that when people can have food but dont eat it because they might get ‘fat’, they need to wake up and realise that people in other countries are dieing without it when theyre just giving it up.
People like you make me sick. Bulimia and Anorexia go FAR beyond a pressure to be thin. They’re just as much diseases as cancer or diabetes. They’re chemical misfirings in the brain. It has nothing to do with pressure to be thin or being fat. I do know other people in other countries are dying of starvation. It’s people like you, that keep people with anorexia and bulimia on the path of death. Did you know that anorexia/bulimia have a 20% death rate without treatment? That’s not choice, that’s disease. None of us want to die. We just can’t escape our disease. Just like any other disease. I hate people like you so much, so much.
I have no. 3 (I’m getting help for it now) and I’m surprised that I never realised how those with 1 and 2 will usually have 3. That makes sense, really. I take it out with my hair (and used to have to carry scissors around with me in case I saw something I didn’t like about my hair in a public toilet mirror or any shiny surface), though there is the general ‘wrong’ and ugly feeling too, and at my worst spent up to 10 hours in front of mirrors. I can imagine how that would become anorexia if the obsession was with size and not hair.
DC, these things came from an obsessive compulsion and a warped self image. It’s not so easy to just “wake up and realise” when bad thoughts dominate your mind every day. It’d be like telling yourself not to be hungry when you feel hungry, it’s an overpowering feeling. It’s not something you can snap out of without time and support because you have to completely change your way of thinking and reduce your habits.
meepthesheep: I’m so glad you are seeking help! And I’m glad that your BDD isn’t about weight. I have a friend with #1 and it is so heartbreaking. She has been hospitalized several times and yet still cannot control it. I second your comments to DC. My friend works (when she can) in a field where sees lots of sickness and suffering. Her disease is not cause by a lack of empathy.
I know about a lot of these. Hoping to become a psychiatrist one day
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I think I’ve heard that anorexia makes you fatter for a bit because your stomach bloats due to lack of food.
Good list.
Stir-fried guns on the list, g – disorders abound aplenty re: grub, just ask a belching nose-picking Korean farmer yo
Pica is often a symptom of an underlying disorder, not a primary disease.
DC: Please shut up. I see your point, and for a lot of “wannabe”-anorexia-sufferers that is probably the cause, they really want to be thin. But for most others with eating disorders, it’s NOT about being thin!!! If you said that to someone really suffering, they would just feel even more guilty than they are. Therefore, please try to understand it before you say something like that!!
Many don’t feel they are good enough no matter what they do, because parents or class mates say mean things no matter what. They then realise that they CAN be the best, and CAN be in control, if they just not eat, because then they can get popular (this is society’s fault!) if they’re just a bit thinner, and a bit more, and a bit more.. Of course, they are nevere satisfied, and no matter how thin, they still feel worthless. To then add guilt like “think of the children in africa”, really doesn’t help. You would be suprised if you knew how many suicides there are every year because of thougtless things people say.
Eating disorders are NOT about food. Food and exercise is just a manifestation to the pain inside.
From my understanding, eating disorders are usually about control rather than food/exercise. It is really sad that we judge ourselves purely on our physiques. I’ve known a few skinny/pretty people who really should have concentrated on other areas as well.
Callie, very great list. This seems like one in rushfan’s caliber (haven’t seen her in a while, where did she go?).
I think what people don’t understand, especially about 1,2,& 3, is that most of the disorders are psychological. Having a psychological disorder is usually not a choice. Being a sufferer of OCD I know that if I could just stop I would. But people who have these eating disorders just can’t stop the impulses, thoughts, or feelings that they have. People who don’t suffer from psychological disorders have a hard time understanding why others can’t just snap out of it. Trust me if it were that easy we would do it.
On the other other hand there are people who choose to do these things to themselves and hide behind one of the disorders.
@14nuby: The “fatter” aspect is ascites, the same as the “beer belly” seen in malnutrition cases (especially the starving kids in Africa you see on TV). Having severely low intake of protein in your diet decreases the amount of protein in your blood. Then the difference in osmotic potential of the blood and tissue forces fluid out into the peritoneal cavity (AKA your belly). So a serious medical condition once again reinforces the idea that the person is fat in their minds.
