According to the National Eating Disorder Awareness Web site, a new trend among those suffering from anorexia nervosa is the tendency to complement imposed starvation with alcohol abuse.
Jaehee Jung, assistant professor of fashion and apparel studies at the university and a specialist in eating disorders, said those afflicted with the disorder, known as "drunkorexia," reduce their food intake to almost nothing and fill their empty stomachs with excessive amounts of alcohol.
Jung said it is strange that a person who panics at the thought of ingesting calories has no problem binging on high calorie beers and shots of liquor. Drunkorexia appeals to some people because consuming numerous amounts of alcoholic beverages on an empty stomach leads to rapid intoxication and makes it easier to purge later, she said.
Jung said the disorder affects mainly college-aged girls. Studies show the preoccupation with weight and appearance in today's society has led to children as young as seven and eight years old admitting to having a poor self-body image, she said.
Girls' resentment of their own body increases as puberty hits, Jung said. Most girls gain weight as they progress through adolescence and the desire to stay thin, along with peer pressure, often launches girls into the development of an eating disorder.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association Web site, "anorexia nervosa is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in young women."
Angela Seguin, coordinator at the university's Wellspring Student Wellness Program, said that although the term drunkorexia is relatively new, the practice of drinking instead of eating has been used for years.
"An eating disorder is an unhealthy coping mechanism," Seguin said. "Alcohol is another unhealthy coping mechanism. It is not uncommon to find that if someone has one unhealthy coping mechanism, they will have another."
Drunkorexia is more dangerous for women than it is for men, Jung said. Women are naturally less tolerant of alcohol than men and can become intoxicated after fewer drinks.
Without food as a buffer, the effect of each drink is magnified, Jung said. Although researchers have not found any short-term consequences of the disorder, with the exception of a hangover, there is a link between drunkorexia and breast cancer, she said.
Often, girls who struggle with eating disorders surround themselves with others who are also suffering from the same problems, Jung said. Usually, a person with the disorder will not willingly seek help or admit he or she has a problem, she said.
Jung said the most important step in getting treatment is to identify with adults and counselors who promote a healthy body image and lifestyle. She said it is often hard to determine the extent to which girls engage in such behavior.
"Once people notice the problem, it might be too late to get treatment," she said.
According to the NEDA Web site, it is important to understand the symptoms of such habits and intervene with "prompt intensive treatment."
Seguin said the Wellspring program tackles drunkorexia and other similar disorders by offering counseling sessions with professionals as well as programs with peer educators who go to classrooms to discuss body image and drug abuse.
Seguin said that although such programs are useful in stopping these addictions in their tracks, once a person is entrenched in his or her habits, it may take in-patient treatment in order to fully recover.
Scott McDowell, a sophomore at the university, said drunkorexia does not seem uncommon. He said some may forgo food after a night out because they feel sick, but he believes more often than not there is an underlying factor.
"It seems like there's a lot of girls out there who have an eating disorder," he said. "I'm not surprised that [drunkorexia] is one of them."
Jung said society's preoccupation with weight forces girls to misconstrue healthy eating habits in order to achieve their desired weights. On college campuses, this often means eating less in days proceeding and following weekends in order to dampen the guilt felt from consuming too many drinks.
McDowell said that, regardless of individual habits, it seems to be a means of classification on campus.
"Look at the girls who binge drink, and then look at their size," he said.
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