Bulimia is an eating disorder defined in DSM III-R (1987) by the following criteria: Episodic binge eating with at least three of the following being present: (1) consumption of high calorie food; (2) inconspicuous eating during a binge; (3) termination of binge by abdominal pain, sleep, social interruption or self-induced vomiting; (4) repeated attempts to lose weight by severely restrictive diets, self-induced vomiting, cathartics or diuretics; (5) frequent weight fluctuation of greater than ten pounds due to alternate binges and fasts.
Often the binge period is associated with fear of being unable to control what the bulimic herself sees as non-normal eating behavior. There also tends to be depression and self-depreciating thoughts following binges.
Most bulimics are young women around college age; they appear to have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies (Johnson & Holloway, 1988; Lowenkopf, 1987). It is believed that the preoccupation with thoughts of food and the compulsive need to engage in binge eating followed by periods of purging are, at least in part, the result of sociocultural pressures to be thin. In this regard, Schwartz and Barrett (1988) have stated that the idea that the thin woman is the attractive woman permeates society.
The authors state that in America women are taught by both society and their families that success, intimacy, security and satisfaction in life are gained and maintained by being thin and attractive. The authors explain the relation of societal pressures to be thin and a woman's response as one in which there is a struggle between the body and the will. They state that:
During this struggle, a woman must dissociate from her body's hunger and satiation signals. Because this dissociation is often futile, her low sense of control in the world is accentuated...In cases where the "will" wins...a woman may become anorectic. If the deprived dieter launches into a binge, she hates hersel...