I used to work at a residential group home for developmentally disabled (DD) adults. At one point, we took in a respite client with Prader-Willi Syndrome. We had to put locks on the refrigerator and all the food cabinets. This particular client was only mildly retarded and was very good at manipulating those around her to try and get the food she craved. Here’s what I learned about this syndrome. It very often includes Pica, including eating feces and skin to try and satisfy the urgent craving for food. Some folks with PW, if left on their own, will steal and prostitute themselves for food. Unfortunately, folks with this disorder gain the same amount of weight from half as much food as a “normal” person so they are usually forced to eat less than most people do. Imagine never feeling full, always wanting and searching for food, and knowing that you will do just about anything to get it. It was not an easy thing to watch. This particular client was the only person I ever had to admit to the psych ward after threatening suicide. Caring for her was one of the most difficult work experiences I ever had but I’m thankful I wasn’t on the other end of it.
I usually have no sympathy for people with eating disorders. I understand that it IS psychological but I just don’t understand how people can take their looks and appearance so seriously that they have to make these drastic mistakes. Believe me, being an 18 year old girl, I understand what it’s like to not be 100% comfortable with your body, but I do NOT understand what would make a person not eat for weeks and basically starve themselves to death.
A girl I went to high school with suffered from anorexia and would be taken out of school for treatment as often as once a month. It was horrible to see her go through it.
It’s the kind of thing where you know you can’t, but you just want to scream GET THE F OVER IT.
Wow. I don’t think there is any word to describe how retarded you are.
Yeah, you know what? I just want to go up to cancer patients and scream GET THE F OVER IT. Because I really can’t understand why they’d want to be ill like that.
Anorexia is a mental illness, and we don’t do it to ourselves. We have something in our brain which tells us not to eat or that we’re fat, like an external voice but it’s part of ourselves.
When i look at list like this it makes me feel like crap. I mean i have none of these problems but I know a lot of people who do and sometimes its like dealing with a drug addict during withdrawals. The one thing I can’t stand are the people who act like they have a problem but just want attention. Those people make me sick.
22 lucy- maybe a few more years on this planet will help you develop, not just sympathy but a sense of empathy and compassion for people that suffer.
As someone with borderline ED issues, someone who has to seriously struggle to eat some times (like now), I can tell you that how I look is the least of my concerns. It is about control and fear- of a life that feels beyond control and overwhelming. Control over the body is often the only place sufferers can connect with a sense of power and agency – by subjecting the body’s biological drives to the will a sense of control is gained (eg the number of people suffering with ED’s who have also been *****ually abused or weathered a similar trauma is significant). And while many sufferers also struggle with severe body image issues that offer up images of idealized physical perfection, it is usually intertwined with feelings of powerlessness and helplessness.
When I’m healthy and free from any emotional triggers, I have a fit but curvy figure that i am very happy with. When I get stressed or feel insecure in other areas of my life and see myself rapidly shedding pounds, when my pants start to fall off and my hips stick out a bit, I know it is not good and it scares me. but I like it too somehow, because it proves to me I can be in control of something. anything. and it is a control that is mine. no one can take it away from me. And I hate that I feel that way.
When people approach other peoples’ suffering from their own myopic and limited experience, I just want to scream GET THE F OVER IT.
well, Lucy, the thing is that the condition of anorexia & bulemia are not vanity driven afflictions.
what you are saying is akin to an idividual saying to a friend whom suffers from panic disorders “it’s all in your head” and “get over it” when, in reality, it is a complex condition consisting of threat perception and chemical imbalances.
at 18, you have no experience to judge others on. you simply haven’t lived thru or experienced enough, and it is highly unlikely you have had enough personal relationships to form an educated bias.
you may not understand why a person might starve themselves skinny…but it’s not always about what is in the mirror. i don’t understand why people believe in God, or embezzle money from companies, or write computer viruses, or cheat on their spouses. but i am certain it fills a need for them that i, thankfully, do not possess.
ringtailroxy
I have been anorexic most of my life, but have been in remission for the last four years. I am 5’8″ tall, and my average weight, during anorexia bouts, was 105. I am now a healthy weight for my height, 135, but, to me, look enormous, like a bloated cow. I know I will fall into another bout at some time, but hope not.
Pica is the funny one, and only struck me during pregnancy. I had to eat ice. Lots and lots of ice. And I mean “eat” it, not let it melt in my mouth, I chewed it…”crunch, crunch,crunch”…all the time.
NES. This one was part of an Ambien syndrome. Remember all of the warnings that suddenly came out about possible side-effects of Ambien? I was where they came from. Not only would I eat, or just prepare food in my sleep ( toast bagels, fry eggs, heat soup)and take it back to bed with me, usually falling asleep on the food, I would vacuum my apartment, I would visit friends, I would take drives, I once cut up the carpeting in my bedroom (the only carpeting in the apartment).
very cool list. I love all the medicine related lsts, great job!
You know what I don’t have any sympathy for? People calling eating disorders ED. None you ladies have erectile dysfunction, hopefully…
Oh, and since I had been anorexic, I will tell you that YES I was in complete control most of the time, and I did ‘just’ get over it. I may fall into a minority when it comes to this, but I wasn’t a screaming psychological wreck and I garuntee you some other anorexics aren’t either.
29. Freya: You can’t imagine how lucky you are.
I wasn’t born this way (at least, I don’t think I was), but pressure from certain sources created it, infused me with it, and I became (as you so lyrically put it) “a screaming psychological wreck”.
But now, with someone who actually loves me for me, I am totally in remission. That’s all it took.
Imagine that.
What’s that thing that the woman has in her hand under ‘Pica’? It looks like a giant jellybean.
joy: i believe that would be soap.
Another one of those informative/introspective lists. Prader-Willi syndrome is Neat and that episode was great.
#10. I read the page attached to the link. Everyone should read it. RIP Kate Finn.
wow this is just disturbing
My personal opinion is that 99% of “eating disorders” are complete BS excuses.
Mainly because I’ve had every “disorder” on this list at one time or another.
No. You’re the reason why people undermine serious disorders. People get sad and feel they are depressed, people just don’t eat a lot momentarily and they’re anorexic, people have emotional highs and lows and they’re bipolar, etc.
These are serious conditions that kill. If you had suffered from any of these psychologically you would understand that it is something that completely controls every moment of your life. People with these illnesses would do anything to not have them.
Pica can also come from some type of mineral deficiency. It’s quite common for pregnant women to crave things like chalk, soil, or chewing bits of metal, because they are lacking essential nutrients. It usually comes from them either not eating enough or eating a balanced diet, or from not taking prenatal vitamins.
Cedestra
I don’t know where Rushfan went, but I know why I’m gone. It’s not fun anymore.
I’ve had BDD and binge eating most of my life. It’s terrible
“Bigorexia” is actually called Muscle Dysmorphia.
ok I eat alot maybe too much but I am not fat or anything just I eat ALOT and often my freinds would tell me I am never going to be overweight but anyway the point is I had no idea eating binges was a disorder! ( I only thought throwing it up was)
I remember a few years ago, people telling me that they thought I had #3,…BDD. The funny thing was, they’d say in the same breath that men (which I am) couldn’t get BDD. It was funny listening to them contradict themselves. “Men can’t get it,…except for you Dave. You have it, but you’re the only one.” BTW, you chose a bad picture for BDD. The gal in the mirror is actually more attractive than the actual gal.
That’s from an ad for eating disorder awareness, and the girl in the mirror isn’t supposed to be unattractive. She’s supposed to be average, just slightly larger, the sort of girl who would want to lose 10 pounds, and then they’d be perfect. A lot of people with eating disorders see themselves as fat while simultaneously knowing on some level that they’re not, so borderline above average is a pretty fair representation (since it’s impossible to really portray that sort of doublethink visually).
I hate to be an a*shole, but your list is poorly written. The grammar makes me cringe.
does Body Dysmorphic Disorder have an opposite condition… called Body Enhancement Disorder?
When I look in the mirror, i don’t see the 200+ lbs woman I have become… I still see myself as 150 lbs. I can’t fit into my old clothes, but I still dress *****y in my size 16 jeans & XL jr.s tops. Nobody believes me when I tell them I am 200 lbs. I think I look very similar to the mirror image of the girl in #3, but with larger thighs, cellulite, bigger breasts, and a rounder face.
what I am saying is I don’t see myself as obese or ‘fat’. I call myself a ‘big girl’ and enjoy my curves and roundness. I don’t think I look unattractive…but my bf likes to remind me (constantly) about my weight.
I think it’s his problem, not mine. I’m healthy as an ox and although my doctor is concerned, he says my cholesterol and glucose levels are as good as they where when I was 150 lbs.
just wondering.
ringtailroxy
How pitifully sad, these diseases. Especially when they become terminal. I’ve had a weight problem all of my life. The times that I was able to keep my weight down, it was very, very hard. I find myself frequently on a self pity party. Then I’ll come across an article or tv show (now this list) on eating disorders. Shame on me! How dare me to think I have it so bad! Even being classified as “obese”, I really have no right to have that much pity on myself. Times like that, I’m the one that needs to get over it! I’m really lucky and I need to try to continue to remember that.
I eat paper, but not copiously. I don’t find it strange at all, it is mostly to chew on. I developed it when I was younger, and would view movies that made me nervous. As time went on, instead of chewing my finger nails, I chewed my movie ticket stub. I have made a tradition of it as well, so now I tell movie ticket collectors I have more stubs than they do. When they ask me to show it, I open my mouth real wide and I’ll say something like, “In here!”
46 Brent: I eat paper
That probably indicates a lack of “wood” in your life. There are pills for that you know.
I have been diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and I was really glad to see it on the list. That picture is an accurate depiction of what it’s like… I am doing much better now thanks to medication and therapy, but it has been a long and hard road. I know it is hard for people to understand…heck it’s hard for me to understand, but it is a really terrible disorder and can cause terrible problems in the sufferer’s life…socially and otherwise.
Very very interesting list Callie, opening up heart-felt responses from all around the globe. This list may not appeal to daytime TV soap fans, but to those who crave HBO specials this is informative as well as an anonymous way to open up about ones issues; which is of course the very first step on the road to recovery.
Human beings are indeed fallable creatures. They are also very impressionable. It only takes one knock to damage someones self-esteem [such a fragile and delicate aspect of our character] – to skew the integrity of the mind; and perhaps self-perception too.
There are no real ‘solutions’ to these issues beyond a persons own desire to re-evaluate themselves; sometimes as a direct result of contrary (positive) feedback. There are, however, little tricks that can help – such as by noticing habitual remarks such as: ‘I know I am / I know I will..’ [a self fulfilling prophesy], ‘I will always..’,'I could never..’[prevents openess to change], and of course ‘I am ‘trying’ to..’ [subconciously implies perceived failure]. A much better line would be ‘I’ve moved on now.’
BTW – the woman in the mirror of No.3 is actually my ideal shape for a woman; curvy and well-padded in all the right places. Also good to see JFrater in no.7.
Just a thought – Is that guy that can eat anything (Razor blades & bikes due to his super strong stomach acid) considered to have Pica? I’m thinking he isn’t a compulsive eater of those things, he just does because he can, but it cant be too unpleasant to eat those things since he eats metal daily.
I like the girl in the first picture.
Interesting list, callie! I just suffer from compulsive eating. Eating way too much until I feel like I will burst…and I don’t have any willpower to stop. However, they do make medicines for that so it’s helping. (basically, aritfical willpower in a bottle!)
51 Paceman90: I like the girl in the first picture.
So did I, until I took a gander at the goddess in list item #2. Be still, my heart.
Wow, the dude in #7 is too skinny, and the anorexics are too fat.
Pica can also happen during pregnancy. I got it. It was weird at the time, kind of hilarious now. I had this desperate urge to eat the bubbles from the dishwashing liquid. I couldn’t wash dishes after awhile cos I would get all panicky and fluster because I was worried I was going to eat the bubbles. I did a few times. Was great.
i think i have disease # 10.. waaaa… wait, is the girl in #1 picture/item real?? just bones ans skin huh..brrr… reminds me of Tales from the Crypt….
I think my girlfriend might have pica. i worry about it all the time and tell her. but no matter what i do she just won’t stop eating arbys.
56. Kealey: Pregnancy pica is common, besides the ice pica I mentioned earlier in pregnancy, I also developed a need for barbecued shish-ka-bob for breakfast and chalk with pears anytime.
my first published list!
A lot of you may know I’ve suffered with anorexia and bulimia for many years. At my lowest, I was 5’4 and 84 pounds. I’ve not been to treatment for years and these days stand at a healthy 5’4, 125 pounds. I still suffer occasional bouts of purging and meal skipping but I honestly think that might be as normal as I’m going to get- I’ve come a long way from eating laxatives like candy and swallowing cotton balls to feel full.
To those who know what I’ve been through and what I’ll likely go through for the foreseeable future, thank you for sharing your stories as well. To those who don’t understand, who think we’re all attention seekers, it’s nothing we haven’t heard before, and I know how hard it is to deal with us sometimes, but trust me- if we could fix ourselves, we would.
and Brad (43)…what’s wrong with my grammar?
Great job, Callie. I appreciate your candor and wish you all the best in life.